cross-posted from: https://lemmy.stad.social/post/21952
From last year sometime, I think.
this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2023
224 points (98.3% liked)
cute dogs, cats, and other animals
12871 readers
141 users here now
founded 5 years ago
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
You can have pet foxes. They're not great pets, they're loud, they smell bad, they will probably pee on everything, but if captive bred theyre quite tame and there's a particular line that came from a domestication experiment who are especially tame.
To the "they smell bad" bit, I'll add two things:
I have pictures (maybe I'll post some, despite the ick factor) where this fox laid down to sleep right next to a pillow it had shit all over. And we're not talking pebbles, we're talking the runs and it was a nightmare to clean. It was tempting to burn the thing.... I also have to clean massive piles of fox poop off the decking on a regular basis.
There is this: Dog poo forms a significant part of foxes' diet
Of course, one captive-bred will likely be better, but I absolutely agree with you they won't make great pets.
They are cute, but frankly, that is just about sufficient to let me tolerate them sleeping in the gazebo and thoroughly washing stuff afterward, but not nearly sufficient to make me consider one as a pet.
The picture above : cute
Wtf i just read : not cute.
Yeah, foxes are best enjoyed from a distance, in my opinion. I'm perfectly happy with having them visit, but they can stay outside.
Foxes are a big vector of rabies too. Stay safe dude.
Rabies isn't much of a problem in the UK thankfully. But in general, yeah, Rabies is horrifying and it's good advice.
EDIT: For anyone anywhere where it's a risk: Be careful and make damn sure to seek advice if bitten, even if not obviously penetrating the skin and even if the animal is not obviously rabid (Reminder: Rabies is near 100% fatal with treatment if you don't get vaccinated soon enough after exposure). Do not fuck with Rabies.