What should I do about this fox?

Can you set a trap to catch him, and get a closer look at his tail, perhaps take a picture to ensure that is what is going on with his tail? Then go from there? Perhaps just talk to a vet without taking him in and see what can be done?
Don’t kill him.

Foxes(?) deserve to live, too. They do keep unwanted pests away from your habitat.

My best advice is to contact a vet and see what he advises. The fox’s tail may be shedding for another reason, other than the mange and the vet can tell you this.

Take his advice, not mine.

Unless the mange overtakes his entire body I would probably not attempt to trap or shoot it. In California a wild animal would have to go through a wildlife rehab group as vets will not treat wild animals caught or kept as pets. I have 2 deer around my place right now that are unwell, one seems to have a disease and staggers around and is unable to jump the fences, the other has a wounded leg, probably from being caught in a fence. The coyotes and cougars will make short work of these two soon I imagine.

It’s hard to watch creatures suffering, but nature has her own ways.

If you have a wildlife rehabilation place in the area call them and ask what to do.

Name it mozilla and set fire to it.

Meanwhile, we have a squirrrel visiting our home that must’ve gotten stuck in a tree. His tail is down to bright pink skin in the middle. He has a pom at the tip & a pom at his butt….poor fellow.

I’d leave him be @LuckyGuy. If you notice him take a turn for the worse, decide then to get involved.

If I were you I’d watch to see if this is truly mange or not by seeing if it spreads further.
If it’s mange (which in foxes starts at the haunches and then usually spreads to the head/snout after the affected animal grooms/bites at the mites causing mange) you should start to see evidence of it on the fox’s face/snout in the near future.

If you notice that..then considering you’ve been “feeding” these fox perhaps you can medicate their food. (That’s how they treat it in foxes—put the medication in food.)

This article gives and overview and includes a homeopathic option (Arsenicum album and sulphur 30c—a few drops of which are added to the food every day for three weeks).
If you are in the UK The National Fox Welfare Society will send you a kit for free.

I’m with @geeky_mama. Unless it starts to spread further I would not worry about it. It could be that the tail is loosing its fur for other reasons, for example it got broken and the fox is fighting off an infection in that general area.

I have heard and read that mange is highly contagious and can spread quickly to the other healthy animals, dogs and even humans. That is why some of the recommendations say to euthanize it quickly before it has a chance to mate and spread it to others.

I wish there was a pill or something I can put into a dead squirrel that would treat it. I’d be willing to invest about $50 to keep the critter alive, but no more.

Taking @King_Pariah‘s advice I have decided to name him Mozilla. That will make it even harder to pull the trigger.

When I traveled in asia 2 years ago, almost every dog I saw had some form of hideous mange.
The feral and sem-feral ones, obviously. I did not see the condition in the numerous feral cats. I wonder if certain strains of mange are species specific? I know I did some research online and a certain strain of mange is highly prevalent in the tropical and semi-tropical zones like many asian countries. At least, as miserable as it is, the tropical zone animals do not have to experience being bald and cold like their poor north american cousins. :-(

Perhaps there’s a county, state or federal Wildlife Control office that you can inform (with photos?) of the problem, and let them do whatever is warranted.

@LuckyGuy Is it legal to feed wildlife in your area or bait animals? We have laws against feeding deer and hunting over bait.

Most wildlife experts frown on feeding, but, I toss stuff into the woods all the time. My reasoning is that why let food go to waste when other creatures can utilize it. I don’t do it on a regular basis, maybe once a week or so, but really, in the grand scheme of things, it makes me happy to throw a party for the locals. lol
Recently I put out a leftover blackberry cobbler and the raccoons had a field day.

I also toss all meat scraps, chicken carcasses and fruits out. The wild turkeys clean me out of goose chow and I have found if I sprinkle the scratch grains in the pasture next to my goose corral that they do not fly over the fence and eat my guys feed.
I walk across my little private road into the woods and leave my offerings there, I do not feed in the general proximity of my house.

Random delicacies are manna from heaven IMO. :-)

@Adirondackwannabe I’m not hunting over bait. I started tossing mice I caught in my barn along the tree line. I figured birds would eat them. Magically they would be gone by the next morning. I didn’t know what critters were disposing of the bodies. I was just thankful I didn’t have to. I decided to set up the trail camera to see who /what was doing me such a favor. That’s when I discovered it was a fox family. I know about not feeding deer and other wild creature and how it spreads disease by encouraging them to swap spit. That is not happening. For the past year or so my barn and land happen to be on the fox’s regular route.

I will wait another couple of weeks and see if things get worse. If it is mange I figure by now the other foxes in the den already have it so waiting will not make things any worse.

