Badger visting nightly

[Tobi]

There is a little Badger -a female I think -who has got into the habit of visiting my garden nightly. She sneaks under a so-called "Badger-proof" chicken wire fence, over the bridge and starts digging huge holes everywhere all over the place.....
If she sees me she gets scared and desperate to get out and often forgets where she got in!
I went out at midnight, and saw the same drama unfolding. I told her I mean her no harm but the holes are a nuisance. She has damp earth by the stream she can dig in for worms, snails and things to eat.

I reinforced the Badger-proof fence today but it made no difference. There she was again tonight, digging huge holes. I don't want her digging in Misty's grave.

The only remedy is to pee in a plastic jug and sprinkle that all round the fence. (So I remember from days of yore when it happened once before.)

So that is what I did at 1am! LOL

Does anyone know -is it okay for Badgers to eat cat food?
I put some cat food -which Sally-cat dislikes and refuses to eat, but which smells very nice (fussy cat!) -a little way into the field so there is something to distract the Badger....

[Catherine]

I would never thought of that as a way to keep badger out. I doubt it would work on our racoons. I am trying to picture you out at 1am sprinkling the fence to keep critters out. Does it really work?

She is a persistent little badger. I suppose the holes are a real nascence and could cause you trouble. I don't see why the cat food would be a problem. I am sure if she likes it well enough to eat it, it won't hurt her.
Cats are so fussy. I am sure it is perfectly good food. She just chooses not to eat it.

[platy]

Is there a predator the badger generally fears? cats dogs? As disgusting as it is, fecal matter is more potent and the smell generally lasts longer. The same method is used here, dingo faeces are stirred up in some water and spread around pens to keep foxes away from kangaroos in rehab.
I personally wouldn't be feeding wild animals cat food or any food. It can just encourage the problem

[Tobi]

Yes well I wasn't sure about the cat food, as I wasn't sure if Badgers should eat it. I know too much of it is not very good for dogs.
But the point of putting it out in the field away from the house was to distract the Badger from coming across the bridge, so she might be more interested in that.
Anyway there is no more cat food now so I won't be doing that again.

The thing about Badgers is they get very set in their ways. If a Badger does something three days in a row, it will continue to do the same thing until it leaves this world! And all its descendants may probably want to do the same thing!
They have traditional places to forage, traditional trackways, and latrine-places. Once they decide where they want to be -that's it! They are also tremendously strong and will even bend iron, shift rocks, or dig under wire fences in order to continue on the trackway they have marked out.

I have been peeing in that plastic jug since last night! haha.... And sprinkling it outside the perimeter of the wire fence.

I will be able to tell later tonight if it made any difference. On my way back from seeing Sally-cat tonight, I'll check if Badger is in the garden or not.

This is such a lovely rural area, there are plenty of alternative places for Mrs Badger to forage! Hundreds upon hundreds of acres.

________________________________________________
Update at midnight....it seems to have worked. I 'reinforced my territorial boundaries' 5 times today. There is no sign of the Badger tonight. A simple solution (so far so good anyway.)

[Catherine]

If I am understanding what is happening, you are marking your territory(which is usually done with urine) and the badger is respecting that boundary.

I don't have badgers so the idea of seeing one seems so wonderful.
I guess they can be as big a pest as our racoons. I like our racoons, sort of.

I did not know that badgers were so peculiar. I think I like that about them. It would be so funny to watch them follow their routines. If you removed an obstacle a badger would continue to detour around it even though it is not there. That is funny.

[Tobi]

I'm very fond of Badgers. They are lovely harmless creatures. All they want is to forage for food, and walk around like anyone else. It is a shame to view them as a 'nuisance'.
But I think it is their strength and determined digging, and the fact that it can be very hard to dissuade them when they have their mind set on digging up your garden every night -that makes the nuisance factor.

When my husband and I first moved into this house, we put a large prop in the centre of the wood-shed. That prop was the thickness of a telegraph pole, and was to provide extra support for the tin roof. It was wedged firmly between compacted earth at the bottom, and an oak beam at the top, and fixed firmly at the top. My husband pushed hard at it but it was not moving and seemed very secure. At the bottom we put rocks around it. Every morning we found rocks scattered, pole askew and loose at the bottom!
We didn't know what could be doing that, and concluded it couldn't be any wild creature, as there was nothing big enough to shift that pole!

It was a local farmer who told us it was placed on an old badger track. We eventually shored up the other side of the wood-shed so they couldn't come through.

The amusing thing about it is that the badger was so intent on sticking to its pathway that it wasn't willing to even go round an obstacle, and had to actually go through it! LOL

Yes platy, those holes in the paddock could be dangerous for the horses. I wonder if a cat might be the solution? If rabbits see a cat around they might go away...
That's if the horses wouldn't be scared of a cat suddenly appearing.

Another thing which might help but is really hard work, is to sink chicken wire into a trench all around the horses' area, about 1ft or more deep? Then fill in all the holes.

That would also solve my badger situation but is such hard work to do.

[Tobi]

Oh! A picture of your most beautiful dog, platy! She is lovely. Similar colouring and shape to Misty, but a bit redder and bigger by the look of her. Is she a Ridgeback?
And the rabbits aren't scared of her?

Yes I get it about the land not being your own. I am lucky here because although the house and land is rented, I can do anything I like. They don't mind.

Here, Badger and fox holes can be dangerous for cows and horses.

I have never seen an Echidna . I shall have to google that so I can see a picture.

[Catherine]

I have never seen a badger either. They sound remarkable. If you are having a dispute with a Badger you might as well give in because clearly the badger is not giving in.
It took some serious work to move a post like that.

I have seen an Echidna at the zoo, but I would love to see one in the wild. Echidna are one of my favourite animals. It must be incredible to see one in your yard.

Your dog is a beautiful colour. Is she as big as she looks?

[Knight of Albion]

I get badgers here. A creature that has suffered centuries of unjust persecution. And a shy animal as a consequence, but once they get over that initial wariness and learn that you won't do them harm, they are surprisingly friendly and playful.

As for the urine. That really needs to be male urine, because the animal that is smelling a 'marked' spot is, if you like, "reading" the testosterone level of the animal who did the marking.

A word of caution though. When female badgers have young cubs they cannot leave them alone for long, so their foraging radius and time is significantly reduced.
The mainstay of their diet is earthworms. I now only too well from my own garden, a long time since we had rain and the ground is rock hard, so the earthworms will be a long way down and not energy or time efficient to dig for.
A determined badger - or a desperate badger is a force of nature. So treble reinforce that chicken coop! And it might be prudent to leave food and water for it. Though weigh that one up carefully. Badgers are creatures of habit. 'A badger is for life!'

[Tobi]

Now I have seen an Echidna. Aren't they lovely? A bit like Hedgehogs but with a much longer snout.

Yes, Knight. We live in more or less the same area. It has been very dry where my house is too. I was thinking about that situation for the Badgers. And that they might come into the garden because the earth is a little easier to dig here.
But next to my garden is a small ditch with a tiny stream and the earth is damp there. They also have other stream beds nearby with lots of damp earth still.

Anyway I put quite a lot of water down at the edge of the field to dampen the soil there. By night time it will have sunk in a bit and hopefully loosen things up a bit for them to be able to dig more easily.

I did wonder if male urine might be more effective. But I notice that after sprinkling she hasn't been back....so it might have made a difference....or coincidence? We'll see.