Rabbit Repellent Success

Hi,

If you're like me, the rabbits are making you crazy - right?! In my case, they love my gazanias and I can't seem to keep them away. I was wondering if others could share your success stories with me on what you've used to repell them. I can tell you what doesn't work: "Liquid Fence" spray. Not only is it stinky, but the rabbits laugh at my attempts to repell them with it! I also have a "rodent screen" up, but the critters squeeze through anyway - I guess I'll try a smaller mesh next.

There are a variety of products on the market. Does anyone reccommend one, or can you tell me which ones don't work?

Thanks in advance, Christina :~)

PS: Yeah, I used to think he was cute too...

Hi, Christina

We've had a similar problem with the City beds along the waterfront in our hometown. Some well-meaning, but misguided people released domestic rabbits down there, and they've layed waste to most of the Waterfront Park flowerbeds. Unfortunately, we chose to put ornamental cabbage down there, much to their delight! LOL!

I've been researching this issue a bit. We certainly don't want to put something smelly or ugly on the plants or the soil around it. Once suggestion was to disburse human urine around the beds, but I'm not sure the park employees for the City of Seward want to oblige! LOL! Besideds, I should think marking territory would just get the other critters, such as dogs and cats doing the same thing. I hope you get some good answers. I'll be watching!

Funny story, I hope we both get some good solutions. I think the Liquid Fence was based with coyote urine, so the human variety probably wouldn't do much - mine must have no sense of smell! A thought comes to mind though, how do they know that human urine repells them? Did they try it? Gross!

Thanks much for the smile. :D

I'm from Alaska, so using marking scents is no big surprise to many of our local inhabitants, fuzzy and otherwise. I believe some of these scents are used by trappers, but the bottled types. We had a recent mishap at the post office when some wolverine scent broke in a package. LOL!

I don't remember who posted this idea about a year ago but they suggested mixing 2 raw eggs with water until blended and then mixing with a gallon of water and spraying on tender growth. I tried it this past spring and it worked, the theory being that rabbits are vegetarian and eggs are protein. It made sense to me somehow.

Anne

Get a cat. Prefrably a grateful stray.

OK seriously, my cat was a stray and escapes often enough that the bunnies stay out of my gardens this year. Makes me crazy.

Have you tried bloodmeal? Or putting something painful down where the hop.I'm thinking along the lines of rose canes. The one place we had a bunny problem was in the early spring and I put down the dead trimmings from my roses and that seemed to deter them.

I haven't heard about mixing the eggs with water, but I'm desparate and will try anything! Bloodmeal is actually on my list to try, and I was wondering if anyone found this to be effective?

I don't want to cause them harm, just have them eat somewhere else. That just seems mean to stick them with rose branches. Plus, I have a dog to worry about poking herself too.

In my circumstance, these beds are available to the public, and there are so manly plants that I can't imagine basting them all with eggs. We get lots of rain and there is a buffeting wind off the bay, so it really needs to be something that withstands all that. I think we'd all like to come up with something that doesn't look bad, doesn't smell bad, and doesn't feel bad... I'm sure the bunnies agree.

Does the bloodmeal smell badly? Is it a liquid or powder? Now I'm wondering if my dog will want to eat it if it smells 'meaty'.

Animals will most assuredly go after bloodmeal... powdered blood. It has a powerful odor when you add moisture, but I don't know if it is offensive when mixed into the soil. However, I'm sure it would attract animals and cause some digging. If you've every smelled old blood, you'd know what I'm referring to.

I have a garden friend down the road that purchased bloodmeal as an organic soil ammendment. She had it in a sealed 5 gallon bucket in here pole barn. A black bear sniffed it out and proceeded to eat the bucket to get to the bloodmeal... an absolutely concentrated, work free snack... no bones, no scales, no chase!

darn, well I guess that's off my list. My dog would think I had spread meat smelling dressing over all that greenery - a big salad!

I've also heard of stretching fencing around the beds... including over the top... wouldn't that be attractive! Maybe it would just be better to grow plants in the dog kennel!

it sounds delightful. :~)

If you don't clean the kennel first, you'll even have fertilizer!

haha!

I just had an idea. I wonder if I were to add a systemic furtilizer to my gazanias, if it would change the taste of them and repell the bunnies? Do you think the pesticide would hurt them? Like I said earlier, I don't want to harm them just repel them.

This message was edited Aug 19, 2005 7:48 AM

I found a general keep-away stuff at PetSmart that I sprayed around the general area to keep out bunnies and the neighbor's cat who thought my flower beds were her toileting area, and it worked. I just stood around reading labels and picked one. It didn't hurt plants, smelled bad for a little while, and you had to respray after rain, but it sure worked on the cat and my wild bunnies. I'll try to find the name of it and get back. There are lots of different things out there to try. I know I didn't spend much on it.

oh thanks, I'd love to get the name from you! Yesterday I just spent a good deal of time putting up a finer mesh on the back of the fence with the hopes that they won't squeeze through. There is still access from the front of the house though, and it would be great to spray the access points like crazy. I didn't have good luck with one that had a bad smell, so I wonder if this will work? I'll try it though! Luckily the one that failed for me had a money back guarrantee, so I'm submitting a refund request since it was about 30 bucks for the bottle. :)

Ouch! That was some rather expensive repellent! Of course, I suppose it is labor intensive getting those smells... capturing foxes, plying them with beer, waiting for nature to take its course... all time consuming... and think how many foxes it takes to fill that bottle!