By the way, if you google “fox hairless tail bald fur” you will be amazed at the NSFW things that pop up. Yikes!

@Adirondackwannabe I feed the squirrels all the time in my yard. I line up shelled peanuts, no salt, don’t want them to get high blood pressure on my fence line and they love it. I don’t know what they will do if I quit. Throw peanut shells at my house?

@LuckyGuy I know you wouldn’t hunt over bait, but what’s the status of foxes in your area. Are they furbearing animals. Just a thought I had when @CWOTUS mentioned wildlife control officers.
@chyna The squirrels will raid all your other feeders. They’re fun to watch.

@Adirondackwannabe Yes they are furbearing, and may be hunted from Oct 25 – Feb 15 “There are no bag limits for these species. They may be hunted during the day or night.”
“You may use a light. You may use shotgun muzzle loader, bow, handgun or air gun.”
I have a license so, yes, I can legally shoot it.
I guess I have until 2/15 to decide.

@LuckyGuy I’d be careful with bringing in the law. I’m sure every single hunter they’ve nailed for baiting says they weren’t doing that.

@Adirondackwannabe Yep, understood. You do recognize that I am not hunting the fox. I don’t want to kill him. I want him to be healthy and live. But you’re right… no good deed goes unpunished. Sigh.

I know you’re an ethical hunter but the worden doesn’t know that. Damn all the dirtbag hunters.

I just read that Ivermectin is the treatment for sarcoptic mange. Maybe you can stuff some mice with Ivermectin. Seriously, it is available in most feed stores. ????

I think we are jumping the gun with diagnosis. If it is mange it will spread. If it is just a wounded tail it it won’t. I’d give it a few days.

@YoBob True. But a completely bald tail is rather suspicious, especially if no wounds are present.

I don’t know if you came across this in your travels already, but this page seems to be quoted a lot when people are trying to decide whether or not to treat foxes for mange. It agrees with what @Coloma just said, and gives a lot of detail about the drug. Maybe you’ll find it helpful.

@dappled_leaves , @Coloma Wow! That is just the kind of thing I’m looking for. It even came under my $50 price point!
I’ll have nightly pictures (Unfortunately, while of very high quality, they are all Infra red) to study and will be looking for any signs of progression.
Thank you, thank you!

Mozilla and friends thank you, too.

Good luck!

Nice going guys. Started with a problem, pooled resources and came up with an answer good for all. GA’s all around.

Let us know…@dappled leaves source is just great, tells you all the dosages and treatment times. This is a project right up my alley…woo hoo.

I rescued a baby deer mouse from cat recently and I was so tickled, he just gorged himself on cat food kibble and baby carrots and apples ( for rehydration ) he was so fat and frisky after a few days I hated to let him go. Of course he may have been in an Owls gullet by the next day..but hey, always great to help out a fellow traveler in this world. :-)

I could talk wildlife all day…babble on Coloma lol

It sounds like mange. I have treated a stray dog for mange and it isn’t that serious or difficult to get rid of. You’re a good man for looking after your local wildlife. Good on you!

(I trapped the dog in my van and got him to a vet and washed him a few times in some stuff the vet gave me. I had a cat at the time as well. I kept them away from each other. I nor the cat ever got mange. I found a home for the stray as well.)

@cazzie Thank you for the compliment but there is no way I am going to trap a wild fox and put it in my car, even if it did not have mange. Even though I have the size advantage, if we got into a tussle I would be the loser. While cute, the fox is still a predator that’s fast enough to catch a rabbit, has enough visual acuity to see a mouse moving in the grass at 50 yards, can see in the near infrared, and has teeth and jaws strong enough to tear open bones.
Like a vixen in black leather and 5 inch heels, I enjoy looking but will never touch. They scare me.

^chicken

Fox aren’t easy to trap @LuckyGuy Use that as your excuse ;)

Yeah, that the reason. They’re hard to trap. Yeah that’s the ticket.
Remember, I’ve watched him through my 9x scope, on the Mossberg target rifle. It would be so easy to just twitch my finger a little bit…. But I don’t want to. He deserves to thrive.

@chyna Yep. You got that right. Chicken indeed.

^I was actually referring to the vixen, not the fox. The fox is easy.

I have grey foxes over here and they can shimmy up a tree like a cat. Poof in the canopy. Last summer I had a little family hanging around and the kits could scale a tree in .05 seconds. Amazing!

Yes, lightening quick they are and needle sharp teeth. Shit, I was attacked by a “dying” Ground Squirrel I put in my shower to “die” peacefully. 30 minutes later when I opened the door it launched at me like the scud missle, latched onto my middle finger and I could hear the joint crack. Yep, THAT was incredibly painful. At least squirrels don’t carry rabies. lol