Foxes stomach contents

[JohnGalway]

Hi folks,

 

I can't remember if I posted this before or not. A while back I was giving my shot foxes to a student in the University who was investigating how a disease in cattle which causes abortions spreads. He PM'd me the stomach contents results that he got from another fella, thought I'd post them for the sake of it. No, there's no photos

 

I finally got the results of what was in the stomachs from the student that did them. Here is what he recorded in his notes on the foxes he did from you anyway. Just to mention that one of the problems with studies like this is stuff like vegatation and beetle carapaces that the stomach finds hard to break down are over represented. Where as stuff like meat is broken down quicker so less likely to be found. I got a person to look at those hair samples you thought were lamb but he has not got around to it yet! I will chase him up on it again.

 

All the best and thanks again for your help.

 

John Galway

F02 21/03/2007: Plastic, unknown vegetation, apple, rodent, beetles

F07 21/03/2007: Caterpillars, lizard, beetles, leatherjackets and vegetation

F09 01/03/2007: Calf nuts, rabbit and sheep, caterpillars, worms, beetles, seeds.

F11 17/04/07: Sheep

F12 17/04/07: Rabbit or hare, beetles, worms, maggots, leather jackets.

F13 23/04/07: Worms, beetles, pine needles

F14 28/04/07: Sheep, beetles

F15 07/05/07: Dragonfly (most of stomach eaten by birds)

F16 19/05/07: Sheep, beetle

F17 19/05/07: Mice and voles, leather jacket, beetles, ants

F21 20/06/07: Sheep

F24 27/06/07: Field mouse, leather jacket, beetle, coachman, lichen

F25 01/07/07: Carrion, beetles, maggots.

F27 04/04/07: Bird, vegetation, mouse, coachman

F28 11/07/07: Passiforme bird, beetles, vegetation

F29 13/07/07: Sheep carrion, maggots, vegetation, beetles, grasshopper

F39 23/07/07: Sheep carrion, beetles

F40 24/07/07: Sheep carrion, beetles

F41 31/07/07: roundworm, beetles, vegetation seeds

F47 12/08/07: Carrion, slugs, blowfly larvae, beetles, blackberry seeds

F48 13/08/07: Carrion, beetle carapace, blackberries

F49 13/08/07: Domestic cat, rat, crab, vegetation, beetle.

F58 14/10/07: Carrion, maggots, beetles, vegatation

F75 19/10/07: Beetles

F84 31/10/07: Empty

F85 31/10/07: Carrion

F101 11/11/07: Grass, caterpillars, leatherjackets, maggots, beetles.

F102 11/11/07: Beetles

F107 17/11/07: Chicken, apple, grasses

 

I've edited out some of his PM, but the basics are still intact.

 

Things that got my attention, domestic cat, calf nuts (WTF), and pine needles.

[Elwood]

Reads like a Chinese take away menu

 

In all seriousness, very interesting and thanks for sharing. I knew they ate all sorts but I'm surprised by some of the contents.

[Streeker59]

Interesting John, thanks for that. I'm going to copy it & show it to the only permission i have that wont let me shoot foxes cos they're so cute..

It might just open their eyes a bit. They have 6 six cats on the farm....lol...

 

Grant..

[shrek]

may have to start paying attention to the calf creeps whist lamping from now on! Surprised that no cow was mentioned, i pulled a dead one into the yard for pick up the other day, which had had its face chewed off.... unfortuatly the frost went off and i havent been able to get over the ground since!

 

As other has said, very interesting and gives a very accurate insite a fox's diverce eating habbits!

 

Thanks for sharing with us!

[foxwhistler]

Very interesting. Cant help noticing that there wasn`t much rabbit consumed.

[nemasis243]

We had one once that had eaten its way throw a litter of kittens over a period of time,

[JohnGalway]

Shrek, in my area there are mainly hill sheep farms. A good number of cattle too but it's very rare one of them dies, when they do they're removed from the farm ASAP by the animal collection service. Foxes wouldn't get a look in in 99% of the cases.

 

FW, at the moment the rabbit population here seems to have collapsed. I don't know why, it's not mixy and I've not seen any signs of other diseases. Where I used to see hundreds of rabbits when I started lamping a few years ago I'd be very lucky to see a half dozen now, very lucky.

[shrek]

No worries john i thought as much, the only reason this one was left as long was we couldnt actually get in the field with the tractor to pull it out! It really is that wet!

 

We had that happen to our rabbits a few years back, population just dissapeared without a trace, took a couple of years for the numbers to get back up, i was just starting to enjoy the occasional rabbit pie this year and mixy's gon and wiped them all out again!!!

[Redfox]

VHD. viral haemoragic disease, more deadly than mixy and spreads like wildfire. Came in domestic rabbits from China originally. needless to say the Aussies have turned that loose as well!

Redfox

[JohnGalway]

I've heard of VHD. Do they all go down the burrows to die? I did hear a story about a local golf course putting out some type of poision pellet but to be honest I don't believe it, not sure something liek that exists, that they'd be so irresponsible as to spread it on common grazing land, and I don't see the sense in it as the GC is miles away.

[PeteL]

John,

Thank you. A most interesting post, indeed a smorgasbord of a diet. Perhaps we should all post mortem our foxes to further this research- any volunteers!????.

Calf nuts are, I assume, very nutritious and are left about the fields so an opportunist such as the fox will probably encounter them frequently.

Redfox is spot on with VHD, it goes through the rabbit population like a rocket. It's bad news, of course, because when VHD strikes, the foxes have to turn to other things to eat.

The other possibility for the lack of rabbits is them stripey things, they eat anything and have no problem digging out a nest of little rabbits.

On the farms that I shoot, they're all over the place and the rabbit population is very low. When I started on these farms in the 80's there were plenty of rabbits and foxes and the very, very occasional badger, now there are still plenty of foxes, very few rabbits and lots of badgers!. Cause and effect, possibly?.

Peter

[tulkyuk]

We have had that VHD virus this year and it has almost wiped a very prolific rabbit area out - ruined a lot of our summer sport

[Alycidon]

Mine also disappeared two years ago, I put it down at the time to overexuberance with a rifle but they went over a few weeks. Several places where I could shoot 20 in an evening with subbies now have none at all. I also have loads of badgers (5 setts) but very few foxes.

 

VHD certainly was a notifyable disease.

 

A

[6mmBR]

Thanks for an interesting insight John, one fox we opened up years ago as we thought it was full of pheasant poults ended up to be full of earth worms.

Cheers

Dave

[JohnGalway]

In all my years going to that rabbit spot I've never seen a badger there. They'd have their work cut out for themselves anyway as it's sandy soil and rabbits have, on and off, been there for decades so there's a huge number of old warrens which I'd be sure are interconnected. Also only ever seen one fox down there, didn't shoot him as I was new to lamping and had rabbit carts loaded.