Yeah, and then you have to include the cost of the beer...........

Yep, lots of overhead in making those rabbit deterent scents!

haha, you guys are so funny!

;)

OK, I finally went to the shed and looked up the name of the stuff from PetSmart. It's "Bitter End" for outdoor use and says for dogs, cats and other trainable animals. That included the wild bunnies in my yard and the neighbor's cat in my case. And it was not expensive or I would not have bought it, you can count on that! That $30 stuff would have been 'way out of my league. Glad it was guaranteed.

ok, thanks so much garden gram! I'll let you know if I have success with it.

OK, good luck. I just sprayed it around the perimeter and under the bushes where there were bird nests to keep the cat out of there too. Hope it works for you, too. You have to reapply after rain, though.

Hello,

Just found this thread as part of my war with the rabbits that live in my neighbors yard.

cnswift, did bitter end work for you?

I have resorted to hardware cloth around my plants but I'd actually like to see my flowers at some point this summer.

Thanks,

Maureen

CNSW;

I think that a product known as "deer scram" http://www.deerscram.com works on rabbits. Its 100 percent money back guarantee, so, IMHO, you have nothing to lose.

Best;
bluelytes

Hello,

It's been a while since I took up the battle of bunny vs. man. I've since learned to coexist with them, since there never seemed to be a magic product to keep them at bay. I did add a smaller mesh to the rear yard, which works great for rabbits. I also planted more flowers that they didn't care for. They still eat my gazanias, but I put them in the center of my beds with others that aren't as enticing around the edges so it's harder to get to. As it turns out, the gazania flower is pretty, but the rest of the plant looks like a weed to me so I'm not too concerned if they die out. Some plants I've had success with, that are bunny proof are: african daisy, coriopsus, society garlic, zinias and day lilies. I've never tried "Deer Scram", but the three products I did try were pretty worthless. Shotguns in my neighborhood would get me put away for a very long time, so that's out! Good luck!

Christina

PS: Oh, and I did get a refund on the Liquid Fence, but the small print reads "refund only on suggested retail" which of course was way less than I paid - but any refund was better than nothing! :-)

CNSW,
Just offered FWIW!!! (For What Its Worth), Which in this case, is very little, lol.

Best of luck,
Bluelytes

I've had some limited success with cayenne pepper. Its limited because I do have to reapply after each rainfall. But when I am diligent about sprinkling after rain, it seems to work.

I buy the large generic container for about $6 and it lasts a few months. I sprinkle it lightly right on the foliage of small tender platns and bit heavier on the ground around the plant. Once the plants are larger, (for most plants) it seems the rabbits can eat off the lower foliage and its not a problem for the plant.

The problem is keeping the young tender plants spiced until they are large enough to withstand the chewing.

Blood meal is a pretty strong fertilizer and can burn some plants. I do spread bloodmeal very thinly with a broadcast spreader on my lawn in early spring. I do it to both fertilize and keep rabbits at bay. I don't want to use it too much or too frequently though...

I'm going to have to try the caynne pepper, that seems to be a consistent theme throughout these anti-rabbit threads.

Thanks,

Maureen

I appreciate the advice too. Rabbits are never going away in my neighborhood, so I'll always be on the look out for a new trick to keep them at bay.

I've had good luck with cayenne pepper, too. It is sort of a pain to re-apply so often, but I just got into the habit of taking it out with me during my morning stroll around the beds. Deadhead here Sprinkle there...it's all good. :) Hot pepper spray can also work, and you don't need to reapply as often.

I also had success with bloodmeal, but it was too much of a hassle trying to keep my dog away from it. She LOVES it. Bleah.

This spring we planted the city beds with plants no intelligent rabbit would eat... foxglove, larkspur, pennyroyal, monkshood... all toxic plants. So far, so good.

that was pretty smart!

Has someone here actually tried Deerscram? I'm thinking of trying it but would like to hear others' experiences. And does deer repellent equal rabbit repellent in terms of plants?

From http://www.deerscram.com it says, "America's Finest Deer and Rabbit Repellent™" It comes with 100 percent money back guarantee, so what have you got to lose. Lemme know how it works for you if you try it.


Best;
bluelytes

A wabbit wepellent you want? Hmmm, how about this-
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/617232/

I've got a bumper crop of wabbits this year. Let me know how that product works if anyone buys it. I don't think I tried that one yet. If it fails, I suppose I could add it to the collection of failed rabbit and deer repellent products.

EQUI,
AND you get your money back if it does fail.

Best;
bluelytes

For the truly fed up..... there *is* one way to keep pets away from plants, and the excess is good for keeping plaque off your teeth.... My cat loves to soil new beds, so I did this......
I am surprised EQ didn't mention my foolproof (or fool enacted) method.