Fox cubs in the garden

admin
, 28 May 2019
Fox cubs in the garden
fox cubs © Marilyn Dewar

By Charlotte Owen

WildCall Officer

Last night there were definitely two shoes outside the back door but this morning there is only one, and it’s been half-buried in a nearby flowerpot.  A punctured football has appeared behind the shed and the car-washing sponge, left out to dry, has been ripped into yellow confetti and scattered over the grass.  If you’ve been noticing curious incidents in the garden at night-time, you’ve probably been visited by fox cubs.

Born in March, they started life as little balls of black fluff with their eyes and ears still closed to the world.  Urban cubs are often born under a garden shed or similar outbuilding, which provides an ideal ready-made home.  Vixens can squeeze through surprisingly small gaps to access these areas and will enlarge them to their liking in preparation for the new arrivals.  They don’t bother with any bedding though and the cubs are born onto bare earth, typically four or five in a litter but sometimes up to 12.  They are completely reliant on their mother’s milk and warmth for the first two weeks of their lives, so she rarely leaves them unattended.  Staying hidden underground, she relies on her mate to hunt and bring her food while she keeps constant guard.

The cubs open their eyes at two weeks and begin a wobbly exploration of the den.  At four weeks they’ll venture outside for the first time, still a dark, chocolatey brown but beginning to moult into their adult coat and often looking quite patchy.  By six weeks the transformation is complete and their short ears and snub noses have elongated into distinctively foxy faces. 

They are now old enough to explore the garden with gusto.  Boisterous and inquisitive, they bound about with their siblings, playing, chasing and wrestling like typical puppies.  Anything left outside overnight is fair game, from gardening gloves to laundry, and these discovered ‘toys’ will be tossed, tugged, chewed and buried for safekeeping.  They will eventually grow out of this behaviour over the summer months as they become increasingly self-sufficient, and by September the cubs will be almost indistinguishable from their parents.

Leave a comment

Comments

  • Peter Gasson:

    I’m also getting visitors overnight and finding all sorts of things from crisp bags to plastic flower pots with chewed edges very similar to when I had puppies, they are very excited to find raw chicken wings left out in the evening with fruit biscuits

    30 May 2019 11:15:00

  • Jean Fenney:

    We have 3 foxes that visit and share the hedgehogs food with them plus any scraps we leave out for them, they all seem to get on very well together

    30 May 2019 13:28:00

  • Anna Rahman:

    One form of fox cub play that I’ve observed for several years is that the cubs race up and down rows of onions and garlic; perhaps they like the sound of the long hollow leaves clattering. They often break the leaves and stop the growth of the bulb and I’ve stopped bothering with that particular crop.

    30 May 2019 14:22:00

  • Tessa Moore:

    My daughter in London has five fox clubs living under her decking to the despair of her dog. How long will they be living there? Thanks

    30 May 2019 18:21:00

  • Ed Edwards:

    Foxes are beautiful creatures

    30 May 2019 19:11:00

  • Jane Barlow:

    The foxes hav such regular routes each night the garden is a network of fox footpaths. I have to keep digging over the earth to stop the compression!

    30 May 2019 20:30:00

  • Libby Lovegrove:

    For the first time foxes have been sighted near Broome in the far north west of Australia where I live.

    31 May 2019 02:48:00

  • Jane baker:

    I have 4 foxes who turn up every morning @ 4am for breakfast. Last year we had 8. Lovely to watch . The blonde one we call Gloria Swansan.

    31 May 2019 07:23:00

  • Maria Prytz:

    I have 4 fox Cubs and mum living under my shed. They are out during the day sunbathing! And playing dusk till dawn. Mum comes out on her own about 7am to have some quiet time. It’s quite incredible.

    31 May 2019 14:50:57

  • Steve Dubois:

    I wish I’d known that the sound of cubs being moved wasn’t the sound of some animal being killed. It sounds brutal!

    16 Jun 2019 00:41:00

  • Mrs Michelle Dean:

    We have large summer house bottom of garden & decking in front side s and back have small stones just found 6 little tunnels at back some on both sides and 1 big hole each side. After information how to find out as are distorting summer house. Regards Shelley /Mrs m Dean.

    26 Mar 2021 00:10:00

  • Lynn seeley:

    I live in the country and most nights I feed the foxes we have had 6 foxes come in to our garden at one time I watch then from the bedroom window I just love it they are just wonderful animals

    17 Apr 2021 21:22:00

  • SATISH:

    Have 3 beautiful baby fox in my shad wonder how long they will live in new born

    17 Apr 2022 12:04:00

  • Dean Burford:

    We have 5 cubs in the garden this year. Hardly ever see the parents but the cubs seem to just play all day. They are very dark in colour so still 4-6 weeks I guess. We dont feed them.
    They hate the rain and also thunder…sends them scuttering under the rhododendron bush.
    Seem healthy enough so assume the parents are feeding them but we hardly ever see adults.
    So very cute looking will try and get some photos/videos.
    Deano

    10 May 2023 08:52:00

  • Sussex Wildlife Trust:

