Photo courtesy of Wayne Nelson
Sigh. It looks like my nightly visits from the fox have returned. My daughter has these cute little gardening shoes (just like Mommy’s!). She was wearing them while she was out helping me pull up the Cosmos yesterday. They got pretty dirty so I left them out on the deck to be hosed off. I forgot about them and they stayed on the deck all night (stupid, stupid, stupid). Wouldn’t you know when I get up this morning there is one of her shoes out in the grass where the fox loves to drag its “toys”. I went out to the yard to retrieve her shoe and it is of course riddled with bite marks. The compost was raided once again as well.
I confess, I pretty much thought this little night critter adventure was over as we have had about a month of peace. I guess I relaxed too soon. Of course it has to start coming back around when I am gearing up to put out more transplants. (It loves to dig up my transplants- see previous post.) Can you hear my long, exaggerated, and frustrated sigh?
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Uh oh, here comes trouble on soft-padded feet! When are you setting up a motion-triggered web cam to document its raids? Frustrating for you, but so fascinating and exotic for those of us not in fox country. Sorry about the loss of seedlings and shoes…
- Karen
Ha Karen! I got a good laugh out of you saying it is so fascinating and exotic for those of you not in fox country!
I would love to be able to set up some sort of camera to catch this little bugger in action. It sure acts like a dog- stealing shoes and having a favorite place to take them to. -Cynthia
Pesky little critters. They are as bad as dogs chewing up shoes & digging up plants. Even my dogs don’t mess with my footwear. I had a dog that always took our socks & hid them from us. lol I hope your fox moves on soon, maybe you should find out how to get him transported elsewhere.
Hi PGL,
-Cynthia
If I could figure out how to catch him I would have him relocated. I guess one would call animal control about this?? I’ll get my husband to look into that one!
I’m so sorry that you are having fox issues again. They are such beautiful creatures, but not when they are eating your shoes.
Hi Daphne,
They are beautiful aren’t they? And they have such cute little faces. I really do not mind him too much if he would just stay out of the garden! I learned the hard way to keep our shoes and gardening gear (ie gloves, he likes those too) indoors at night. -Cynthia
Cute as all get out, but they sure can be destructive. Neighbours of my parents gave shelter to a fox mama and her *13* kits, hand feeding them until they were all quite tame. They were adorable, but need I say how destructive they became when they all got a little larger? Lesson learned.
Good luck with your foxy critter.
Hi Nancy,
-Cynthia
Oh my goodness! 14 foxes running around! I can just imagine how much fun that must have been. The babies are so adorable though I can see why your parent’s neighbors allowed them to stay but oh boy the fun they must have had as those babies grew up!
I’ve heard that a water scarecrow (essentially a sprinkler that is activated by movement) is pretty effective at humanely encouraging foxes to keep out of your garden. I think I’ve also seen sprays that you can buy to make the fox think that something bigger and meaner has claimed your yard as its own.
Thanks Fern, I’ll have to look into that spray. I know about the motion activated sprinkler but they are kind of pricey. But I am thinking they might be worth the price these days! -Cynthia
What a mess. It would be cool to see one, but not to have my garden clogs eaten by it.
So fun to get a picture taken in as close up.
It is a very good picture you have taken.
Thank you Aud på Dal and thanks for visiting my blog. I can not take credit though for the wonderful picture of the fox in this post. That credit goes to Wayne Nelson. If you visit his link you can find even more great pictures of this beautiful (but not welcome in my garden!
) animal. Once again thanks for visiting. 
-Cynthia
Well, it’s sort of a cute little critter, if you don’t look at the beady eyes too closely. And I suppose you could start a new trend with the shoes: Nature-friendly, or something to that effect. Might catch on in this “green” and “back-to-nature” environment.
Brenda
Too funny Brenda!
And ya know that idea just might go over pretty well here in Oregon!
They have cute faces but obviously their teeth are sharp little things if you take a look at the picture of my poor shoe. -Cynthia