You’re going outside to tend your beautiful flower garden, just like you do every gorgeous Saturday, as the birds sing their entrancing songs and the seductive floral aroma of your garden calls out to you.
As you make your way to your most prized flowering bulbs and annual arrangements, you’re distraught to find that the pesky old cottontail is at it AGAIN.
Your flowers have been destroyed, or something very close to it; Mr. Rabbit decided that they would make an impeccable breakfast buffet.
How about we put an end to these emotional flowerbed massacres, once and for all?
Removing and Supplying Habitats for Cottontails and Other Wild Rabbits
If you have a large amount of brush, overgrowth, or hospitable bushes that provide the rabbits with a safe place to live and reproduce, you need to strategically modify it. Rip out all hospitable areas, including high grass, from around your flower beds. Keep all brush as far away from your home as possible, to force the rabbits to travel out in the open in order to catch a snack. Keep lower branches of bushes and trees off of the ground, so that the rabbits cannot hide under them effectively.
Once you have torn out all potential areas for rabbits to hide or live in, establish a rabbit sanctuary on the farthest section of your property. Here, you can plant different varieties of flowers, vegetables, grasses, and bushes that rabbits love to eat, and supply them with hiding places. This will draw the rabbits away from your flower bed.
Applying Proven Rabbit Deterrents
Rabbit deterrents are another effective weapon when fighting off unwanted rabbits. However, you must remember that all rabbits are different, and multiple variables WILL affect how well a deterrent performs. Be sure that all of your flower gardens have deterrents applied at the correct dosage and at regular intervals throughout the season.
In a worst case scenario, the rabbits may have no aversion to the deterrents; some rabbits simply aren’t bothered. A drought may also be in effect, reducing the amount of enticing food that the rabbits have available to them, making your green, tasty garden far more appealing. The rabbits could potentially be used to the people in a neighborhood, and could also be used to being encouraged to eat from a neighbor’s garden; perhaps someone who gardens in order to attract the local wildlife. All of this could render deterrents ineffective, so always consider these possibilities!
A good deterrent could be homemade, such as one that combines a spoon of hot sauce in 1/2 to 1 gallon of water. There are also commercially available rabbit deterrents, which could work just as well for your particularly hungry buns. You could also plant the plants that rabbits strongly dislike; try planting lots of basil around your prized flowers, bulbs, and decorative grasses to encourage them to turn their noses up at your garden!
Other Deterrents: Scaring Rabbits Rather Than Repulsing Them
If your standard line of deterrent defense doesn’t work, it’s time to scare the rabbits. Try applying dog urine or human urine close to the flower bed. There is also powdered fox urine, that can be ordered. This, as gross as it seems, signals to the rabbit that predators frequent the area. Therefore, they will not come around all too often.
You can also use this method in combination with another scary deterrent. Two great examples would be noise emitting or water spraying motion detectors. Lights will simply blind and stun the rabbit, rather than chasing them off. Noise will spook them, especially if you have the scent of a predator around the garden. Water will, as well, and it will probably send the rabbit running for its life. All of these methods are humane, safe, effective, and… entertaining, if you catch a rabbit in the act!
Physical Barriers: You Must Use a Barrier!
A physical barrier is one of the only sure-fire ways to stop the rabbits, especially if your local population is out of control or suffering from starvation or a drought. Create a fence that is 3 feet tall with poultry wire or netting; be sure that the fencing is either buried, or that you line the fence with heavy stone to prevent them from digging under. A secure fence means that the rabbits simply cannot get in.
If the rabbits are incredibly persistent, try a strand or two of electrified hot wire. It is highly unlikely that the rabbits will ever test the fence again, after they receive a jolt of electricity. Electric fencing can be easier to set up, but it is also a bit more pricey.
Dogs & Hunting
If you have a doggy door and a well behaved dog that doesn’t harm your garden, allow the dog unrestricted access to keep rabbits at bay. This is a last resort for many people, because it involves extensive fencing, potential damage to the garden, installing a doggy door, and leaving the dog unattended outside during nighttime or while at work. Dog napping is becoming more frequent in neighborhoods across the country, so this risk must be considered.
Hunting is also another option, but this is relatively time intensive and generally only applies to those who actively hunt and eat rabbits. In addition, there is no guarantee that the rabbit will be caught or scared away successfully, and shooting towards a home is a very, very bad idea. This would be the lowest on my list of recommendations, but it can be a good solution when the home is located on several acres with a thriving, booming rabbit population.
