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Does anyone have any suggestions for keeping the rabbits from eating my flowers and my grass! I live in Orange County, California and we are not allowed to shoot them (as much as I would like to). I have used something called Deer Rid in the past. It does work but can be very expensive. $18 for a bottle and it doesn't last long since you have to soak the flowers with it. Your suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
Just get a small animal trap off eBay, $30 or so. Put a little salad in there for him. Then go dump him at the nearest nature center or area that hasn't been clear cut. At least that worked for me in the Houston area.
I have a huge yard, so a trap won't help when they can eat everything for 'free'. (I have owned 2 Have a Hart traps in the past......we used to catch skunks who loved to eat our avocados---tuna was used as bait).... It was a huge process...when the doors snapped down, they would kick all night trying to get out....the exteriminator would come, place a huge tarp over the trap, (skunks have poor eyesight and don't spray until you are very close), carry the trap up into the hills and then let them out.....I think he told them to come back to my house since he carried off 7.....at $50.00 a pop, it added up. The traps were $100.00 each, but this was 20+ years ago, so they are probably double by now. I also had to buy a chain and padlock to anchor the 2nd one to a tree so that it wouldn't get stolen like the first one in Monrovia, CA.
People think rabbits are cute.....well, after spending several hundred dollars a year on flowers, etc., (not to mention the time and effort it takes to plant it all), and to have it destroyed literally over night, I have lost my love for them. The best ones are cement.
Rabbits normally do not go towards fuzzy flowers, such as petunias, but if they are hungry enough, they will eat anything. They devour blue lobelia flower heads, buds off of gazania ground cover, Kentucky blue grass.....just to name three. They also burrow little holes in the flower beds and cause erosion.....
I have tried home remedies......such as crushed chili peppers....
Years ago, somebody told me that his friend used lion poop, (gotten from now-defunct Lion Country Safari in Irvine), but who has lion poop?
I have set lettuce out, (thinking they would ignore the flowers), and they ignored the lettuce instead.
I have tried Ropel, which is non-poisonous, bitter.......it is very expensive, not easy to find and the last time I bought it, several years ago, it was $60.00 a gallon......
I am currently going through a gallon of Liquid Fence....@ a little over $25.00. This stuff stinks so much that you can hardly go out into the yard....my friend in CT says it has coyote urine and blood in it, but the ingredients list chemicals and garlic..... As with the Ropel, after a few times of sprinklers, the stuff washes off....I don't care what the container says, the stuff washes off......it also says to use it a few times and then the rabbits will get the hint and stay away.....well, I have done that and still have no luck.
A few years ago I becames so desperate that I drove to a farm industrial place (I think it's in Orange--not close to my house at all), and bought Ramik.....this is green pellets, poison.....for rabbits. It is not sold online in CA. Well, the rabbits wouldn't touch it, but the rats did, so at least we got rid of some rats......since they got up into my car and chewed a hose in half which cost over $100 to repair, (and I won't mention the one who made a nest in a garage wall), buying Ramik was a good thing, so please, I don't want to hear anything from rat lovers.
We have scared off the coyotes.......they are the best for rabbit control...
I also put blood meal on my lawn a few times a year.......it makes it very green plus it is supposed to detour rabbits......well, that doesn't help either......within a week, they are grazing everywhere late at night......
I used moth balls to keep deer and coons away from my pond which had flowers around it. The deer were eating my hibiscus plants, wood and all. Coons were eating the fish. That got expensive so I bought 3" moth ball bricks. Set it on a rock and put a rock on top to keep them out of the rain. I don't know if this would work for rabbits. Can they smell?
Inflatable snakes from the nursery kept the birds away from where I planted new grass. Rabbits are snake food. You have to keep moving the snake so they don't get used to it. Hang it from a tree or fence if you have some breezes to keep it active.
I used moth balls to keep deer and coons away from my pond which had flowers around it. The deer were eating my hibiscus plants, wood and all. Coons were eating the fish. That got expensive so I bought 3" moth ball bricks. Set it on a rock and put a rock on top to keep them out of the rain. I don't know if this would work for rabbits. Can they smell?
Inflatable snakes from the nursery kept the birds away from where I planted new grass. Rabbits are snake food. You have to keep moving the snake so they don't get used to it. Hang it from a tree or fence if you have some breezes to keep it active.
Thanks for the ideas, Peter. I used moth balls at one of my houses, can't remember which one unless it was the one that had the skunks.... I recall that my mom used them when I was a kid to keep a neighbor's cats from using the flower bed as a toilet.
My friend in Costa Mesa also lost all of her koi to coons...she even put heavy gauged wire over the top of the pond and held it down with big rocks but they just lifted it right up..I will have to tell her about the bricks....maybe this will motivate her to try again.
I have a big, plastic owl......the crows were tearing big chunks out of the lawn a few months ago......it looked as if somebody had practiced golf..... Anyway, I put the owl out there, moved him every few days and got rid of the crows....but the rabbits will stand right up against the owl and munch away....it's almost as if they think he's a buddy. I will keep my eye out for the fake snakes...
I would assume rabbits can smell, but they don't necessarily go for fragrant flowers.....
This week I have attached wire to the wrought iron fences leading into the backyard....probably going up about 18 inches...maybe I can at least save half of the property that way...
The rabbits have dug under the wire on the gates.....(As of today), I have NOW bought metal stakes at Home Depot and pounded them into the ground up against the wire..... And I have sprayed the area around the wire and stakes with the stinky stuff more than once...... These little devils do not give up!
The rabbits have dug under the wire on the gates.....(As of today), I have NOW bought metal stakes at Home Depot and pounded them into the ground up against the wire..... And I have sprayed the area around the wire and stakes with the stinky stuff more than once...... These little devils do not give up!
I understand. I had to install stone thresholds under the gates where I had installed a wire sweeper as they dug under the wire. I also had to install 'hardware cloth' with a half inch mesh across all of my fencing as the rabbits had learned to worked the 2x3 mesh wire to break the wire.
In he past, I used mothballs to good results, just a little stinky and you need to replinish them. Now, I use coffee grounds sprinkled around the plants I don't want them to eat. It worked for my green beans, peppers and cabbage plants ... now i need to spread some around my hostas. I used organic coffee, so it's good for the soil too ...
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