The Daily Insight

Connected.Informed.Engaged.

general

What Do Red Foxes Eat?

Writer Caleb Butler

Red foxes are medium-sized and lightweight land-dwelling animals. Although they are characterized by the color red, red foxes possess the orange coat or fur particularly. They are native to diverse environments including grasslands, deserts, and mountains, to name a few.

Silky Terrier Dog Breed Playing Aro... Silky Terrier Dog Breed Playing Around
These hunter foxes prey on a variety of small animals. Besides, their diet varies whenever the opportunity presents itself. Silky Terrier Dog Breed Playing Around

Hence, red foxes are opportunists when it comes to foraging and feasting on food. Because of their powerful senses, they can detect the sound of the prey from long distances. Red foxes are omnivores, which is why their diet varies from plant to animal. Let’s look at what do red foxes eat specifically.

Insects and Animals

Red foxes are great hunters, consuming as much food as they can. In fact, red foxes eat as much as 500 grams of food in a day.

By use of their sight, red foxes can track the prey and pounce it when they are near it. Red foxes eat squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, mice, rats, and meat of diverse animals.

Red foxes can also consume a variety of birds and eggs as and when the opportunity arises. Hence, red foxes eat birds, eggs, eagles, ducks, geese, chickens, and hawks.

Plus, red foxes eat arctic foxes, snakes, deer, skunks, bandicoots, chipmunks, fawns, groundhogs, hamsters, possums, goats, woodchucks, and feral cats.

As for the insects and other animals, red foxes eat cicadas, grasshoppers, frogs, snails, spiders, lizards, pets, and dead animals.

Along with these, red foxes eat penguins and fish as well.

Fruit, Vegetables, and Plants

Apart from hunting for prey, red foxes forage for fruit and vegetables in the vicinity.

Red foxes eat fruit, plants, berries, apples, carrots, peaches, grass, vegetables, tomatoes, and corn.

What do red foxes eat in the wild?

Being the omnivores, red foxes feast on whatever seems like food to them.

Red foxes eat mice, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, snakes, frogs, eggs, birds, berries, and bugs in the wild.

What do red foxes eat in the winter?

Because of the scarcity of food options in the winter, red foxes scavenge leftovers of other animals.

Besides, red foxes eat berries, blackberries, cherries, apples, plums, grapes, insects in the winter.

They can dig up the prey from the ground to devour it.

What do red foxes eat in captivity?

The captive red foxes can have a similar diet related to what they eat in the wild.

Red foxes eat a bunch of rodents including mice, squirrels, rats, fruits, and meat in captivity.

What do red foxes eat in the summer?

Summertime is the best time for hunting animals that come out of their hibernating dens.

Red foxes eat birds, rodents, squirrels, chipmunks, fruit, and vegetables in the summer.

What red foxes don’t eat?

Red foxes don’t eat cats, dogs, bobcats, bananas, badgers, small dogs, dingoes, and moose.

Apart from these, red foxes don’t eat moles, coyotes, cat food, red tailed hawks, kangaroos, owls, white tailed deer, and wolves.

Of course, red foxes don’t eat their young, little dogs, domestic cats or humans.