Rabbits are adorable little animals and cute to both children and adults.
Rabbits are perfect pets, and they have charming and playful kittens.
However, if you grow food, rabbits probably won’t be your friends. Rabbits are incredibly hungry animals that can wipe out an entire pasture in no time.
Killing rabbits makes no sense, and it is wasteful; they are fantastic meats and breed quickly.
It’s also not kind. For a pest on the farm, gentle treatment is the approach for diminishing their presence. Fortunately, there are many options for pesky rabbits – and you don’t have to resort to killing them.
Here is how to get rid of rabbits without killing them.
Natural Repellents
Using natural repellents is the best way to get rid of rabbits on your farm without injuring or killing them.
These are substances that repel a rabbit based on their smell or taste.
Most natural rabbit repellents are non-toxic to humans and other animals. When using natural repellents, you can be confident that the risk of food poisoning is low.
You should also be aware that rabbits, like many animals, have a good sense of smell. Consequently, most natural repellents repel through odorous scents.
Below are examples of the best natural rabbit repellents.
Coffee Grounds
Everyone loves the scent of coffee while it’s brewing.
But coffee isn’t so pleasant for many farm pests, such as rabbits and ants, for example.
Coffee grounds are plentiful and do an effective job of battling rabbit invasions. Simply scatter the coffee grounds around, and you will notice immediate results.
Chili Powder
Chili powder is an effective natural repellent for rabbits. In addition to its hot taste, it has a strong smell.
So, anytime rabbits come to attack your farm, all the capsicum chili smell will sting their noses enough to not attack the crop.
Just put some chili powder on the leaves or fruits of your plants to deter rabbits.
You can even sprinkle some of it on the mulch so rabbits don’t get to the lower parts of the plants.
Chili and Garlic
Varyingly, chilies can be combined with garlic to develop a stronger rabbit repellent.
In this case you will use chili fruits along with ground garlic cloves or garlic powder.
After that, mix them in water and allow it to sit for 48 hours.
When you reach the second day, you can pour the mixture into a spray bottle and head to your garden. Spray the mixture so that it soaks the leaves.
Its pungent smell is enough to chase rabbits off. You may fin it helpful to add washing detergent to the mixture to make it a bit stronger.
Eggs and Garlic
Rabbits naturally dislike the smell of eggs.
Take advantage of this by using eggs as a repellent for rabbit infestations on your farm.
Crack and beat a few eggs in a large bowl. You can even add some garlic powder to really intensify the smell.
Then, pour the mixture into small bowls and distribute them around your garden.
A quick note! Do not remove the beaten eggs from the bow, because this will result in loss of smell.
Onions
Onions are known to make a person cry.
They also have a strong odor that drives people, and rabbits, away. You can peel a couple of bulb onions and place them around your garden.
Or – you can plant a couple of onions around your other crop. Growing onions are just as effective as peeled ones in rabbit deterrence.
Planting is also convenient because you won’t have to continue to apply repellents.
Vinegar
Vinegar makes an excellent rabbit repellent.
You can use it to get rid of rabbits in your garden but using it to repel rabbits is different than other repellents.
Experts recommend not to spray purified vinegar directly on your plants since it will kill some plant species.
Instead, take dry maize cobs and soak them in vinegar overnight and distribute them around your garden to repel rabbits.
Commercial Repellents
If you are short on time, or materials to create natural repellents, consider commercial ones.
You can typically find these nearby at your local pest control retailer or online.
Commercial repellents, like natural repellents, also rely on the rabbit’s keen sense of smell.
They give a scent that the rabbits dislike (rabbits would rather not eat your garden if it smells bad).
While commercial repellents are effective, there are disadvantages.
For example, the scent may be strong enough that it will also change the smell or taste of your crop.
Sometimes, they may contain toxic chemicals that may cause food poisoning, or other stomach-related issues.
In general – Water soluble repellents are easier to use than other types but stay on the surface semi-longer, which is less suitable because of irrigation and rain.
Make sure to follow the instructions for use! Most importantly, be consistent, otherwise the application you were hoping for the product will not yield desirable results.
Motion Sensors
Due to their small size, rabbits are a common prey for many predators.
Common types of animals that prey upon rabbits include badgers, dogs, hawks, owls, raccoons, and snakes.
