We’ve been taught from a young age that rabbits are cute, cuddly, adorable little creatures. They fool hunters and outsmart monsters…They sell us cereal and batteries… They help a young prince grow up and learn to skate… They save the world, promote naked women and are sometimes late but what they really are……..are garden destroyers.
You’ve been brainwashed, Ya been bamboozled into believing these creatures are harmless and I’m here to say, No! All my hard work from; preparing the soil, planting, watering, weeding and general upkeep can be shattered in a single day by one of these varmints.
You can’t really trap a rabbit during the summer. Why would a rabbit enter a metal trap (with whatever bait) when there is a cornucopia of fresh veggies and herbs all over the place? Besides, live trapping of rabbits is not recommended because rabbits can carry certain diseases which may be transmittable to the trapper. Here are a few.
I recommend a .22 , a steady aim and patience. I know it sounds terribly cruel and inhumane but its all part of being self-sufficient. You can’t be self sufficient if you don’t have any produce left to consume and can. Here are some Delicious Rabbit Recipes, my wife is Italian and her Grandmother would always make tomato sauce with rabbit. Don’t worry about the rabbit population, it’s booming.
Rabbits have a very fast reproductive rate. The breeding season for most rabbits lasts 9 months, from February to October. Normal gestation is about 30 days. The average size of the litter varies but is usually between 4 and 12 babies, with larger breeds having larger litters. A kit (baby rabbit) can be weaned at about 4 to 5 weeks of age. This means in one season a single female rabbit can produce as many as 800 children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. A doe is ready to breed at about 6 months of age, and a buck at about 7 months.(Source)
Here’s a link to 10 Ways to deter rabbits from your garden in a feel good happy way: Click Here. Of course, none on this list has actually worked for me. I think I have mutant bunnies.
Rabbits eat a variety of fruits and vegetables, which make it difficult to keep them out of vegetable gardens. Rabbits enjoy eating lettuce, carrots, apples, strawberries, pears, broccoli, kale, spinach, celery and tomatoes. Rabbits will eat almost any leafy vegetable. Rabbits will eat garden vegetables to the ground and damage the bark around certain bushes.
I know some of you have rabbits as pets and I think that’s great. They’re not eating your garden. So, let’s end on a fun note……
My Top Ten Famous Rabbits of All Time:
- Bugs Bunny (Our buddy)
- Rabbit (Winnie the Pooh)
- Thumper (Bambi)
- Velveteen Rabbit (my favorite)
- Peter Cottontail (Thornton Burgess)
- White Rabbit (Alice in Wonderland)
- Roger Rabbit (from Who Framed?)
- Playboy Bunny (Classic)
- Trix Rabbit (Love me some Trix)
- Energizer Bunny (I hate him)
Never had to worry about the attachment to the furry creatures. Dad taught us that rather than watching them eat up our gardens…they tasted really good in sauteed in a milk gravy.
While aggravating and true, this is hilarious 🙂
I like cute, cuddly creatures, including rabbits. However, I am also a gardener and keeper of too many dogs. I have often wondered about transforming wild bunnies and/or raised rabbits into a sustainable way of feeding the dogs.
Yep, those bunnies can be quite damaging to a garden. We just have to do what we have to when they insist on eating what was not meant for them. Rabbit is good when prepared right.
No rabbits in my Houston garden, but the squirrels drive us crazy! We keep water and grain for birds and squirrels in another part of the yard, but like the rabbits, they prefer vetables and herbs!
Silly Wabbit–Twix is for kids. I feel this way about gophers, only there’s nothing warm and fuzzy about a gopher, so it is a guilt free obsession.
Reblogged this on Grumpa Joe's Place and commented:
I finally found an ally who has learned the same way I did.
We shoot rabbits regularly around here, and my mother has been known to bludgeon one in her garden with a shovel. I recently saw some footage of rabbits overrunning the outback in Australia– wish I could find that. Remember the “rabbit proof fence”? Show no pity, people.
But I have told my husband not to bring them home– WAY too much trouble to cook with so little meat… I’ll wait for pheasant season.
Be vewy vewy quiet, I’m hunting wabbits huh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh.
My nemesis is the infamous Flying Rats! AKA pigeons. I never realized how devastating they can be on new seedlings and tender annuals. My weapon of choice is: http://www.airforceairguns.com/Talon-SS-Utility-Rifles-s/38.htm silenced, accurate, and rechargeable from a scuba tank! Just gotta get them picked up before the chickens get them!
Does the March Hare (Alice in Wonderland) count as a rabbit? I know they’re kinda different…
One solution that I have not seen mentioned: get a rodent-chasing dog. I find it is much simpler to keep the dogs out of the garden than it is to keep rabbits out. Our dogs frequently kill squirrels, rabbits, and armadillos. Our female will dig up gophers as well. Our rodent problems are few and far between, even though I often see rabbits and squirrels in the woods. The dogs are a very effective deterrent, I guess.
