'Fox behavior'

Fox_NEXUS from The Shopping Kart Ninja website (Contact Member) -

Ok, I've been writing a book and in it my main character has a pet fox he rescued as a kit and raised. So here's what I'm asking. If anyone has a pet fox, could you help me with some of the behavior? Like what will they do if they're hyper, relaxed, affectionate, etc?

Comment #1 FOXYMOLLY from SOUTH CAROLINA (Contact Member) -

My husband has had a pet artic fox for fourteen years now and we have had her together for five of those years. She was raised out of the wild but still has shown plenty of wild characteristics. As a young fox she would take any chance to run away through the neighborhood only returning for food and could easily jump privacy fences- often stooping atop the 6 ft. fence to get a good look all around. Although small she is the alpha over our huge male dog. She is much older now and spends most of her time in her "den" under our bed where it is dark and only sleeps curled up in a tight circle. She will also sleep under the couch. Due to her wild instincts she always jumps when someone pets her (even my husband and I)like she is always expecting something to sneek up on her. I believe the only reason she is tame now is because she was spayed. Now that she is older she is much the same as a regular dog, but for ten years she was too wild to train. P.S She doesn't like faces too close to her own and also does not like to be held/picked up. She hates being confined in new places and at 15lbs. can tear down plantation blinds. However she will let my husband rub her belly! Good luck with your book!

Comment #2 jay singer (68.230.159.103) -

we have a family of foxes on our land and are wondering how to find their den and what to do about encouraging them to leave.

Comment #3 Zicoxite (99.156.91.77) -

Jay-

Don't worry about finding their den, they will leave on their own given proper reason. The best ways to encourage them to leave include keeping your property maintained and landscaped (leaving areas to grow wild makes a great denning place for foxes), and allowing a dog to mark the property at random intervals each day. The random intervals are important because foxes catch on to schedules easily. So if you walk a dog around your property at, say, 10am and 4pm each day, the fox will decide it's a safe enough place as long as they aren't there at 10 and 4. If you don't have a dog, talk to on of your friends or neighbors who does and see if they'll help you. If needed, you can mention to said neighbors how much foxes like digging and how it might ruin someone's prized tulips. ;)

Best of luck! - Zicoxite

Comment #4 Wayde Forster from New York (Contact Member) -

JAY The foxes will move as soon as their den starts to smell. Momma foxes due this at regular intervals anyway, so enjoy them while you can.

To Fox Molly-I don't know who told you where your Arctic Fox came from, but its not from the wild. Arctic an red foxes are raised by the thousands on fur farms, and the babies are often offered for sale-I have 14 now myself, have been doing this for nearly 50 yrs, and have never seen a WILD arctic fox in captivity. How can you stand the smell in your house? Foxes have to rate as one of the smelliest animals I have ever kept-about a notch down from tamanduas!

Comment #5 ryan (24.222.146.58) -

hi. i was just wondering if you could help me find out were i could get an baby artic fox.And how much they are. And if there is any bylaws for having one as a pet.. thank you. nova scotia

Comment #6 Jim Redmon (98.30.56.125) -

Arctic foxes come from the arctic, ie. Alaska, northern Canada, Russia, ect. If you have an arctic fox you found in the wild in the US, it escaped or was turned loose from a fur farm or breeder. It acts the way it does because of how and where it was raised. Treat it well as I am sure you have and good luck, it sounds like it is getting old, some people get grumpy as they get older, same apply s to your fox. I am glad you have given her a good home.

Comment #7 Golfer (69.138.175.136) -

I was practicing chipping on the golf course, all alone, on a serene morning a few days ago. I looked away for a moment and when I turned back to chip the next ball a red fox was sitting about 6 feet in front of me. The gender was not apparent, but I think it was female. I asked her to get out of the way, but she didnt and move a little bit closer to me. I was concerned that this was just a little too friendly, even though the animal appeared to be less than a year old, looked clean, well fed, and healthy, and had probably been watching golfers its entire life. Just to see what she'd do, I rolled a ball toward her. She stopped the ball with her nose, checked it out, and looked back at me. So I began rolling balls to her, and she chased them, pounced on them, and seemed to be having fun. After about 10 minutes she lost interest and wandered into the woods. I saw no signs of disease or vicious behavior, however, 4 golfers showed up about 100 yards away across a pond. They saw me playing with the fox and began yelling.."HIT IT ...HIT IT..." and waved their clubs. I figured they were just typical urban idiots, and spent my time observing the fox and trying to ignore them. The fox ignored them completely while we played. This fox never really seemed to be scared of me, and if foxes and dogs have facial expressions in common, she looked curious, interested and happpy.

So, what do you think? Does that sound like an animal with Rabies, or do young foxes like to play with people sometimes?

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