FOXES are known for their nocturnal antics, which can include trampling your flower beds and digging up your lawn.
One homeowner revealed the DIY tricks she swears by for deterring the animals from her garden.
Commenting on a Reddit post, user Ok_Possibility2812 shared the two items she uses to keep foxes away from her property.
She explained that she found a certain scent to be the most effective at repelling the creatures.
“We use citronella spray and gel balls from a garden centre or Amazon,” the poster revealed.
NAF Off Citronella Spray is currently available for £11.69 from Amazon.
She recommended spraying and scattering the scent in your garden once a week.
The experts at Combat Pest Control explained why citronella is such an effective deterrent.
“Foxes have a very strong sense of smell, and certain scents can be used to repel them from your garden,” they wrote.
They added that foxes are not particularly fond of citrus scents, including citronella.
While the poster swears by her second hack, she pointed out that it might not be as effective as she thinks.
She revealed that she places toy rubber snakes in all of the plant pots in her garden.
“I think it makes a difference in the pots but I could be delusional,” she wrote.
The experts at Wild Anim reported on the relationship between foxes and snakes.
They explained that foxes have actually been known to snack on dead snakes on occasion.
“The fox is an animal whose diet consists of various things, including plant matter and animals,” they wrote.
“Foxes’ preferred diet includes small mammals, birds, and insects, but they may also eat animals such as snakes when given the chance.”
Common pests in the garden don’t need to be a cause for alarm. If you can identify them, you can work on getting rid of them and preventing them from returning.
Aphids (Greenfly, Blackfly)
Aphids are extremely common and can impact plant growth. They have tiny soft pear-shaped bodies, and are usually green or black. You may spot them clustered on the stem of soft shoots – look under leaves in particular – or may find a sticky substance on your plants that gives away aphids have been there sucking at the sap.
Whitefly
These small white-winged insects are related to aphids, at just 1 or 2 mm in length, and look very much like white moths as adults. They can be found on the underside of leaves, preferring younger, fresher leaves. They fly in clusters when you disturb them. Their lifecycle is only three weeks long, which means an infestation can occur very rapidly.
Slugs
An unmissable, squashy-looking body plus small sensory tentacles on its head. Slugs move along on one muscular foot. They range in scale from surprisingly small to terrifyingly large; limax cinereoniger species can grow comfortably beyond 20 cm in length.
Cabbage Moth Caterpillar
Cabbage moth caterpillars happily make their way into the heart of the vegetables, The caterpillars are distinguished in shades of yellow or browny green with no hair.
Mealy Bug
Mealybugs are tiny oval-shaped insects that have a white, powdery wax coating. There are several different species, many of which have what looks like legs coming from their sides and back end. In their earliest stage of life, it’s entirely possible to mistake them for fungus and not recognise them as insects at all.
The Reddit user shared a third suggestion for deterring foxes from your garden.
However, this trick cannot be purchased online and may be off putting to some.
“What has worked the best is numerous dogs coming over and peeing in the garden,” she said.
She explained that she runs a dog daycare and had noticed the reduced number of foxes after hosting canines in her yard.
“Get them peeing all over the garden,m [it] sounds odd but it works well,” she said.
As dogs are known to mark their territory while peeing, it makes sense that this activity helps to deter the animals.
