The importance of persistence when deterring foxes
When searching for a suitable fox repellent, it’s very tempting to think that in order for a product to be deemed ‘successful’, you should be able to use the deterrent on Wednesday and the fox would be gone on Thursday.
Indeed, if you look at any fox deterrent products on Amazon, the comments section is often littered with disappointed people declaring a product a failure because it didn’t instantly solve their urban fox problem.
Here is a good example on a popular and effective fox repellent:
“Useless! I’m sure the foxes were laughing as I sprayed this around the garden liberally, they certainly were out as usual straight afterwards.”
Not intended as a criticism of this person in any way, this type of comment is fairly common as most people, quite understandably, are not fully aware of the psychology and behaviour of foxes.
Our expectations of how a repellent should work probably comes from our experience with insect repellent.
If we use a deet-based mosquito repellent, for example, mosquitoes are instantly repelled. However, repelling and deterring foxes doesn’t work in quite the same way.
Successful, long term fox deterrence requires an understanding of how foxes operate.
Repelling foxes requires understanding foxes
Foxes are resilient and adaptable creatures that have been able to thrive in our towns and cities for decades and this helps to explain why there are around 33,000 of them living in urban areas.
They are inquisitive and persistent, with excellent hunting and scavenging capabilities and, as with most wild animals, they are constantly on the lookout for food and danger.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, foxes are territorial animals who will do their utmost to protect their territories.
Bearing all these characteristics in mind, it may be more obvious that foxes are not animals that you can get rid of quickly, no matter how much you wish it were so.
If the fox is persistent then you need to be even more persistent and employ a great deal of patience in order to achieve success.
Persist with fox repellents to change their behaviour
If you put down a scent-based repellent, the fox will sniff it and will try to overpower it with it’s own scent.
If you use an ultrasonic device, a fox will inspect it, sniff it and possibly attack it and urinate on it.
However these reactions are perfectly normal and are not a sign that the deterrent product has failed.
In fact, it’s quite the opposite, showing that your deterrent is disturbing the fox – which is exactly what you want.
Changing a fox’s behaviour over time is the key element here and you need to be consistent and persistent with your fox repellent.
If you spray some Scoot Fox Repellent on your garden, then keep spraying it for a sustained period. If it rains, spray it again. If you see the fox in your garden, spray it again.
If you use a FoxWatch Ultrasonic Deterrent, plug it into the mains, aim it at the point a fox comes in and keep it switched on.
If you use a waterproof radio as a deterrent, put it in your garden and keep it switch on at a low volume.
You need to be on the fox’s case constantly otherwise you wont get the success you desire. In the cases of the FoxWatch and the Radio, there’s not even much effort required from you!
Simply play around with the placements and leave the things switched on!
Keep on keeping on to deter foxes for good
In conclusion, if you want foxes out of your garden and away from your property, find your favoured fox repellent technique(s) and keep on and on and on with it until the fox realises that it is not welcome in your garden.
Get in the mind of a fox and make your garden as unattractive and unwelcoming a place as possible, to enable it to be a more welcoming place for you!
