Rabbit Repellant

[TylerStewart]

Anybody have a good rabbit repellant? I need to keep them out of a cactus patch on rural land where there is no power (no electric fences or motion sensors, etc). I tried chicken wire, but it's not working as they just dig under it or find a small opening - it's just been too much work to secure it. Shooting them is not an option since I'm not there constantly, and there is likely a never ending supply of them that will keep coming. It also tends to happen in the middle of the night. Looking for something simple; I know there are solutions. Thanks for any help!

 

[Seiryu]

Anybody have a good rabbit repellant? I need to keep them out of a cactus patch on rural land where there is no power (no electric fences or motion sensors, etc). I tried chicken wire, but it's not working as they just dig under it or find a small opening - it's just been too much work to secure it. Shooting them is not an option since I'm not there constantly, and there is likely a never ending supply of them that will keep coming. It also tends to happen in the middle of the night. Looking for something simple; I know there are solutions. Thanks for any help!

I have been using "Deer-off" with some success. It's like a fox urine. Smells decently bad, but works.

I just border the area with it, and the bunnies seem to stay clear. Once the smell starts to die off, I add some more.

I live in the city, but more rural. Usually at least 50-100 bunnies born in my backyard alone each year. The only thing that gets my greens are those stupid cabbage butterflies, bah.

 

[Itort]

A similar product to Rob's I have used is bobcat urine. When I lived in Ft Wayne, the zoo would sell lion pellets to keep rabbits and deer away (it worked like a charm).

 

[Yvonne G]

Those electronic barking dogs work off batteries. I've used one for quite a while in my box turtle pen because of the 'possums. Its a motion sensor and a recording barks when it senses motion.

 

[Kristina]

HEY Yvonne I have never heard of those - A big coon has been making me nervous lately, and I have been bringing the torts in at night. I bet that would scare the sucker off!!!

A lot of people swear by human hair clippings. People used to come into the salon and get hair by the trash bag full - we had one of those big central vacuum systems, so it was relatively easy to give someone a trash bag full of hair for their garden. It was all well and good, until one gentleman came in for hair. After the third time, I said, "Wow, you must have quite the garden!" To which he replied, "Actually, I make murals from human hair."

Eww.

But I digress

 

[ChiKat]

A lot of people swear by human hair clippings. People used to come into the salon and get hair by the trash bag full - we had one of those big central vacuum systems, so it was relatively easy to give someone a trash bag full of hair for their garden. It was all well and good, until one gentleman came in for hair. After the third time, I said, "Wow, you must have quite the garden!" To which he replied, "Actually, I make murals from human hair."

Eww.

But I digress

hahaha too funny...that is so weird

 

[Candy]

O.K. now I'm curious, how do they get this urine from these animals to sell it?

 

[Kristina]

Collection pans underneath the cages they are kept in. I had a friend in school whose dad raised foxes, and my grandpa used to buy urine from him to put around his deer blinds.

 

[TylerStewart]

I can just see the guy that puts a garbage bag full of human hair in his garden.... That's an endless supply of hair in your salad waiting to happen LOL. I've read quite a bit that they don't like spicy scent or flavor, and there are a few home-made recipes for "pepper water" that keeps them away. There are also some powders and other things out there you can buy. Fortunately, we get little rain here (4" per year) and it hasn't rained at all the past 3-4 months, so whatever I use doesn't need too much replenishment. I keep taking my dogs there kinda hoping that their presence (and leftover smells) will help. They chase rabbits out of there on a regular basis, but I'm not sure rabbits are smart enough to know not to keep coming back. Lately, I've been doing various tests with the cactus and rabbit-prevention, wrapping them in burlap, all sortsa things and nothing seems to be working very well yet.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

What about the Scarecrow solar operated motion sensor? It shoots water, is there a water source out there Tyler?

 

[Candy]

Collection pans underneath the cages they are kept in. I had a friend in school whose dad raised foxes, and my grandpa used to buy urine from him to put around his deer blinds.

Thank you Kristina. I had a different awful picture in my mind.

 

[TylerStewart]

Not besides the 60 gallon tank I have in the back of my truck that I go water everything with!

That's my biggest obstacle out there right now is that I need a 850' deep well ($55K, give or take) and about another $25K to run power out there for the well. It's all more of a 5-10 year plan (pay off the land in the next few years, then work on the utilities and eventually build our house there). I wanted to grab land while it was cheap, even knowing I can't yet get utilities out there, and I was able to. It's pretty remote, but it's only about 4 miles or so from where I live (I live on the edge of Vegas already). I met the only neighbor I have out there this past weekend (there's probably 500 feet of desert between us), and he's known my dad for 20 years. Small world.

---

Thank you Kristina. I had a different awful picture in my mind.

I'd love to know what picture you had in your mind

 

[spikethebest]

will any of these measures work for ground squirrels? they eat my Mazuri all day long.

 

[Tom]

You must have some determined rabbits. I just encircle each plant/cactus with some chicken wire and run a couple of stakes through the wire and into the ground to hold it in place. I've never had one messed with using this method. I built these special box traps for rabbits. They don't work any better than the Have-a-Hearts, which is to say, not at all. I thought about trying some snares, but haven't done it yet. No experience at it. I do have the perfect rabbit dispatching system though. Emma, my JRT.

 

[TylerStewart]

My solution may have come to me on TV the other day:

http://www.animaloff.com/

I ordered one, then in trying to add a second one, I apparently added two, so I have 3 coming

This better work, cause I need to get it going, and I've got $98 commited now.

 

[dmmj]

Studies have been done for the ultrasonic insect ones on how ineffective they are, as far as I know none have been done on the animal ones yet, hope they work. I have heard people swear by wolf urine.

 

[TylerStewart]

Well, hopefully it does something.... The area that a single one is supposed to cover is all I really need right now, so I figure having 3 there should add to the success rate.... In theory anyways.

Really, it was the solar thing that did it for me, since I don't have power where I need them to be, and it's sunny here something like 340 days of the year. I'm going to start slowly, again, with a single cactus and give it a week before I add. I'm down probably 10-12 plants at this point with nothing else working. I've also heard good things about various urine, just worry that after a heavy rain I'd need to be there to replenish it all the time, and that's not something I want to commit to. Also not something I particularly want to store in my garage. I am also getting more and more convinced that it's a chipmunk problem as much as rabbit, since the holes they're apparently getting through are small; probably too small for most rabbits.

 

[stells]

A fox....

 

[TylerStewart]

Standoff

I'm giving this solar powered motion detector every opportunity to succeed. It claims a 30' viewing range. I set it at about 8', and it's pointed straight at the plant. For some reason, I still feel like this cactus is going to be gone in 3 days

I got 3 of these things... If it works, I'll throw in more cactus and more motion detectors.

 

[Yvonne G]

I had to laugh out loud when I saw your picture...and I hope you don't mind that I go OT just a bit.

One of the things I tell new sulcata keepers to do is to get on their hands and knees and go around the tortoise pen and pick up anything that a sulcata can fit into his mouth...pebbles, debris, paper, etc.

I saw your picture and had this really funny picture pop into my mind of you on your hands and knees and a really exasperated look on your face!