Wild life camera/trail cam

[Lever357]

I live in a typical three bed semi on a typical 1970s housing estate, we are the last house on the street so have no neighbour at one side and no houses adjoining us directly at the back. I have a six foot fence topped with 18 inches of trellis. For about 6 motnhs now a dog has somehow been getting in to the garden and crapping on the soil border. I love dogs but the main reason I haven't got one is I hate dog poo, it's the work of the devil! So I feel really annoyed and violated by this intrusion.

I have bought different powders from shops, sprayed water mixed with paprika, Jeyes fluid, plastic mats with spikes etc etc and the bloomin thing still comes in and more annoyingly has started just doing it on the lawn as well!!

I'm tempted to buy a trail cam to see how it's getting in and what it is as I'm now thinking it could possibly be a fox. It's only a relatively small garden, about 20 foot deep by 30 foot across.

Can anyone recommend a camera that shows good results for not a lot of money????

 

[Pedro]

Just looking on such sites as Bushwear, the entry level trail cams start at about the £130 mark. Which is a bit rich if it's just for the one job. If you look on ebay, you can see them for around £40 but I don't know how good those would be. On the assumption that you really don't want to use it for evidence or read number plates or anything, but just to identify the offending animal they may well do.

Most pheasant pens are about 6' tall and they generally keep foxes at bay, so I think I'd have a look outside your fence to see if there are any areas where a dog or fox could climb over (or under) your fence and make it so they can't. Maybe some climb-able branches outside or a pile of rubble or whatever. Removing those might be the easiest and cheapest solution. Or a hole that can't be seen from the inside due to shrubs that you could block. Type in "fox repellent" on ebay too. But can't say whether they work either. When you look outside, look for small worn paths (foxes are creatures of habit) and have a sniff about. If it's a fox, you should be able to smell it. Maybe just a garden light with a sensor might be the thing. Even if it doesn't frighten whatever it is off, at least you'll know to get up and have a look while you are watching telly.

Or how about this?

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[Lever357]

Thank you for the reply Pedro. I have just had a new security light installed but have not seen anything yet when the light comes on!!

I had thought about a cage trap but then what do you do if you catch something in it!!! There are a couple of places on the fence that look like they could possibly be worn by claws.

 

[Wildlife Watcher]

I've had great success using a Victure camera from Amazon which was only about £38. Also had success with an Apeman one too for similar price. It's more about the set up of the camera, getting it in the right place with a good field of view as well as a bit of patience!

 

[Mossypaw]

Could it be someone walking a dog past your property and launching the offending items over the fence rather than taking them with them for disposal ?

 

[VSS]

Could it be someone walking a dog past your property and launching the offending items over the fence rather than taking them with them for disposal ?

Just what I was thinking.
I remember when I was a very small kid, living in a terraced house in London, a cat from about 3 doors down used to come and crap in our garden, and my father became very proficient at lobbing the offending turds over the gardens in between, to land in the garden of the cat's owner. He had a handy little shovel that he kept especially for the purpose! Perhaps you could try the same, when you find out who's dog it is?

 

[Pedro]

Lever357 - You are going to HAVE to tell us what the outcome is.

 

[Lever357]

Could it be someone walking a dog past your property and launching the offending items over the fence rather than taking them with them for disposal ?

No. The soil border is on the opposite side of the garden to the fence and the soil is disturbed around where it poops. Hadn't thought of that one though.

 

[Lever357]

Lever357 - You are going to HAVE to tell us what the outcome is.

Ha ha I certianly will.

 

[basil]

I live in the middle of a housing estate and have a Fox come in the garden every night, has a sniff around the chicken house then goes next door and feeds on their compost heap.
It comes in and goes out over a six foot fence.
Fox is where my money lies, they`re in built up areas more than people realise.

 

[The Singing Stalker]

Is the poop small and black sort of looking like fox poop or does it look like dog poop. Not that I spend much time studying it as my missus says I'm full of it anyway.

 

[BryanDC]

I was thinking the same as Basil, a fox or maybe even a cat. One of my neighbours had a cat that crapped on my front lawn every few days and never tried to bury it. I thought it was dog until I caught it in the act one day.

 

[Freeforester]

Not all poops are created equal!

Campark trail cam v good v f m, see pondguru on YT:

 

[JTO]

Sounds more like a cat, if you are sure a badger couldn't get in.

 

[John Gryphon]

Sit up like Jim Corbett and shoot the fkr

 

[Lever357]

Definitely dog poop as cats were doing it next to it for a while.

 

[VSS]

Definitely dog poop as cats were doing it next to it for a while.

Big cats and little cats? Mummy cat teaching her kittens that your garden has the best lavatory facility in town!
Be surprised if it's a dog getting in and doing it. Can't see why they'd bother with the hassle of negotiating the fence.

 

[FISH BOY]

Ive seen a fox scale a 6ft 6 fence with ease and then hop onto my garden shed.

With a swift boo, im not sure how he landed though

Like said before, cheap one next to the offending spot will be good enough for ID. Just hope its not the weirdo who lives down the street

 

[Lever357]

Update - Victure camera and SD card purchased from Amazon. Cleared 7 deposits off the border and lawn on Sunday, that's in a week. Little ba****d been again last night. Camera set up and tested - takes really good picture - I even recognised myself!! Will be a long process - step 1 find out what it is. Step 2 - keep moving camera to determine its point of entry!!! Wish when the beam was broken and it took a picture it also let out a lions roar!!!

 

[Pedro]