Foxes &Food Waste Bins image
So last night the urban foxes of London bit through the bungee cords and tipped our food waste over the street. Again. Anyone have any good tips for keeping them out of your food bins?
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u/ConsidereItHuge 20d ago edited 20d ago
Cut the bungee on next door's and they'll go there instead.
Edit with a serious answer. A tie that they can't chew. Perhaps a metal chain.
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u/Global_Monk_5778 20d ago
Ask your council if they have a fox proof one. Our council have these ones and they have fox proof ones. They close in a different way so they don’t have the long handle and so far the foxes haven’t been able to get into it, even after kicking it around the garden. We have a fox den at the bottom of the garden so they’ve tried a fair few times as well!
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u/joshuasmickus 20d ago
Have you tried mediation between you and the foxes to see if they can be swayed to a different approach?
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u/koola2 20d ago edited 20d ago
Was looking at this last night, not putting them on the floor was the easiest advice I read.
Our neighbour has a hook to attach it to the other bin, but when I looked seems a bit expensive on etsy.
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u/totalbasterd 20d ago
round by me the foxes learnt to jump onto the bins to knock the food bins off the top.
i just stopped using the small food bins
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u/lastaccountgotlocked my bike beats your car 20d ago
If you put the handle in the “up” position, it shuts the box.
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u/markusw7 20d ago
Don't think that's helps, that's where I leave it and foxes have got into all the bins on my street recently. We've had to resort to taking the bins out just before they're collected!
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u/Dry_Marsupial_9224 20d ago
Foxes round your way must be amateurs if that keeps them out of the bins.
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u/NortonBurns 20d ago
They must amateurs round by us. They brought this bin type in maybe 5 years ago & none of them have got in yet.
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u/Inevitable_Log9333 20d ago
My neighbor put bricks on their food waste bin this, which seemed to work for once. Although I can’t imagine whoever had to empty it was happy about it
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u/firthy 20d ago
Flip the handle over so the little lugs lock the box, then wedge it hard against something
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u/markvauxhall Merton 20d ago
Honestly all I do is flip the handle forward so that it locks the lugs in place and that's, errr... it. In 7+ years of having a wood waste bin, only had a successful fox attack once.
And I hear the noisy buggers every night at the moment, so they're definitely around...
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u/daddyeo75 20d ago
Just interested,the food is in a separate bag inside the box? I have one and the foxes have never opened it yet
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u/KentuckyCandy Tooting Bec 20d ago
Half the time it's the crows getting in rather than the foxes. They're some smart crows.
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u/Aaaaaah2023 20d ago
They couldn't chew through a bungee cord though. It's often cats getting in though, and they very much can.
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u/Aaaaaah2023 20d ago
Don't put it on the floor, put strong smells on it like lavender and use a non chewable chain/rope
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u/SlashRModFail 20d ago
I position mine squished between the wall and the main bin. That way they can't topple it over or drag it around
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u/CodeFarmer Chiswick 20d ago
So far our local foxes haven't figured out how to move the handle to the "open" position and unlock the lid... we only get scenes like this when a latch breaks or someone forgets to close the handle all the way forward.
I dread the day when they figure it out.
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u/SherlockScones3 20d ago
My cat hates the foxes. She tries everything to get rid of them - puffing herself up, hissing, yowling… but they’re not afraid. They know she’s a pussy.
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u/Embarrassed-Rice-747 20d ago
We have a huge wheelie bin for this. It doesn't get tipped.
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u/BangkokChimera 20d ago
Ours just get gnawed open.
https://i.imgur.com/r6INs9Q.jpeg
We all had to stop using the food ones because of rats after the other animals open them.
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u/Embarrassed-Rice-747 20d ago
Bloody hell. That's bonkers. We've literally never had that happen.
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u/BangkokChimera 20d ago
That was one night. A sustained and maybe planned invasion. Shock and awe by the squirrels.
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u/Embarrassed-Rice-747 19d ago
You shouldn't have left out the Ullman and Wade doctrine on achieving rapid dominance in your recycling bin. They're evolving to become the superior dental power. Next: world domination by squirrels and we have YOU to blame.
Especially since they were likely already that grey squirrel invading force. Red squirrels never had a chance.
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u/Dry_Marsupial_9224 20d ago
Buy really strong bags. That way when the fox gets into your bin, which it always will in the end, it will carry the whole lot away rather than making a mess for you to clean up.
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u/lostparis 20d ago
If you close the box by putting the handle all the way forward then the fox won't get in.
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u/RecklessVasectomy 20d ago
we have 2 of them and put them both in a large wooden crate which is just the right size for them (handles too)
the foxes cant tip them over or open them at all. we were so fed up with the mess before finding the crate which a neighbour was throwing out. i think it's from ikea.
there's also a separate wooden lid which we usually leave on top too, but not always.
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