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No, of course it isn't, but ain't he a cute little fella? (I assume.) Snapped him out in my back garden this morning (you can just see part of his mum in the second photo) and thought I'd give him a star turn on Crivens! Third photo's a little blurred as he did a sudden twirl as I pressed the button, but you can still see his short muzzle. I'll try and get some better ones next time, though I'll have to be quick 'cos fox cubs don't take long to sprout. What's surprising is that 'Cubby' seems to be a litter of one this year - there are usually three or four of them. Got any foxes in your garden, Crivs? I put out food for the wee critters 'cos I'm a big softie - do you?
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13 comments:
My Mom has foxes in her garden. They come every evening to see what goodies she has left for them. She actually buys things purposely to feed them, ranging from sausages and eggs to black pudding which I don't eat when we go out to breakfast on a Saturday. If she hasn't put anything out, they come and sit on the lawn, looking up at the kitchen window, waiting for grub up!
At our house, we don't and we do have foxes in our garden. We don't in that I've never seen or heard one. We do in that I'm informed by my neighbour that foxes jump over the fence from their garden to ours. Which leads me to a long and boring story best read before your bedtime, Kid. A few weeks ago, my Mom went on holiday to sunnier climes leaving me in dreary old Blighty to look after her dog, Belle, a Chihuahua. On the first day, Belle came in from the garden and I saw something on the rug in the kitchen. Not being a veterinarian, I thought it was a claw. So I checked the dog all over but couldn't see a missing claw or any blood. After examining the item, my wife, who is obviously much more clued up in all matters animal, declared it to be a tooth (as did my Mom and Aunty when they returned from holiday). Have you ever tried to look in a Chihuahua's mouth? It is not an easy task. So just to be on the safe side, Belle was on a soft food diet until I was sure she wasn't in pain. She didn't seem to be bothered so we soon resumed the biscuits and chews. After giving the situation some thought, I can only conclude that the tooth came from the garden and possibly belonged to a fox and somehow Belle brought it in with her. I was initially concerned possibly due to the ensuing Vet's bill for dental care but luckily we can assume that the tooth was not hers. It certainly didn't look like a fresh extraction. Have you ever found teeth on your lawn that weren't your own, Kid?
Also, do you take the photos using a mobile phone or a camera? Very good anyway, assuming through a window as well.
The interesting thing about giving a fox an egg (in its shell) is that the fox will gingerly pick it up in its mouth and then trot off somewhere to consume it. All foxes seem to do this and I've often wondered where they 'learned' this from. Never found any teeth in my garden, but the foxes do leave other little 'gifts' - usually after having passed them through their back end. (And I've never found my own teeth in the garden either.) I used a camera, M, and took the photos outside, not through a window
That is a curious thing with the eggs. I can only imagine that it is the animal instinct of being discovered or caught so they take it to a place of safety to eat it, or give it to a cub. This is why Foxy from The Topper always runs off with a cooked chicken on a plate before Farmer can get hold of him. I've always wondered if they eat the eggshell as well.
That's good that they allow you outside while they are there. I think Mom's foxes always retreat until she has placed the food and then gone back inside. By the time she looks through the kitchen window, they are back on the lawn.
I've had some foxes come up to me and take food from my hand, but others scarper on sight or sound of me. The cub's mum seems reasonably comfortable with my presence within several feet when I'm putting out food for her and Cubby. Ask your mum to put an egg out on the lawn where she can see it, and watch what the fox does. They'll usually approach the egg for a sniff, maybe prod it with their nose, and then ever-so gingerly lift it in their mouth and wander off somewhere.
Oh, and when a fox does take food from my hand (usually cold meat slices), it'll do it gently, not snap at it. I like foxes, but it always puzzled me why Foxy in The Topper was black and white like a collie.
That never occurred to me that he was black and white although there are black foxes I think. Maybe it's more prominent on the printed page with only one other colour probably red? I was also going to say I never found a talking fox unusual either but he only thinks to himself if memory serves. Basil Brush of course could talk for England.
Basil Brush for Prime Minister is what I say, M. He'd probably do a better job than some of them.
I grew up in a village in the countryside but I never saw any foxes except for one occasion when I watched a group of them with my binoculars.
I assume you're opposed to fox hunting, Kid? In my youth I'd sometimes see a hunt in the distance and hear hunting horns.
You assume correctly, CJ. I'd hunt the effin' hunters and see how they liked it. Terrorising and killing animals for fun isn't a sport, it's a disgrace.
Very cute. No foxes here but I have seen coyotes on my street twice. I’m across the street from some foothills.
You didn't see Elmer Fudd prowling about as well, did you? Or is it just one coyote he fixates on?
Great photos, Kid.
Out here in Chicagoland we live close to the Fox River, although I've never seen a fox in the wild here, even though it is a semi-rural area. It may be that the coyotes keep them away, which are a much tougher breed. Coyotes seem only to appear at dusk, if seen at all. When I was back in the UK in Southsea last summer I saw a fox asleep on top of someone's garage.....there is certainly an increasing urbanisation of foxes in the UK.
I think because mankind is eating into what were once fields and greenbelt with new housing estates, etc., the foxes don't have much choice, B. We're stealing their territory, so they have nowhere else to go. I have to say, I think cubs are cute little buggahs, but so are most baby animals!
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