Our next door neighbour shoots them too. We have to protect all our veggies from the bunnies with shrouds and covers. You are right, they look cute but they can’t half munch their way through the garden!!
Your post = funny. Rabbits eating garden = not so funny! Anyone in my family will tell you the wars I’ve waged against the bunnies with those furry creatures the victors every time. Our yard is a virtual rabbit smorgasbord!
My daughter has a bunny. Flopsy lives in a very large, well-appointed cage…. as God intended. 😀 My grandfather worked in a sawmill and had a small farm, probably similar to yours in what he actually farmed. Rabbit was on the breakfast table regularly. Good, too. I enjoyed the rabbit humor in this post, and the pics. Some of my fave rabbits!
I had a problem with a squirrel sampling all of the veggies and fruits within its reach — AND NEVER FINISHING ONE THEY HAD STARTED GNAWING ON!
Fortunately for me I have this cat who loves to hunt. Once I showed her a dead mouse and instructed her to make all of the mice like the one I had shown her. The next day a stiff mouse with half a head was waiting for me on my backdoor mat. No other mice were presented to me and I never saw another one in my yard again.
Such a good and smart kitty. I’m so glad cats don’t hunt people.
When the squirrel kept ruining more fruits of my labor than I was willing to gift to them I turned to my little hunter buddy and told her we had an unwanted guest in the backyard and they needed to go.
From what I saw, cats are not faster than squirrels, but they can chase them over the wall where two big dogs live. I don’t know if the dogs wore out the unwanted guest that fled my yard or if the squirrel decided to move outside of the city, but my garden flourished and I was happy that the cat and the dogs could work so efficiently to achieve a common goal.
We had similar problem but with many animals, deer, bunnies, etc. We finally gave up and purchased wildlife netting and now the food is ours.
LOL We raised our own rabbits for about 9 months in the past year. We had to quit because we moved to an apartment complex but our freezer is still full of rabbit…legs, roasts, and even bone broth. I would say “tastes like chicken” for those afraid to try, but that doesn’t really give it justice because it is it different and just as good.
Too funny! Good luck with your quest to remain varmint free. Know any bored 13yr old boys with a .22?
We have fencing up that is called deer and rabbit fencing. It works against the rabbits, but the problem with it is that it is only 6′ high and deer can jump 8′. We have been lucky with the bunnies. Ours have hears that are at least 15″… Why not share a rabbit recipe?
Ohh it’s in the article “Here are some Delicious Rabbit Recipes” – Paragraph 4.
🙂
My friend Melanie echos your sentiments exactly. I’ve been fortunate not to be bothered by them in the garden, but she has an ongoing battle. Good luck!
Having grown up in Australia I have a great respect for the ability of rabbits to multiply and take over. Twenty four rabbits were released in 1859 and they grew to around a billion until myxomatosis (a severe viral disease) was released and decimated the population. Rabbits developed resistance though and soon returned to 300 million. In 1996 another disease calicivirus was released and was so successful that some of the predatory animals started to starve. So now we need to figure out the right balance. maybe we need to do the same in our gardens – how about introducing a few predators?
Just to let you know that the picture between Velveteen Rabbit and Roger Rabbit is actually Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter) – not the Thornton Burgess Peter Cottontail rabbit. Wonderful post – you nailed the whole bunny dilemma.
Good to know, thanks!
Love the rabbit rant. Too funny. Yes, they give grief as well and have their not so fluffy side. I feel the same way about possums and have lost many a chicken to one, but all the shows on tv make them look cute hanging from someone’s finger.
Love it! Last pic rocked!
We have such a rabbit plague here that I see them from every window of the house. We haven’t got plants they can destroy but they are digging up the foundations underneath the sheds and possibly our house – argh!
Rabbits were introduced to New Zealand because someone thought they were cute. Like privet, gorse and possums – also introduced to New Zealand because someone thought they were an antidote to homesickness, they have become the scourge of farmers and a menace to production.
Cats help. Mine leave me babies and medium sized rabbits on the back porch regularly. The rabbit population in North Mississippi seems to be a record high this year!
My cat is also a killer of baby bunnies. He finds the nest (usually in a rock wall) and waits for them to come out. A few minutes (or hours) later – dead bunny. I, too, hate the rabbits, but confess to crying when I find the dead baby bunnies. I will take a rabbit over a groundhog any day of the year. Talk about destructive.
If you are eating the rabbits, then you’re onto a good thing! All that free meat…. We don’t have any rabbits in our garden, so that is one issue that we don’t have to contend with.
They also love to eat flowers – and don’t let anyone tell you they won’t eat marigolds – they will.
