what about one of them high pitched silent infared alarms that should do it .

There maybe an underlying problem, Are they after some smaller animal under your decking?

Thanks Nosey I have seen those and will go and investigate !
2ndhand, eeeeeekkkkk! are you serious? Funny you should mention that but we saw a fox the other day walking boldly down our garden(coming from fields!) with a huge rat in its mouth. Dont think they are under our deck, but how would we know? Thanks in advance.

I would also suspect there is something attracting them. Sounds like something is using your decking? Could food have fallen down the decking and built up, this would attract vermin? I think if it was a dead animal it would smell? It sounds like you do need to have a good look under your decking? What about your household rubbish is this secure? One other thing is do you have small pets yourself?

it would be obvious if they were denning under your decking which is possible so if you havnt had a realy good look round your decking perhaps you should . when foxes/dogs go to the toilet they are also sending a very clear message about terratory grandmage x .

dogs/foxes also smell an area before they use it so maybe a strong pepper sprinkled libberaly or the old lion poo theory thow the more i here about that the more i doubt its effect .

Thanks Drc. Our decking was built very securely, with closed in sections beneath the top layer so nothing could get in between, only the smallest of creatures, like slugs and snails and I am sure there are hundreds of those under there. I think we would know by now if there are rats etc, because they breed fairly fast so we would be aware of them running around (eeeek) there seems to be no signs. I remember seeing a stat. that one pair of rats makes two thousand in a year, Oh help, but am sure its not that. Also household rubbish is in the form of wheelie bins and we have no animals!
Nosey, laugh about the lion poo we tried some once and had local cats and foxes rolling in it and messing too it seemed to excite them! so thats a no no, however we are going to the GC. to see whats on offer, maybe the pepper might work. Thanks all for your kind thoughts. :0)

I wonder if a good soaking with an outdoor cleaner such as Armillatox might destroy any territorial smells it smells very strong itself for 24 hours - its use is as a moss killer and treating any slippery areas such as sleepers.

you wont get rid of the smell but you mite upset there noses sniffing pepper etc drc . i still think the high frequancy pir will be the thing but foxes are very clever .good luck anyway x .

We purchased a tin cat with staring eyes to keep cats out and all the local cats used to rub themselves against it, hilarious and a waste of money, still it kept us amused. Thanks Drc. will have a go at the cleaning and let you know ! At the moment I have placed two litre bottles of water at the top of the steps because someone told me that works, we shall see! and thanks Nosey, will keep you posted.

Foxes are very good diggers to get under garden structures, if they can. They have, tried times without number, to get under the workshop and the gazebo. Sometimes succeeded, denned without us noticing, until the cubs got lively. Usually, at this time of the year, the urban foxes round us, seem to disperse. Jeyes Fluid was our choice, just for the satisfaction of putting it down the hole, waiting a while, and then blocking it with something immovable. They are blinking nuisance once they take a fancy to your property. Do not waste money on gizmos the foxes take no notice whatsoever of them.

thats what i thaught realy dorjac but a pir is the best chance . there not called sly old foxes for nothing . personaly i would make them into a plus and get a light and watch them . are they realy a negative in a garden ?
a dog and a dog flap mite do it but you mite end up with bigger problems on your decking lol .

Thanks Dorjac, I love to see foxes in the garden especially this time of the year, their red coats match the trees! They are lovely creatures BUT not when they use my deck as a loo! Listen to this, I purchased two litre bottles of water from Morri, 18p each took the labels off and laid them on their side on the top deck step, guess what, no poo last night!!!!!!!!! Now explain that?? Will keep you informed. Thanks all.

We have some lovely video/CD of the fox cubs playing. Very cute. But they trashed the upper part of my quite well kept garden. They love 'toys' too....fast food boxes....bags of dirty nappies.....dead pet bunnies......the odd rat for dinner.....very entertaining. Then one of four cubs of gets a gammy leg. His sibs and parents deserted him. He stayed under the shed for an extra 2 weeks, kept in by blocking the bottom of the garden gate, sibs kept out. Fed him raw chicken and scattered dry catfood, as he was abandoned.....built him up, then he shot off when the blocker taken off. When he went, fox fleas swarmed out from under the shed near the door.....they really pack a wallop those fleas...so it goes on.

thats a shame but the foxes were here first . i love my nature .

nature is cruel got to be said . theres a war going on in our gardens as we speak .

