Fox in our yard, two, actually

[Bourne Identity]

I also posted this to austin.gardens and someone came back with possible gray fox, which it seems to be. Anyone with info, how you got rid of, or if it's okay to let them live on the property, etc...would be appreciated.

For several nights my husband has been seeing two animals. One larger than the other, the larger being about a third larger than the smaller. I got to see it tonight on the fence. It had a long, bushy tail, beautiful detail and smooth. I didn't see the color as it was too dark and the flashlight didn't do it.

When it finally ran off it made a sound like a gravelly roar, not a screech. I found something which sounds very much like what I heard:

looked at the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, but all they list is one kind of fox, and it is not supposed to live this far east in Texas. However, it is listed as living in open prairie, short and tall grass. Recently, on SH-79 they have literally removed hundreds of acres to build a new Walmart, an HEB going in, and tons of those shit bag houses that all look exactly alike, all three feet from the other.

I did see a rabbit the other day for a few days and now it is not here any more. Coincidence? I also have not seen near as many lizards as I normally see. I can count how many I've seen this year, as opposed to every other year seeing many dozens daily.

So, do we have any Master Naturalists out there?

Victoria

[Janet Baraclough]

The message from Bourne Identity contains these words:

Anyone with info,

This is a sensitive topic in Britain so I sent you an email, which bounced. If you email my address above, I'll resend.

Janet

[Bourne Identity]

Send it to [e-mail] remove the zero at the end. If this is some sort of horrible story about torturing foxes or killing them, etc...I'd prefer you don't send it. If it has anything to do with the destruction to foxes, hunting them, don't send it.

Thanks, V

[J. Davidson]

[Stubby]

We saw a fox this year in MA. It trotted up the driveway and across the back yard to the woods.

Several years ago there was a "mother" fox and two little ones. They were around for over a week and I put out a few cans of cat food for them. (Our cat wasn't very interested in going out!). We found two squirrel carcasses out front one morning but they were gone by the afternoon. I think Mama fox killed them for the two little ones.

They eventually left, but there are many reports of foxes in this area. Maybe we're encroaching on their turf.

[Travis]

Maybe?

[karen]

I did see a rabbit the other day for a few days and now it is not here any more. Coincidence? I also have not seen near as many lizards as I normally see. I can count how many I've seen this year, as opposed to every other year seeing many dozens daily.

So, do we have any Master Naturalists out there?

Victoria

Hello Victoria,

This site, which is not working for me now, maybe helpful to you if you can get it:

not, if you google grey fox you'll find plenty of information. It does appear that they do live in Texas.

Just a warning, be very careful if you have small pets that you let outside. There was a lot in the news in Denver about cats being gutted and their bodies being left near their homes. Since this was done so precisely, it was feared that this was done by a satanic cult or something. Later, it was decided that foxes did it. I live within 10 minutes of downtown Denver and have seen foxes in my neighborhood many times. You can bet I keep a close eye on my cats!

As for gardening, I put in some bleeding hearts, Canterbury bells and a Veronica today and it seems that the garden is finally coming together after being "downsized" by putting up a new garage last fall. It used to be postage stamp-sized, but now it's no more than a 2 cent stamp. I did put in one large cherry tomato plant in a container and will try to grow a regular tomato plant in a larger container, but no more of much of a garden for me anymore. I do have herbs growing on the south side of the house on a narrow strip, thyme, lemon thyme, French tarragon, Russian tarragon (nasty pestilence that one is) oregano and mint. I planted a new chive plant and planted some dill seeds which I fear might not come up; they didn't come up last year, either, and dill used to grow in that area. Bought a lovely teak table today (at a great price) for the patio and it's starting to look good. It looked like a construction zone for a long time.