Yeah, I’ve always thought when I do get self sufficient, that the rabbits attracted to the garden are tasty source of protein! I’ve also thought of raising them for meat, do you know anything about that? Thanks
It is a bumper crop of rabbits here too! 10/22Ruger at hand… They munched our strawberries to nubbins early on, and last week got into the corn a little bit. A few of them are small enough to slip through the fencing. Cute, fuzzy, non stop eating machines….there’s tons of clover and wild food available, I don’t feel a bit bad to take any out who break the rule: No eating within the fence.
*anna
Fried rabbit and waffles, yum!
I have never laughed so hard in my life, until I read this post! I was laughing so hard, my sides hurt! But, how true it is! If it not the rabbits, it’s the deer, or in our garden…it’s the little white moths that are devouring the cabbage! Grrrrr! I feel for ya Soulsby, I just hope your rabbits don’t head to Seven Hills! But we did see a really huge groundhog the other day in our neighbors garden and we hope he does not see ours! Good luck and thanks for the great chuckle! 🙂 P.S. – Have you checked out our garden posts lately?
Oh I am so sorry to hear of your bunny troubles! That stinks! We have *huge* hares around us, but thankfully they haven’t taken an interest in my garden. (They enjoy all they can eat in the surrounding fields.) We have a cat that stays outside at night, which I’m hoping keeps them away. Good luck!!!
Reblogged this on Ranchlands Community Garden and commented:
Whether you love them or hate them, rabbits can be a gardeners worst nightmare. Soulsby Farm has a nice write-up on the good and mostly bad things rabbits do. Check it out.
Where I lived and had a garden before, I never had issues, Now where I’m living, I have problems with both rabbits and wood chucks, luckily my neighbor has dogs who visit the yard from time to time, keeps them on guard. I put a squirrel feeder on the far back of the property, which has become a spot they frequent more so than my garden beds.
My veggies are doing ok so far, in a fenced in area luckily, two feet deep in the ground and four feet high, but these furry creatures really did a number on my herb garden and two flower beds I just planted this spring. Next year the Herb garden is going to get fenced in, just don’t have the funds to do it now,,, and I do not plan to invest as much in my flower beds either. This was a hard and expensive lesson to learn.
I am amazed that these furry things will eat just about anything! I never would have imagined!
Gratefully, you have inspired me to have a couple of my friends who hunt, come over for target practice,,,,,
We trap rabbits all fall and winter (I’ve got two in the past 2 years). We also recommend surveying your and adjacent properties if possible, for burrows and rabbits hideouts. Keeping on top of new critters moving in or nearby your gardens can be useful.
I heard Plant skydd can work – we’re considering applying it more commerically for our clients.
As Dan’s link suggest, nothing beats installing rabbit-proof, permanent fencing. Eliminate entry and you eliminate the problem!! I know fencing can be costly (and laborous to install), but its worth it. Even if it means saving for the next 5 years 🙂
Thanks Formecology!
You’ve hit the nail (rabbit?) right on the head – they’re mowing down my beans faster than they can grow! Problem is way too many that can squeeze through 2×4″ wire – it’s about to get a layer of chicken wire around the outside. Fingers crossed!
We also used that ‘rabbit-proof fencing for years. Finally we saw the rabbits hopping THROUGH the holes. This year we installed 4’ high chicken wire and the munching stopped immediately. We call it our Great Wall of China…
Sanne, did you bury the chicken wire underground at all, or just pin it down? Thanks.
I have had the same problem with rabbits so I feel your wrath. I went out today and saw a chipmunk out there and lots of birds. It can be frustrating.
My attitude to most garden pests (cabbage moths and aphids being big exceptions) is that if humans have moved into their habitat, they are within their right to fight for some of my vegetables. If humans have moved them in, then all’s fair. In Australia rabits were introduced so culling (and regular release of diseases targetting them) seem reasonable approaches. They not only decimate gardens, they trash the environment pushing out more fragile native species.
My worst pests are bandicoots (a ground dweller who dig holes, eat grugs and lots of veggies) and possums (who climb anything and eat the best, freshest growth on trees – fruit, leaves, bark, branches…, vegies and pretty much any plant). I don’t think I’ve got a right to complain because they lived around Sydney before settlers moved in. So I fence and arrange barricades to encourage them to find easier pickings elsewhere, but when they score a harvest, I just accept it as part of the natural order of thigns.
We don’t seem to have many rabbits, or foxes around here. I think we are a bit too urban for rabbits, but I have seen foxes. They just don’t seem to have discovered my chickens yet.
Peter Rabbit was created by Beatrix Potter, btw. Just saying. He is my favourite bunny of all time.