In order to confuse predators and escape, rabbits utilize their heightened level of senses.
They have incredible sight, and they also possess a much better sense of smell and hearing than we do. For example, imitating a predator can cause rabbits to run away thinking you are a farmer.
You can imitate a predator by putting out triggers that will stimulate the rabbit’s five senses. A good piece of equipment for this purpose would be a motion sensor.
Once it is hooked up and potentially beyond the perimeter of your plants, a motion sensor will trigger the motion stimulus once it senses the animal’s movement.
Most motion sensors create a sound or switch on a light for the rabbit to see. But the best type of device is a motion-activated sprinkler.
Once a rabbit crosses your garden’s boundary the motion sensor will turn on, spraying cold water to deter the world crowding your garden.
The instant you use it, rabbits panic and escape, even when it was water that triggered it. Unfortunately, light and sound-based motion sensors are not as good at keeping rabbits away because they have lured humans into having to come to try and figure out what the cause was.
Install a Fence
Building a fence is an excellent way to prevent rabbits from entering and raiding your crops.
When you decide on a fence, it’s important that the openings are small enough so that a rabbit can’t squeeze through them while making it high enough that they cannot jump over it.
The fence should be 4 feet tall when installed initially, then make sure to bury the base a ½ foot into the ground.
Chicken wire fences are great because the openings are small and keep rabbits out, but if you have more finances to spend, you can build your fence out of wood. Regardless, walls are barriers that keep rabbits from reaching the vegetable garden.
An interesting fact is that rabbits do not move far from their shelters, meaning that if your garden is hit with rabbit attacks, they probably live nearby.
When the fence is up, be sure to check your farm perimeter for rabbit holes and fill them.
Additionally, be sure to block any holes and gaps in structures that are close to your farm. When you eliminate the rabbit’s main habitat and rabbit holes, they will look for housing in other structures.
If you do not block holes and gaps in other structures around your farm, they will breed and become an unmanageable problem for your garden.
Live Traps
Live traps prevent rabbit behaviour through containment – the animal is constrained until you release it.
The traps can be simply constructed using commonly found household items such as wood, wire mesh and nails.
If you cannot construct your own, purchase a readymade unit from your local pest control store.
Once you have your trap, you’ll need bait.
The most obvious bait choices include:
- carrots
- cucumber
- raspberries
The use of herbs can also be effective in attracting the bunnies.
Next, you want to place the trap and bait in places that the rabbits will have access to. The bait pulls them in and the trap will trigger the spring door to slam shut when they venture inside.
Once the trap is shut, the rabbit cannot escape.
So trapping is a good way to controlling rabbit damage without killing the bunnies.
Dogs
As stated previously, rabbits can hear exceptionally well and respond to virtually any noise.
Consequently, the bark of a dog alone may scare them from accessing your garden and eating your crops.
Additionally, dogs do hunt rabbits which means they are very afraid of them.
But dogs cannot be trusted entirely to deter rabbits.
A barking dog may only scare the pests for a little while.
Dogs tire quickly – and that’s when rabbits will take advantage of that, getting a jump on your crops. They also sleep at night and cant determine the exact scent of a rabbit.
Still, dogs are probably one of the easiest ways to stop a rabbit attack.
This is simply because more people have dogs than do not and it is an excellent way to keep your dog active.
Compound Hygiene
Rabbits are clever animals that understand how to hide themselves from humans and potential predators.
Rabbits enjoy hiding in tall grasses, holes, and abandoned buildings.
If you have tall grass, holes, or abandoned structures in your yard, rabbits will turn them into hiding places and may threaten your garden.
You will not know they were there until you see them damage your crop.
It’s important to keep your yard clean and to keep grass below an inch above the dirt.
Also clear or trim overgrown bushes and remove any anthills or abandoned sheds. Taking away their hiding places may help them feel uncomfortable in your yard.
Wrapping Up
Prevention is always better than cure. The best approach to managing rabbits is to make your environment inhospitable for survival.
Be certain that your yard is mowed well, and not littered with tall bushes. If there are holes, block them up.
When you have made the preventative changes, you can move forward with using repellents, dogs, traps, and fences.
You will find managing the rabbits much easier since only a relative few can migrate the distance between their housing and your garden.