Rabbit Deterrent
How to Find the Best Rabbit Deterrent
Rabbits are very cute and make wonderful pets, but if you have a garden you will probably be in search of a rabbit deterrent. There is nothing more frustrating than planting a garden and putting in a lot of hard work, only to find that a rabbit or family of rabbits has had a feast at your expense.
Rabbits are very hard to deter, especially after they have already had a taste of your delicious plants. While there are toxic chemicals available as a rabbit deterrent, you also have many natural or organic choices when it comes to getting rid of rabbits and other rodent pests for good.
Many times the best rabbit deterrent is a smell that causes a rabbit to fear for its life. For instance, because rabbits are afraid of humans, dogs and cats, one rabbit deterrent is to take cat, dog, or human hair, place it in small cloth bags and distribute it around your garden. When the rabbits smell the hair, they will think that humans, dogs, or cats are nearby and not stick around your garden.
Smells are an excellent rabbit deterrent. Other smells that rabbits hate are onions and garlic and such plant aromas as catnip or lavender. Some gardeners take bacon grease and pour it around the outside of the garden, and maintain that this also is a very effective rabbit deterrent.
What it does is establish an invisible fence made of grease. You can also use a normal fence as a rabbit deterrent. It only needs to be enclosing the garden and be around three feet high. However, if you live far enough outside of town to have wild rabbits visiting your garden, you probably have deer strolling by and eating your plants as well. If this is the case, you will need something larger, like an eight-foot fence.
If you should just happen to have a ferret, their droppings are also a good rabbit deterrent. A ferret is in the muskrat family which is related to the badgers. Badgers are very mean and will not give up in a pursuit of any small creature. If you don’t have a ferret you can get ferret droppings from a friend or even ask for some at the local pet store. They would probably be happy to save you some.
A less smelly rabbit deterrent is to take a few glass bottles, fill them with water, and place them strategically around the garden. The smell of water will not deter rabbits, but the sunlight can glance off of the clear glass, scaring the rabbits so that they will leave of their own accord. This method is not quiet as smelly as deterring rabbits with all sorts of animal droppings.
There is a product called the Pro-Tecs repellent clip which is made of garlic. All you do is attach these little clips to your plants and no more rabbits. It is a big seller because it is an organic rabbit deterrent, and it lasts six to eight months, or just about the entire gardening season.
If you have a cat who hunts and kills rodents, some of his or her used litter makes an excellent rabbit repellent. So does planting catnip. It will discourage rabbits and at the same time, give your cats something with which to play.
Finally, if you want to do something very humane to get rid of rabbits, set up and catch them in a Havahart ™ trap. These are very safe and once you have caught the rabbit, you can transport him far away from your home and release him. These types of traps also allow you to show the rabbit or other small mammal to your children in a safe way before it is released.