As you know, we have at least one red fox living on our property. We've seen his (or her?) tracks in the snow, the telltale poo deposited all over the place, and even had a sighting a few days ago. We were just sitting down to dinner when I noticed what looked like a little dog trotting up the driveway with something relatively big (a woodchuck?) in his mouth. In a matter of seconds, he had made his way up into the woods and disappeared somewhere behind a big log. I felt like there was something wrong but since I only got a brief glimpse, I couldn't put my finger on it. About 30 minutes later, there he was again jogging right past the house. This time I got a much better look and it was apparent that this poor guy has a skin condition. His tail was completely bare except for a little white pompom right on the end.After doing a little research I learned that this condition is sarcoptic mange. Mange is caused by a mite that burrows under the skin, lays its eggs, and causes extreme itching. It is contagious and can easily spread to mates and pups. Sadly, it won't go away on its own and will ultimately result in complete coat loss and a long, miserable death. The good news, though, is that there is a treatment. If this was our dog, we could simply give him a couple of injections of Ivermectin to kill the mites, some cortisone to relieve the itching, and he'd be good as new. Alas, this is a wild animal so the treatment plan is a little more challenging. This is where the frozen mice come in.
The first step is to get this guy accustomed to coming to the same place to pick up an easy meal. (This isn't as easy as it sounds, as foxes are very wary.) So I've set up a feeding station with one of his usual meals - a fresh (albeit frozen) mouse - with an infrared camera so I can be sure its my sick fox (and not a raccoon, opossum, vulture, hawk or any other eater of mice) picking it up. Once I'm certain my fox has been trained to retrieve his daily mouse, I'll switch out the fresh one with a medicated one (that I can get from a wildlife rehab center). Then, I'll continue feeding him so I can monitor his condition.
So far, one mouse disappeared during the night but the camera failed so I have no idea who got it. I've re-adjusted the camera and have another mouse out there right now and am hoping for a taker tonight. In the meantime, I've been snap-trapping and stockpiling mice. I've got traps set all over both of our outbuildings and have had some good success. But we're talking weeks worth of mice and I suspect my natural supply (and freezer space) may be inadequate.
I've got a couple of backup plans. If I'm not getting any fox action at my feeding station, I can try moving it to a more private location. And if I run out of mice, I can pick up some more at a pet store. I'm just taking this rehab stuff one step at a time and will keep you posted on how it all works out.
