se15mologist

Well the STV Defender 620 ultrasound unit has packed in 3 times now, last time spewing irritating noise that annoyed neighbours 2 doors down in the middle of the night. I phone STV Pest Control's customer service line and they were not helpful, though they agreed the unit was defective and should be returned. That's definitely out of service. It is a shame because it seemed more powerful than the FoxWatch units, and more effective. Shame it is not built to the same quality. I will see how I do with my two FoxWatch units and maybe buy another one if necessary. I have to say the foxes are beginning to sneak back into the garden, in some cases lingering. There is still a much lower incidence of fox crap on the lawn, but it's heading back to around one a day. Rubbish is coming back into the garden as well. It's still better than finding four or five items of crap or rubbish each morning. But I suppose I have to accept that the foxes are either adapting to the ultrasound, or getting very good at not triggering it. Or both. Or possibly they are hungrier and colder now, with almost no fallen fruit around, and so getting bolder or more desperate.

Excellent! Do you do house calls? :-)

dulwichbeekeeper Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > .22 rim fire = no foxes .22 rim fire vs foxes, without specific Fox permission on Firearms Certificate = jail. :) Does the relevant Firearms Control Officer for East Dulwich permit foxes to be taken with .22 rim fire? Many counties don't permit shooting foxes with firearms unless the firearm is considerably heavier firearm than that.

I should clarify that my garden is only 20' x 60', despite the coverage of one FoxWatch unit being advertised at around 1200 square meters (or something). I still need three units. Going across the width of the garden, 20', the detection range is only about 12' instead of the advertised 30'-40'. I think it's because the fence and herbaceous borders in the 'background' create clutter for the PIR sensor in the unit. Going along the long axis of the garden I get pretty much the advertised detection range, except for when there are obstacles in the way - trees, shrubs, steps up or down, anything other than flat empty lawn really. At dusk tonight I saw a couple of foxes (or the same fox twice?) shuttle through the very back of the garden, right up against the back fence. I left this area uncovered, partly because it would take 1 or 2 extra units to cover it, and partly on purpose. I believe it was Sun Tzu in the Art of War who advised, always leave your enemy an escape route. :) Perhaps it's not very public spirited of me, since this corridor allows the foxes to continue to range up and down all the gardens on my side of the street.. However I believe that if I give the foxes no way to get through, they will just grit their teeth and go through the 100 decibel ultrasound regardless, and then they will get used to it and it will no longer function as an effective deterrent.

All summer we have had extended family groups of foxes partying on our back lawn. They can barely be bothered to wander off when we shoo them - they give us a withering look and amble away, in their own time. Now that family season is over and foxes are solitary, we see them in smaller groups, but we still see them. They tear the grass up, drag in fairly disgusting rubbish (pooey nappie cleanup anyone?), and leave frankly disgusting faeces - usually three or four a day, and more or less impossible to fully dispose of. We called Foxolution (referenced above) but they did not return our calls, too busy I suspect. We called Fox-a-gone and they showed up. They were very professional, humane and ecological in their approach, and offered some good advice: -Remove any water or food sources - paddling pools, water features, fruit on bushes or trees, bird seed in feeders. -Make sure your neighbours aren't feeding the foxes. ;) -Male urine doesn't really work (I tried it persistently without result), and your garden ends up smelling like a French pissoir -However Scoot does work and male urine as an additive to Scoot can't hurt. They sprayed with Scoot, but it only works until the next rainfall, which was the following day. I reapplied Scoot but I can't say it had any effect. Get Off My Lawn, sold at the garden centre by ED train station, has the same active ingredient (ammonium alumunium sulphate?) They advised works to ensure that vixens did not settle in parts of the garden to breed. Under sheds, under decks, places like that. Their quote for this work was pretty reasonable, and I will probably do it before the next breeding season. They said that on a scale of 1 to 10, our fox problem was not even a 1, which was sort of, well, not that encouraging really. I bought one FoxWatch unit but that was not enough. The foxes easily outmaneuvered it. Two units (from primrose.co.uk) was slightly better. The foxes helpfully marked the blind spots for me by delivering a nasty poo into the non-covered areas. A third unit, this time an STV Big Cheese from Shaun's hardware shop opposite ED station (35 quid), completed the coverage. As of yesterday the coast appears clear. But I'm not counting my chickens. Which is exactly what I would be doing, if I kept any.