Funny Nosey, there is one in our garden too I have been watching out the window, they are making a hell of a row !! They havn't dared to come past the water bottles yet!!

well im realy glad about that xx

If I had a large garden, where we could leave the end of it 'wild' and undisturbed.....nettles for butterflies and a big brush and log heap...bluebells and long grass I would be over the moon....foxes could make whoopee down there. Our garden is 5 mins walk from town centre and 40 by 50 feet. 47 years ago when we moved to this town few urban foxes existed here. They were in the country where my friends husband used to shoot them from the bedroom window on the farm, if he could. That is why they come to town. Discarded take away food attracts them. They are often very thin mangy and flea ridden.

Dorjac, I have seen many foxes thin and with mange, but they cannot help that, poor things. The ones we have in our garden at the moment are really beautiful with lovely glossy coats and good thick brushes for tails. I love any animal from a distance but I hate them pooing everywhere though, I worry about our grandson playing in the garden and falling into it.
ps. my water bottles are still working!!

brilliant grandmage im glad about that and fully agree with you .

Thanks everso. Nosey and all.

your more than welcome grandmage x .

:0)) xxx

xx

Nosey, we cannot go on meeting like this, Lol !!!

why not lol x ?

Ooooohhh you are awful, but I like you !! LOL.

lol xx

I must just tell you all, it has been five days now and not one 'message' has been put on our deck, the foxes will not come past the water bottles ! Can you believe? I was told of this method years ago by a little old Nun in our local convent, when I inquired what all these bottles lying around their garden, were, and I have only just recalled what she said to me! True but bizarre. :0) Will post a photo soon.

wow thats well worth knowing if you have problems . i just hope they dont learn to know that there harmless but ill keep my fingers crossed for you lol . i remember seeing a couple of african wildlife photogragher/film makers called mad mark and mike . this bloke would go right up to lions on a kill and all he needs if they threaten him is a toilet roll . they are realy scared because its out of the ordinary to them . he just stands there if an elephant charges him even if it comes right up close then he makes them back up lol . definatly mad

If it works Grandmage....its brilliant! The only time a plastic bottle lying about the scenery ever been known to be of use to humanity!!!!!! Great dialogue between you and NoseyP. Now have you any Nun's Nuggets for keeping Calico Cat from lurking beneath a small shrub under the bird feeders apart from scalping it......the shrub not the cat? Come to think of it.......it saves on bird seed. Or I have some spiky fence toppings might do the trick. I bet she'd sit on them and suffer just to feed her addiction.

Nosey how incredible is that, 'a toilet roll' !! Dont think I would trust a loo roll to keep a charging animal at bay, would you ? Amazing though.
Dorjac, this method of mine is daft eh? How to explain it is bizarre! re. your cat, eating the birds, that is one reason I am afraid that I do not like our furry friends because I love the birds, we had had a budgie for ten years only to have next doors cat come in our house and take the bird out and kill it, we were devastated, :0(

Calico Cat is not our pussy cat Grandmage she is an interloper, plus Mr Blobby, her son. Now Spooky has decided that the sheltered accom next door is better food source than commandeering our garden, and haunting me, and seeing those two off. I thought when the Two Mousesketeers from next door but one moved house, we would be free of pussy cats who are OCD with birdwatching. Twas not to be. So far they havn't killed any that I can see.

I love your names for them Dorjac ! At least they catch mice, which is one thing I forgot !!

There are cute little brown mice in the compost heap at the moment .Natures little helpers! One shot down a hole in the middle of the heap yesterday when I threw in the vacuum dust and my hair. I think I am going bald. There is a mini woodpile next to the compost bin for all creatures great and small. I think that why there are so many visitors. Some welcome and some not so happily entertained.

Dorj. I think sometimes its best not to know what little creatures are in our gardens, or, I for one would not go out there!!! Lol.

i dont think i could if the truthe be known but i see the logic in that .you have the benefit of being a human and understanding and seeing so much more than a lion but trust me if you ran towards something ie the human that seamed weak but didnt budge with you doing your best to scare it then produced something completly unknown totaly alian in front of you calmly you would run lol . there is so much to learn from animals as i do if anything study animals even on telly you can learn so much .

Very true Nosey, they are amazing creatures really, maybe us humans could learn from their behaviour sometimes!! Did you see that guy who lives with wolves?? Facinating.

i love all that stuff i study my dogs all the time when they intereact with each other . if we dont learn from nature soon it will be to late for us all .

Good point Nosey!!

yes sadly it is a good point grand x .