Southern NY, Dutchess county and below

[smkchick]

Thanks for the yucks everyone! i had a great time reading everyone's posts.

Planning a coupla day getaway for the weekend school ends. Looking at Massachusetts B&Bs.

 

[Imprfctme]

Oh I'm gonna go steal the railing from my husbands porch!!
It used to be my house too, so why not. He won't miss them.

Here's the funny thing about those railings: I had to install a handicap ramp for my father-in-law when they came to move in with us. I ended up having to remove the original stair railings. The first year I tied them together at the top and used them as a cucumber frame, which worked great, btw. Then I ended up using them in the coop. Still have a dozen more ideas for them and I'm not even close to done yet. ;-) The railings are already outlasting the ramp which is now just extra stuff in front of the house after my in-laws moved out 6 months after moving in. So far though what they are really good for is the chicks, who hide under them. The big ladies are a tad "fluffy" aka fat to really get up there. I'm sure you could find some railings on any old demo site.

I took the puppy out to obedience class tonight and while I was gone my sister in law said another fox ran through the back-yard. She checked and it wasn't the other one that escaped or anything. (The guy is coming at 10am tomorrow). I told my next-door neighbor about catching the fox, you know, the one that was miffed about me having chickens and she told me, "Oh we had to trap about 6 of them last summer. They were living in our rocks." Argh! Now you mention it to me? Not like I have young kids or anything, you stupid itch. I suspect some of them came back or new ones moved in. Guess I will be using the trap all summer long now.

The answer to the question as for bait is just a can of chunky dog food spread out everywhere with the majority in a dish at the back of the trap. I also left one of the hens jelly eggs near the entrance, but I think it went rotten cause something absolutely reeks. Either the fox poo'ed or there's rotten egg smell there or both.

Off to walk the dog for the final time tonight, I'm just too tired to stay up late. She's going to wake me up around 5:30am anyway!

 

[Imprfctme]

Oo, finally got to check the trail cam pictures and the scoop is the fox stopped by around 9:50pm - 10:20pm last night and ate all the food that was outside the trap. It came back at 1:30 this afternoon (!!) and decided to risk getting the food inside the trap. It snapped at 1:40pm. I came by at 1:46pm and found it. Holy guacamole as we say in our family! At least it wasn't trapped all night, but it's kinda scary to think about the little bugger being right there loose 6 mins before I came by. I ended up giving it some left over balogna just now, I feel bad for the little guy. He's missing fur from the end of his nose and his eyes seem trapped in a squint. Ugh.

 

[Imprfctme]

Here's the movie:

 

[Cheeky Chick]

Here's the movie:

Great video! Something is terribly the matter with that fox. You're right about the mange-on his ears, but his body condition is wrong too. Is he somewhat old? He looks to be very underweight, and having a hard time chewing bologna. Did the wildlife guy come and get him yet? I'd be hesitant to relocate him, I'd be doing health testing to make sure he doesn't have a communicable disease.

 

[Cheeky Chick]

Oo, finally got to check the trail cam pictures and the scoop is the fox stopped by around 9:50pm - 10:20pm last night and ate all the food that was outside the trap. It came back at 1:30 this afternoon (!!) and decided to risk getting the food inside the trap. It snapped at 1:40pm. I came by at 1:46pm and found it. Holy guacamole as we say in our family! At least it wasn't trapped all night, but it's kinda scary to think about the little bugger being right there loose 6 mins before I came by. I ended up giving it some left over balogna just now, I feel bad for the little guy. He's missing fur from the end of his nose and his eyes seem trapped in a squint. Ugh.

The missing fur and eye squint are symptoms of Sarcoptic Mange-HIGHLY contagious to humans. Don't touch him or anything he's touched-soak the trap in disinfectant before touching it without gloves too.
He probably won't be relocated.

But it's great he's away from your family and pets! Mange is horrible, and it's indicative of an immunodeficiency.

 

[stoopid]

That fox is just nasty

I would disinfect anything near where he was.
And I am sure there are more sickly ones where he came from.
Congrats on the catch!

 

[Dirty Dozen]

The missing fur and eye squint are symptoms of Sarcoptic Mange-HIGHLY contagious to humans. Don't touch him or anything he's touched-soak the trap in disinfectant before touching it without gloves too.
He probably won't be relocated.

But it's great he's away from your family and pets! Mange is horrible, and it's indicative of an immunodeficiency.

Fox get mange that can be spread to dogs. They die from it pretty miserably. He might be better off put down than relocated.

 

[smkchick]

Wow, Heather. Great video. I don't know much about foxes, but I do know bologna. That was no Oscar Mayer you were handing out! Can I come live with you?

 

[smkchick]

Well, now that I'm all itchy reading about fox mange, here's the latest on Brutus. The sweet little orange boy was having eye gunk again, so I gave him another bath (no fleas this time) and checked his ears. Big time ear gunk too. Then I noticed the fur on his little orange ears was missing. oops. Back to the vet yesterday. No mange, thank God, but .... wait for it... ringworm. eeeww. Oh yeah, and conjunctivitis and ear mites, too.

Everything we washed to get rid of possible flea infestation has to be rewashed to get rid of possible ringworm infection. Everything he sleeps on is now covered in an easily washable sheet. Eye meds three times a day and skin meds twice a day. Another ear mite treatment in 2 weeks.

I read somewhere that having pets lowers your blood pressure...