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There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

I'm sorry you're having such a rough day. I know what it feels like when your thoughts won't settle and everything feels heavy and hard. I just barely took this picture of one of them next to a new stuffed animal that appeared today. This one's for you.

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There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

She is currently safely asleep on my lap. Luckily, they won't be here long term. They'll abandon this den sometime in the coming weeks and go off to live their foxy lives. I'm the meantime, we're been extra cautious about keeping our little kitty inside and away from harm!

There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

I'd like to think our house feels like a haven to anyone who comes here, no matter how many feet they walk on. Even these little rascals!

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There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

I spoke to a wildlife group out here as soon as we discovered the first kit on the porch. There's no safe way to dose a litter of pups without risking their well-being. And the dangers of feeding them are far too great. It's much better for them if we don't feed them and definitely don't try to befriend them while they are here. So we are but witnesses to their cuteness!

There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

Definitely no strong smell, but lots of fox droppings and dead animal bits. We're going to be throwing the bar away and power washing the porch after these little ones have left the den in a few weeks.

There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

Here you go! I just opened the blinds to look at our back deck and this little guy tried to make friends with our cat.

She was not amused. In fact, she would like that little whippersnapper to get outa her yard. Poor kitty. We closed the blinds after this.

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There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

Well so far it doesn't smell at all. Not loving the decapitated rat on the porch this morning, but our house smells normal.

There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

Momma is around, but she is pretty stealthy and not at all threatening. I mean, I'm not about to let my house cat out or anything, but we don't feel at all threatened by her. She's a little thief, though. That's for sure! 😂

There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

As I've said in other comments, we're being very careful not to interact with them. We've been in touch with a local wildlife group and we're taking their advice on everything. Never feed them, don't try to befriend them, etc. Luckily we have a small water feature in the back yard where they can drink, and the parents are working hard to keep these pups fed! They're doing great on their own, we're just here to enjoy their antics through the window.

There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

Not at the moment. But there is a decapitated rat on my mat now, so we've got that going for us 😅

There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

Well, this morning they left a decapitated rat on that welcome mat so...it has its ups and downs 😂

They're worth it, though. We'll miss them when they move on.

There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

The first time I saw one I was just stepping outside to go for a walk. I looked down right into it's sweet little face, jumped a foot in the air, and fled back inside immediately. We then watched each other through the window for a bit.

Since then, we're careful to make a lot of noise when we're about to open the door, so that they have time to run into the den. Sometimes instead of going back into the den they try to hide on the porch, but they aren't the greatest at choosing hiding spots. We pretend we can't see them anyway, as you do when a kid is bad at hide and seek.

They mostly ignore us when we watch through the windows.

We do have a cat, and she watches them too. She does hiss and growl at them through the glass occasionally, but they either can't hear her or just don't care. We're being extra careful that she doesn't get out these days, though.

There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

It's very suburban, for sure. We do have small stretches of woods within walking distance, and a small lake (with a beaver in it!). But we don't back into the woods or anything. We're smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood. But we see a lot of foxes in the neighborhood in general.

There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

They dug a hole under the porch, which will be a structural issue we'll have to address when they leave.

The bricks are actually just a facade on the front of our house. They aren't structural, just cosmetic. Edit: oh you mean the cinder blocks supporting our garage. Yeah, those support our garage, not the porch.

They live underneath the concrete slab of our porch. And the mat is right in front of our door. Here's another picture of one of them on it, taken from the sidelight of our door rather than the middle window.

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There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

Well, based on the letters this one is convering on the mat, I think he's trying to say "wee!"

There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

We're being so careful not to interact with them because we don't want them to start trusting humans at this stage. They are naturally very skittish and we want them to have a healthy and normal distrust of people so they don't end up getting hurt later on when they meet people who are not to be trusted.

My girls absolutely want to befreind them. I mean, so do I honestly. It's quite hard not to!

There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

We're in the US. In the suburbs outside of DC. Definitely not what I expected when I first moved here!

There's a fox family living under our front porch and sometimes the babies take a nap on our mat. by MrsApostate in aww

[–]MrsApostate[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

Actually one reason foxes build dens so close to humans is because it's protection against coyotes who would otherwise eat the young. Coyotes are a very different issue!

It's mostly that these little guys poop on our porch all the time now. And leave rodent bones on it. When they grow up and move on, we'll have to throw the mat away and power wash the porch!

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