Fox Poop

[Margot Lane]

About this time of year, foxes poop all over my driveway, deck, picnic table, anything, basically. I think it’s a territorial thing. But if you look at the poop it’s almost all fur, plus seeds. Whatever they are eating, besides getting ready to share my apple tree, they sure know how to pass a fur ball out the back end, with noooo trouble. Too bad this recipe can’t be passed along to house cats.

 

[fionasmom]

Coyote scat around here is the same way!

 

[FeebysOwner]

I believe this also applies to the raccoons I have had in my yard from time to time - well, not pooping everywhere but having a lot of seeds and hair. Maybe it is the fruit??

 

[Margot Lane]

…Was thinking that too, plus the roughage. Have noticed some apple in certain cat foods, wonder if it helps. Probably though, in the case of wild cats at least, I imagine whatever the prey ate helps as a laxative. I’m no poopologist. But I will say fox poop looks mighty healthy and varied with the seasons!

 

[neely]

But I will say fox poop looks mighty healthy and varied with the seasons!

I never thought of it that way but you're right.
We get all of the above animals in our yard, i.e. fox, coyote, raccoon, opossum, etc. Most recently a fox has been after a litter of baby bunnies. I've only seen the fox go in and out of yards including ours but the neighbors told me they've seen the fox with a baby bunny in it's mouth. Our houses were originally built on an apple orchard. Every house had at least one apple tree in the yard. We are the 4th owner and there was one apple tree in the yard when we moved here. The tree was not in good condition. We tried to save it but eventually had to have it cut down. However, our neighbor kept her tree even though it was not overly healthy so the wildlife would eat the apples but guess who's yard they pooped in? Of course, it was ours!

 

[Margot Lane]

The fox poo thing is a little early this year.

 

[iPappy]

My yard is full of rabbit poop, and the tiny dog is either scarfing it, or rolling in it.

 

[Margot Lane]

The fox poop thing is getting out of hand. Not so much in quantity, but placement. Does it HAVE to be the top of the picnic table? Geez.

 

[Furballsmom]

Can you cover the table with one of those plastic covers?

 

[Margot Lane]

I guess so…not a huge fan of plastic. It’s easy enough to clean/hose off, it’s just they have a whole forest to poop in! It’s such an extremely odd habit. I suppose I ought to feel honored these beautiful animals feel safe enough to wander about. Some of my neighbors, who hunt, might not agree with me.

 

[Furballsmom]

I was thinking you could just remove the cover when you're ready to use the table

 

[neely]

We've had an animal poop regularly in the same spot of our yard for several years. It definitely does not resemble cat poop. I'm not squeamish having picked up dog poop for many years and pick it up the same way. I have no idea what animal is pooping in the yard but I'm curious. Is it possible for the same animal to come back year after year or has another animal picked up on the scent? This is my above post from last year about the different animals that are in our area: Fox Poop
The next time I go out and check I can post a pic and would appreciate opinions.

I went out to check and sure enough there was poop! Usually there's more and darker in color but here it is.........

 

[Margot Lane]

Wow you are a poop enthusiast! Bet there’s an app for that out there: Poop ID. I’m no expert. But it does seem territorial. Do you get owl castings as well? That comes out the other end.

 

[neely]

Wow you are a poop enthusiast! Bet there’s an app for that out there: Poop ID. I’m no expert. But it does seem territorial. Do you get owl castings as well?

Some of our neighbors have done everything imaginable to prevent wildlife from coming in their yards. I'm not one of those neighbors since I think it's mother nature doing what she does. I love seeing the rabbits and baby bunnies year after year climb under our fence. I'm more annoyed at my husband because when he goes out to cut the lawn he hollers for me to clean up the poop.

 

[Margot Lane]

You could tell him to ”rewild” the lawn, then you’d have lovely wildflowers AND wildlife!

 

[fionasmom]

I never deter wildlife either, although I have had to ask some persistent raccoons to move along down the road.

 

[FeebysOwner]

We've recently had a passing-through possum, and a few days later two raccoons who - thankfully - were also just passing by. We scared them off so as to make sure they didn't decide to come back. Can't have the raccoons hanging around as they would wreak havoc with the squirrel feeders and at least one of the bird feeders.

 

[Caspers Human]

The fox poop thing is getting out of hand. Not so much in quantity, but placement. Does it HAVE to be the top of the picnic table? Geez.

Is there any chance you could put a motion sensing security light near that location so that any time something goes near that table, the light will turn on. Then, get a light socket adapter and use it to plug a radio into one of the light sockets. Set the radio on a 'talk radio' station and leave it on high volume. Set the radio right on the picnic table and cover it with plastic or something.

Whenever one of those foxes hops up onto the picnic table to leave a 'deposit' the lights and radio will suddently come on and scare the fox away.

A former neighbor of mine used to do that to keep deer out of his garden at night. I used the same trick to keep raccoons from digging in my trash cans.

The coons got used to it, after a while, but you can counteract that by going outside, banging some old pots together and hollering every time you hear the radio come on. The animals will learn that, when the lights and radio comes on, there will be an angry human coming by shortly.

 

[fionasmom]

Noise and light will also work for skunks most of the time.

 

[iPappy]

As strange as it sounds to actually pay money for this, you can buy coyote urine to deter fox. I would spray it around the table and out into the yard to deter them from that specific area without any risk of harming them.
My Mom has a few pair of "night eyes" on her chicken coop exterior.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KBAIGQO/?tag=thecatsite
There are a lot of coyotes and raccoons in the area and she has never had a problem with anything trying to dig in. If they work on coyotes and raccoons, I assume fox would stay away too.
As fionasmom mentioned, noise and light will work for skunks but also for raccoons. If there is a raccoon in the barn, the first thing we do is leave a light on and turn the radio up. My neighbors are 2 fields away, and on quiet days I can hear a radio blasting from their place and I always think "ah, must have raccoons in the barn"!