013 - January: Fox mating season Artwork

Fox Repellent Expert Podcast

Benjamin from the Fox Repellent Expert website shares tips, advice and information on urban foxes and how to humanely deter them, so you can protect your garden from their damage and destruction. Discover how foxes view your garden and understand what deterrent and repellent tools you can use to minimise their pooing, digging, chewing and all the other common fox problems. Benjamin has been running Fox Repellent Expert since 2010, when he first experienced the frustrations of urban foxes after moving to Croydon in South London, and discovered there was a lack of quality fox deterrent information online. The site has continually evolved and is on it's way to becoming the Number 1 resource for information on humane fox deterrence in the UK. If you are from Europe, North America or anywhere else in the world with a large fox population, you are also very welcome and will find much of the content useful. It's important to remember that foxes are not the enemy, nor do they do anything to deliberately spite you. They thrive in our towns and cities because our lifestyles provide them with the means to do so. That being said, they are often a nuisance and this podcast will equip you with the knowledge to reduce their negative impact, enabling you to live harmoniously with these fascinating creatures, while also taking back control of your garden. Welcome, enjoy and please subscribe!

All Episodes

Fox Repellent Expert Podcast

013 - January: Fox mating season

January 30, 2024 • Benjamin Clarke • Episode 13

The first of a new series of episodes exploring what foxes are up to in each month of the year. A vulpine calendar of events, if you will.

Did you know that vixens can only get pregnant for 3 days a year? January is peak mating season for foxes, so there's loads of stuff going on! Mates need to be found, dens need to be dug, territories need to be protected. It's all paws on deck this month.

Listen to this episode to hear about what's gping on in January in the world of urban foxes and see if it relates to what you've been observing in your garden this month.

Links mentioned in this episode:

❤ Support the Fox Repellent Expert Podcast!

This podcast is great fun to do and will continue to be free, but any assistance you can give really helps with the time, effort and hosting costs that go into producing the show. Thank you very much for considering a donation via the link below:

➜ Donate with PayPal here

Subscribe to the Fox Repellent Expert Podcast

Spotify
Apple
Google

Hello this is Ben from the Fox Repellent Expert website and welcome to the latest episode of this podcast.

This episode is the first of a monthly series that I’ll be doing, looking at what foxes are up to throughout the 12 months of the year. Kind of a calendar of events for foxes in the UK. I thought it would be an interesting little series to see if you can match each episode up with the behaviour you’re seeing in your garden.

You’ll probably notice a lot of fox activity in January and this is because it’s peak breeding season. Vixens are on heat for about 3 weeks but can actually only get pregnant for 3 days a year, so the dog foxes have to be really vigilant and at the top of their game to make the most of their mating opportunities.

As a result you’re likely to hear a lot of noise from male and female foxes. It’s estimated foxes have around 28 different types of calls, which is far more than a domestic dog. While you might hear them doing some short, sharp barking, the noise that really tends to upset people is the vixens letting out blood-curdling shriek that is often mistaken for a human screaming. Apparently there’s data that suggests the Metropolitan Police get a call every 3 weeks on average, from people believing someone’s being attacked, when it’s actually just a fox.

So, the females will be particularly vocal, trying to attract the attention of local males to let them know their location. There may also be a resident male fox doing his best to fight off the other male suitors. The previous year’s cubs will now be fully grown and making it known that they’re looking for a mate. This all means there’s a lot of noise and territorial disputes going on, which you might notice in and around your garden.

If you’ve had foxes denning in your garden in the past, you might notice an increase in activity in the same area. This’ll be the vixen doing some preliminary checks to make sure she’s got options for giving birth to her forthcoming litter. Under sheds, summerhouses or garden offices are common places for fox earths so don’t be surprised if you see a little digging in these areas.

If you don’t want a fox setting up home in your garden, then you need to make those spots as unwelcoming as possible. Not in a cruel way, but just enough to make the vixen decide your garden isn’t suitable for raising cubs. You can go to foxrepellentexpert.com for my articles on dealing with digging and denning. I’ll put links in the show notes.

Because there’s a lot at stake for foxes at this time of year, you might notice them in your garden quite frequently during the day. The evening will also be busy with the foxes active between around 6pm - 10pm then it will likely go quiet for a few horse before the noise starts up again around 3am until just before dawn - not ideal in a highly populated urban area when people are trying to sleep!

With all this activity, you’re likely to see an increase in scent-marking around prominent areas in your garden. This could take the form of the foxes spraying urine, pooing and the rubbing of their sweet smelling Violet gland on their tails up against things. It’s all part of the mate attraction and territory protection process. I’ll put a link to the top ten fox deterrents in the show notes in case you’re impacted by pooping foxes.

So that is January in the world of the fox. There’s a lot going on which is why you may well see and hear them at this time of year in your neighbourhood. It’s quite serendipitous that just as we humans are often making fresh starts with New Year’s resolutions, it’s also a fresh start for foxes with the next generation being planned.

In the next installment we’ll look at February and see what the foxes are getting up to and what you can expect to see in your garden. I hope you’ll join me for that.

On a garden-related note, I’m recording this in the last weekend of January and I’ve just completed my RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. If you haven’t heard of the RSPB BGB, it happens over the last weekend of January every year and has been running since 1979. You spend an hour watching your garden and you note down the birds that visit during that time, and then submit your results to the RSPB. The RSPB uses the results to assess bird numbers in the UK - which ones are thriving and which ones aren’t doing so well. It’s really worthwhile and it’s free to do, so I definitely recommend it. My hour was quite quiet this year, I saw 2 Robins chasing each other, 2 house sparrows on my feeder, 1 dunnock and 1 female blackbird foraging for food on the ground. I had some Miles Davis on in the background and a cup of peppermint tea on the go - just a great way to spend an hour. Give the Big Garden Birdwatch a try next year if you’ve never done it before - I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

Well, that’s it for this episode of the Fox Repellent Expert podcast. Hopefully it’s been informative, and helped explain some of the fox activity in your area at this time of year. I’ll put links mentioned in this episode in the show notes.

If you found today’s episode interesting, you can subscribe to the Fox Repellent Expert podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Please feel free to leave a review as it helps other people find the show.

Thank you very much for listening and I’ll see you next time.