To our delight and excitement, a fox family – or families – moved into the tree stump den in late May and we were able to watch them for about 5 days before they moved out.
I say “family – or families” because there were two mamas, six kits, and one papa. There were very clearly two separate litters; three of the kits were quite obviously a few weeks younger than the other three. The youngsters still had dark fur and blunt noses, and they were very much on the losing end when their older half-siblings “played” with them.
Dan pulled this video together as an announcement – to let everyone know to take a look at our livestream. Now that the foxes have gone, we’ll publish other videos showing some of the fun and games that they got up to while they were with us.
5 Comments
Wow! You guys are great. I’m in Wimberley and last year mama fox showed up with missing patches of fur, which I’m pretty sure is mange, but I don’t know a lot about mange. I managed to give her a Bravecto chew (she hates the taste and spits it out, but I managed, which is a long story…). BUT: About 30 seconds into your video, a mama also has big patches of fur missing. Do you think this is mange, or could it be normal? Our own Foxy Mama has what I think is mange again right now, and I can post it on Instagram for you to see, or email it to you. We also have her 2 adult kids from last year (Roxy and Bad Boy) and her current mate (Mr. Fox). Any insights you have would be welcome. FYI: My vet says Bravecto is safe bc if an animal has heartworm, ivermectin and other meds will kill it.) – Thank you!
Good to hear from you, Kate. Our guess would be that your mama fox has mange. Feel free to email us a photo or video (texasbackyardwildlife@gmail.com) but I suspect your guess will be as good as ours. Gray foxes do get mange and that’s probably what ails her.
We think our Scruffles mama on the live stream probably has mange, too. We’ve tried to treat her with ivermectin a few times – we rub a little gel onto pieces of chicken and then lob them to her when she’s in the yard – but she tends to take all food back to the family, so she’s hard to treat. I think what I need to do is throw her a tiny treated piece of hotdog or chicken that’s just too small to carry back to the den.
I’d try Scruffles on Bravecto but I might have to get you to teach me your technique for getting a fox to swallow something she doesn’t like! I just tried to dose one of the raccoon mamas for fleas and she turned her nose up at everything I attempted to feed her (fussy little thing). I’ll have to get more inventive with her. Normally, the raccoons will walk over hot coals for a half a Nutter Butter with ground-up flea meds in it, but not this one – she probably wanted a whole Nutter Butter.
Ivermectin also treats internal parasitic worms, so we think it’s good stuff – just like Bravecto. Better living through pharmaceuticals, right?
I found Bravetco much more effective and much easier to use. I have used this method multiple times with red foxes in Europe. I recommend you cut out a long tube hole (length-wise) inside of a large chicken sausage using a strong straw. Cut the pill into pieces and introduce this inside the hole . Cover the opening with sausage meat and skin. Can be used with lactating mothers . Dosage: Bravetco chews for dogs use the dosage for the same weight for the fox, eg for 7kg fox use dog bravetco use the chew for a 4kg to 10kg dog. Should watch in real time to reduce the risk of smaller mamals taking the medicated sausage. If this risk is high you can place a half dose each in two v large sausages near to each other as the smaller mamal will usually not be able to carry both which will give you time to remove the 2nd sausage. If the fox is very sick you may need to repeat in 1 month. It is best to medicate as soon as possible because it becomes very difficult to target the medicated sausage once you have many sick foxes in one location. Good luck
Thank you! We will give it a try. Our Scruffles mama fox isn’t getting worse, and she seemingly doesn’t feel sick, but she’s not getting better either. We’re used to seeing fur growing back after about a month of treatment, and it’s probably been 6 weeks.
No one else seems to have mange, and maybe that’s not what she’s got, but we’ll get some Bravecto and follow your instructions. Very, very helpful. We have to give her tiny pieces of food or she’ll just take whatever we throw to her back to feed the family. Small things we can entice her into eating here.
She’s such a great little fox. So hard-working. I know that’s rampant anthropomorphism but she really is diligent.
In that case, if the fox is not to skitish with a bowl, another possibility is to crumble the bravetco in wet catfood that has a lot of sauce. Use a heavy bowl and place something heavy around it so the fox cannot turn it over and you can ascertain that all the sauce/medication is gone. I have used this method only twice, but it worked. Thanks for your beautiful videos.