Has your garden been ransacked, and your veggie plot plundered? The culprits may be one or more rabbits!
Out in the countryside, it isn’t rare for wild rabbits to munch their way through vegetable and flower beds. But this phenomenon is also increasingly common in suburban areas.
Here’s how you can protect your plants without harming a single hair on their sweet little cottontails.
Is the Vandal Actually a Bunny?
It would be surprising if you sighted this mammal during the day. If this does happen, then it means you have quite a colony living nearby. Usually, rabbits are most active between dusk and dawn. So, how can you determine if these are the animals to blame for damaging your yard?
Have your plants been nibbled? Have the leaves and flower heads been chewed away, leaving only a stem? Have some of them been cut down to the ground or a few centimetres above? Is there no more bark at the base of woody plants? Are there small round droppings everywhere? Can you identify paw prints with five-toed forelimbs and long four-toed hindlimbs?
Then your opponent is probably a rabbit!
How to Get Rid of Them Without Causing Harm
- The best way to keep these furry creatures out of your vegetable garden is to install a 2.5 cm chain-link fence around the plot. A height of 90 cm will be enough for the white-tailed species, but don’t take any chances and go for a 1.2-metre-high fence to stop even wild rabbits and hares from leaping over the top. You should likewise be aware that rabbits can dig and won’t hesitate to do so to obtain food. So, make sure you fence goes down into the ground at least 15 cm deep so they can’t reach your precious carrots.
- If, instead, you have rabbits that cannot jump on your hands, you can set up your garden in elevated planters, placed on tall legs, for example.
- You can also purchase a natural and environmentally friendly repellent that is safe for rabbits, your pets, your children, plants, and groundwater. Spread it where the bunnies have most likely burrowed, typically beneath stairs or in a shed. Clear away anything they might easily use to as shelter like everyday plant debris.
- You could mount a plastic owl or hang aluminum plates that will flutter in the wind to scare them off. These are only temporary remedies, however, as the critters will eventually understand that there is no real danger and come back.
- A more long-term solution would be to install an automatic motion activated sprinkler system. These mammals hate getting wet and this will certainly dissuade them from dipping into your own stores or destroying the lovely flowers that adorn your yard.
Rabbits can have several litters per year, each time giving birth to between one and twelves babies! They certainly won’t go away on their own. These tips will help keep them out of your yard, no matter how many might be around.