    The vixen is more inclined to come out at dawn and dusk for foraging, but the cubs are much less picky and will come out during the day to play and explore their new surroundings. Nothing to worry about. Andy Fry, WildCall Officer

  • Mrs Mary D Boorman:

    wonderful – we have some in our garden under our summerhouse Wonderful experience just now x

    12 May 2023 19:28:00

  • Julie Cully:

    We have 9 cubs under our shed. They have appeared while we were on holiday. The mother tried to move them today after our return but failed as she couldn’t carry them up over our 6 foot walls and they kept running back. I’ve made a ramp for her but she seems to have given up for now

    26 Apr 2024 00:18:00

  • Brian Maley:

    we have a problem with fox cubs chewing on car brake pipes ,assumingly to sharpen their teeth ,how can we stop this ,obviously a very dangerous safety hazard .

    02 Jun 2024 08:49:00

  • john avey:

    a person was feeding the foxes near ,and then she stopped and one night one of them stood and looked at me in the window and started making funny noises and high pitched,and asi looked out at him he kept making all different noises,he was trying to tell me something.

    24 Apr 2025 20:00:00

  • Pat Fawcett:

    There are two cubs and two adults that live in the bank behind my flat

    30 Apr 2025 12:49:00

  • Maryann Gray:

    I have four cubs that live under the decking of my neighbours garden. They have been tearing my garden apart for years, this is worse year as there are four cub, I love my garden but this year I could cry. The whole lawn is full of holes and the plants dragged away, what can I do, please help and advise me

    03 Jun 2025 06:56:00

  • Sussex Wildlife Trust:

    Hi Maryann. We are big on encouraging wildlife into gardens, but understand this can be a tricky balance sometimes. The RSPCA has some advice which you may find useful: https://www.rspca.org.uk/advic.... 

  • Marita Brown:

    My fox and four cubs have been in my garden since their birth under the shed. Suddenly yesterday they disappeared. Is this normal behavior?
    Marita

    22 May 2026 19:27:00

Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1783330207.42610 [906] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1783330207.4590.0329Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1783330207.45920.0002Server address: 216.73.216.170
1783330207.45930Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1783330207.45930Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/fox-cubs-in-the-garden
    [s] => fox-cubs-in-the-garden
    [1] => fox-cubs-in-the-garden
)
1783330207.45960.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783330207.46060.0011 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1783330207.46280.0022 [1] SELECT locationID FROM swt_shop_tax_locations WHERE locationIsHome=1 LIMIT 1
1783330207.46340.0006INSERT INTO swt_shop_cart(memberID,locationID,currencyID,cartPricing,cartProperties) VALUES(NULL,'1',47,'standard','[]')
1783330207.46550.0021 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22683175
1783330207.46610.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22683175
1783330207.46680.0007 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-07-06 09:30:00' AND saleTo>'2026-07-06 09:30:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1783330207.46820.0014 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='fox-cubs-in-the-garden')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-06 09:30:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1783330207.47110.0029 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1783330207.47180.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=1778 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-06 09:30:00'
1783330207.47270.0009 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1783330207.47350.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1783330207.47430.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=181 LIMIT 1
1783330207.47480.0005 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=91 LIMIT 1
1783330207.47550.0007Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783330207.47570.0002 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1783330207.47670.001 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-06 09:30:00' AND postSlug='fox-cubs-in-the-garden'
1783330207.50450.0278Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783330207.5050.0005 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1783330207.50690.0019Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1783330207.50710.0002 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1783330207.5080.0009 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1783330207.50950.0015 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783330207.51330.0038 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783330207.5140.0007 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783330207.51660.0027Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1783330207.51670 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783330207.51750.0008 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783330207.5180.0005 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783330207.52060.0026 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783330207.52160.001 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783330207.52240.0008 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783330207.52540.0029 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783330207.52630.001 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1783330207.52920.0029 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1783330207.52970.0005Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783330207.530.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1783330207.53070.0007Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1783330207.53110.0003 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='fox-cubs-in-the-garden')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-06 09:30:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1783330207.53360.0025 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1783330207.5340.0005 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783330207.53660.0026Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1783330207.53730.0007 [21] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=1778 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1783330207.60030.063 [21] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1783330207.60490.0046Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783330207.60510.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1783330207.6060.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1783330207.6070.001 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1783330207.60760.0006 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783330207.61020.0026 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783330207.61080.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783330207.61320.0025 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783330207.6140.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1783330207.61460.0006 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1783330207.6150.0004 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783330207.61810.003 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783330207.61880.0008 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783330207.62150.0027 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783330207.62480.0033 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1783330207.62570.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1783330207.62630.0006 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783330207.62930.003 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783330207.630.0007 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783330207.63280.0028 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783330207.63530.0025 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1783330207.6360.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1783330207.63650.0005 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783330207.63930.0028 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783330207.63980.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783330207.64230.0025 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783330207.64380.0015Request time: 0.2199
1783330207.64380Process time: 0.2197
1783330207.64380Memory: 1.6814