Can anyone recommend an ultrasonic fox deterrent?

[Adsibob]

We’ve had a lot of fox 💩 on our property recently. It could be a cat, but I’m fairly sure it’s a fox. Actually, I have no evidence either way.

 

 Can anybody recommend an ultrasonic deterrent that can be heard by cats and foxes, but not humans (or dogs, preferably, as we have a canine in our future), please?

 

Amazon has lots of options, but I don’t trust their 4.5 or 5 star reviews anymore, been burnt too many times buying stuff where the reviews had obviously been manipulated, as was a piece of junk.

[Redbeard]

We tried 3 of the things for cats, and perhaps some of them were deaf as well as incontinent, but no obvious sign that they ever worked. I never heard the device but my kids did!

[SteamyTea]

9 hours ago, Redbeard said:

I never heard the device but my kids did!

You got goats as well.

 

To keep foxes our, give the neighbours, in the next street, a gift if some rescued battery hens.

Should do the trick.

[Jilly]

Anecdotally I've heard variable reports about the sonic things working, so it may just depend on the animal. Anything which affects a fox will affect your dog too. Foxes leave very distinctive smell, whereas cat shit smells, well, shitty. Uncastrated tom cat pee is also very distinctive, so if it is that, your local Cat's Protection might put a trap out to catch the cat and castrate it which stops the smell (and the kittens, obviously). Also, if your problem is feline, some people swear by putting lion poop in the garden, which you can buy (!) In the countryside we yokels keep foxes out of a chicken run with very high fences, preferably with a roof and dug in at the bottom, so not much chance of keeping a determined fox out of a suburban garden. UK is in flockdown due to Avian Influenza so foxes might be hungrier than normal... 

[Onoff]

Llamas:

 

https://www.alpacamagic.com.au/livestock-guardians/#:~:text=Yes%2C llamas are elite fox,rid their paddock of foxes.

[Adsibob]

Ok, I will get a llama.

[SteamyTea]

2 minutes ago, Adsibob said:

Ok, I will get a llama.

You need two.

If you want to know what they are like inside.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001d5dw

Who would have thought an autopsy on the radio was brilliant.

 

 

[Adsibob]

@SteamyTea you should know better. An alpaca is different to a llama!

[SteamyTea]

7 hours ago, Adsibob said:

@SteamyTea you should know better. An alpaca is different to a llama!

Taste the same.

[Adsibob]

1 hour ago, SteamyTea said:

Taste the same.

I’ve only ever eaten llama, so I wouldn’t know. Didn’t taste very good, but might have been because the chef overcooked it.

[DevonKim]

I used one for a while to deter cats. It was reasonably effective, but needed to be used in conjunction with other measures though, and I had to move it regularly. Took about 4 months of battling to finally stop them from using the garden as a toilet 😞

[SteamyTea]

11 hours ago, DevonKim said:

but needed to be used in conjunction with other measures

What other methods, and how did you work out the individual effectiveness?

 

I make sharpened slate spikes and put then in my large planters, that seems to keep the neighbours cats out.

[DevonKim]

I grew rather a lot of scotch bonnets, far more than we could eat, and found chopping them up & scattering them around the garden worked well.  I could tell when it was time to refresh them, as the cats ventured back in. 

[twice round the block]

If you live in the country you won't stop foxes.

For cats use kebab sticks in beds and pots. Cats seem to be very attracted to clumps of grasses and fresh top soil.

 

When 5 neighbours had multiple cat's I did revert to an electric fence which worked well. 

As most cat owners don't seem to be keen gardeners, they don't have any comprehension of how much plants cost.

[SteamyTea]

 

 

[Temp]

PIR sensor connected to a sprinkler?

[Ferdinand]

On 03/12/2022 at 13:35, Temp said:

PIR sensor connected to a sprinkler?

 

You get those on Amazon - which allegedly target the water spray in the correct direction.

 

I met 2 foxes in my garden last night, so I'm looking at this thread.

 

On 27/11/2022 at 21:40, DevonKim said:

I used one for a while to deter cats. It was reasonably effective, but needed to be used in conjunction with other measures though, and I had to move it regularly. Took about 4 months of battling to finally stop them from using the garden as a toilet 😞

 

That does not specify what "one" refers to - ultrasound or llama? 🙂

 

I'll be trying ultrasound to see if our urban foxes are sensitive. Plus hopefully a big spring clean in the garden in due course.

 

F

.

 

 

[Adsibob]

On 13/11/2022 at 21:39, Jilly said:

if your problem is feline, some people swear by putting lion poop in the garden, which you can buy

Was discussing this with a friend today who is from South Africa. I can understand why this method works there - over thousands of years of evolution, cats have learned that Lions are king. But do cats in the UK have any lineage to cats which lived in countries inhabited by lions? 
 

(Revisiting this thread, as 8 months on the llama escaped and we now having problems with poo in the garden again.)

Edited July 30, 2023 by Adsibob

[Adsibob]

On 18/12/2022 at 10:21, Ferdinand said:

I'll be trying ultrasound to see if our urban foxes are sensitive. Plus hopefully a big spring clean in the garden in due course.

@Ferdinand how did you get on with this?

[Onoff]

8 hours ago, Adsibob said:

Revisiting this thread, as 8 months on the llama escaped

 

Is it still at large? 

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, Onoff said:

 

Is it still at large? 

[Onoff]

44 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

 

Next you'll be quoting Mia Wallace's short lived TV series!

[SteamyTea]

5 minutes ago, Onoff said:

 

Next you'll be quoting Mia Wallace's short lived TV series!

Ketchup

[Adsibob]

Returning to the issue at hand, I saw this in the Express. I generally don’t trust anything that paper prints, but could this be true:

 

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/garden/1658271/how-to-deter-foxes-from-garden-tea-bags-natural-repellent/amp
 

[joe90]

All you need to do is spray or dip your old tea bags into peppermint, eucalyptus oil or deep-heat muscle treatment – anything strong-smelling that uses natural derivatives.
Then, plant your scented tea bags into problem areas of the garden where foxes tend to cause havoc and cover them with soil to hide them.”