Rabbit Menace!

Hello,

We live in a house that backs on to fields and there are wild rabbits in the area.

Over the last week we have noticed one has been coming into our garden and it has been eating the weeds in the grass.

However, this morning we have discovered that it has eaten all the sweet peas and has also had a good munch on the sunflowers.

Is there anything we can do to deter it? We haven't yet lived here a year and have put a lot of work in as there was nothing in the garden (apart from decking and mess) when we moved in and now it seems this rabbit is just going to eat all our work.

Short of getting hold of an air rifle, I'm stumped as to what we can do

 

Thanks Shiney - our garden is 90 feet long, with privet hedges on the two side boundaries and a fence at the bottom.

I've just been out now and a baby rabbit shot out from under some of the remaining decking and ran off. I suspect they might be living under the decking. I hate decking, and the previous occupants had an obsession with it.

 

where abouts are you situated and do you think the owners of the field will let you control the rabbits in it..... if your not too far away i may be able to help as i have for others
regards
john

 

We have rabbit fence around our garden. Only see a rabbit in there once in a blue moon. (I have seen babies squeezing through the fence ... :( )

Important to get Rabbit wire, rather than regular Chicken wire, as the holes are smaller.

Where we had hedges we cut them back a bit more than usual, held the wire tightly to the hedge (with bamboo canes) and within a year the hedge had grown back through and you can't see the wire. For a hedge the wire only needs to stop them scrabbling through, although you need to lay 6" or so flat on the ground to stop them just scrabbling under).

The rest we have posts and straining wires, and the bottom 6" was laid flat on the grass which grew through - you could lift the turf and bury it if you like. No need to bury it vertically though. Better if you can lay the flat part on the outside, although quite a bit of outs is laid flat on the inside as it was not practical to do it on the outside.

P.S. Fairly sure my rabbit netting came from these people:
http://www.meshdirect.co.uk/Rabbit-Netting-c-81.html

 

Hi, Rabbits can be a big problem, I deal with this all the time in many different ways, not only are rabbits harmful to plants and crops, but also to animals too. I help out a friend of mine who owns a pest control company in Merseyside and he covers the whole of the UK, we get calls from farmers all the time with rabbit & Fox problems. Mainly it's the rabbits damaging crop or digging holes that horses end up hurting themselves in (each horse normally costs around £1000 in vet bills due to rabbits) it they are a big problem to most people.
Some people on the other hand think they are nice little furry animals (which they are) but sometimes they just need to be controlled by a professional.
We remove them with animal friendly traps (if requested by the landowner) or more often and cheaper is with a firearms (fully registered and insured)

What area are you in ?
Regards
Eliminator

 

Guns don't work unless you're there 24/7 with one protecting every boundary. The only 24/7 effective measure is a rabbit proof fence. I use both methods, but the first and most effective method is a fence. I only bother with the other method if they're literally queuing up to find ways of getting through the fence.

Makes me wonder if some people think chasing cabbage whites with butterfly nets will protect your brassicas when netting is the most effective solution.

 

Yes, I must agree a fence is the best option. but if you can't afford a fence and you like animals, a couple of pet ferrets in a run in the garden will also keep the rabbits away.

 

I wonder if just spreading the bedding, dung, etc. (obtained from a ferret keeping neighbour) across the route they use to get in would discourage them?

I've also seen a design for a home made cage trap somewhere on the web, but wondered if a baited cage would actually start encouraging them into a garden.

 

Now that might just be a very good Idea

 

I use an electric fence around my veg. plot. I originally bought an electric rabbit net fence, it was OK for a time but the blighters eventually chewed through it. I have now made my own galvanised wire electric fence.

Fence stakes are wood, 50mm X 50mm at the corners, 50mm x 25mm intermediate posts.
I made insulators out of blue plastic water pipe and nailed them on. The insulated positive wires are on the inside while the earth wires are stapled on the outside. An 8 joule energiser and a sealed lead/acid battery are used for power. The wire used is 2mm galvanised iron wire.

All I need to do now is figure out how to stop the pigeons.

 

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