I didn’t realize rabbits could do so much damage! We’ve had more trouble with moles than anything else (though I did catch a turtle near the tomatoes), but I’ll keep an eye out for the furry nibblers, too. Thanks for sharing and for taking time to drop by my blog! 🙂
Oh dear! I have a bunny. I won’t be reading this post to her! I sometimes choose to embrace ignorance of such dilemmas! 🙂 Debra
We’re having a terrible time with the bunnies this year – it’s never been like this. And as I write this two rabbits hop across the front lawn flipping me off as they proceed to the garden.
Thanks for this wonderful, amusing way to start my day! 🙂
When I have had excessive rabbit damage (usually between dogs, like now), I reread ‘Watership Down’. While this does not help the garden, it does help me be a little less angry when things are munched.
I’d like your permission to share/reblog this at SanneKureJensen.wordpress.com.. Full credit will come back to you. Thanks. SKJ
I’d be honored, thank you for sharing.
I had rabbits in my garden one year. they had a litter of babies in the lettice but never ate or touched anything in the garden. Never actually had trouble with rabbits.
Poor Wittle Wabbits… Good fried like chicken.
I’m not having any wild bunny problems at all this year…but I also have a German Shepherd/Husky mix that does NOT tolerate wild bunnies in her yard at all! My domestic bunnies (all named “dinner”) are breeding famously! The freezer shall be teeming this year!
Love love love this post! Hilarious! Unfortunately, I must admit that I’ve outsmarted the system. Apartment living in Boston, MA does not provide any land, so I’ve had to garden in my rain gutter (http://takewithfoodblog.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/garden-update-june/) Rabbits are smart creatures with the ability to hop short fences, but they sure as heck can’t hop the 20 feet up to my garden! I do, however, live right near the Fenway Victory Gardens – this year I have seen a huge flux in rabbits. I walk through the gardens about 4 times a week and without fail see 1-2 rabbits chowing down on whatever they please! I feel badly for the gardeners who are tearing their hair out looking for a remedy, but I also have to smile and appreciate how darn cute the rabbits are since I don’t have any such problem on my rain gutter 🙂 Oh, and the plants are doing very well – had my first cherry tomato of the season this weekend!
My best to you all with the various rabbit woes!
The little bastards wiped out all my okra in one night. Be careful eating rabbits in summer–the rule of thumb is never eat rabbits in months with no “r.” There are very serious diseases one can get from them in the summer.
Too funny! Not so many rabbits around here but the raccoons, skunks, and deer have caused some havoc.
This is Awesome!
we worried about the rabbits in the garden but it was the caterpillars that got us. there’s a rabbit family across the street from my house – the garden is at denise’s house- and i have been kind of grateful. part of my “lawn” is now only clover so when the family dines and eats all the flowers, you don’t notice quite so much that it’s time to mow the lawn.
At least rabbits have a purpose, to eat your crops.
Bushy tailed minions of Satan, aka tree rats, referred to in some circles as “squirrels”, have no real purpose ; they just dig and bury and randomly bite stuff without reason.
I just want to say “But why?” when I discover something they screwed up or ruined without eating anything.
Very funny and informative. I didn’t realize how fast they reproduce. Today on the farm we are living at 1 rabbit and 2 bunnies got lose they were a pain in the butt to catch.
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I think that the writers of Monty Python and the Holy Grail must have been gardeners. All you need now is a Holy Hand Grenade.
No rabbits on Serendipity Farm…here is the solution…you need to inherit 7 feral cats like we did and you won’t have ANY more problems with rabbits. Believe me! Oh…and slugs go down a treat with a few ducks. My work here…is DONE 🙂
I am in full agreement, my garden, as well as yours wasn’t planted as a buffet for rodents. Gardens take to much work, sweat, love and care as well as worry to have some old or young rabbit eat it up, even if it is Bugs Bunny or the Energizer Rabbit! 22’s rock! Best varmint guns there are. Just bought a new Savage Mark II with scope for just such occasions. Lately opossums have been my real problem. Donkeys took care of the coyotes that were killing my sheep earlier this year, lost 6 ewes, 2 were pregnant. Varmints seem to be everywhere and there is one for every kind of food we are raising or growing. What’s up with that?
I agree with you that rabbits are not our harmless cute little friends. Yesterday I went our to our kitchen garden (fenced) to find out that the baby rabbits can get in. They took down some peas at the ground level, then topped every swiss chard in the row. Now that our chickens are protected in a fortress type coop, It makes us grateful for the weasels, coyotes, bobcats, owls and hawks.
Kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit…. Sorry, somebody had to sing it. 🙂
I don’t have problems with rabbits here in the city, I have problems with rats. My wee tomatoes? Nom-ed! Sigh. I’d rather the rabbits.
PS: My parents did the “plant onions & marigolds throughout the garden” thing. It worked for them, luckily. However, the woodchucks kept on…. Catch & release traps had to be used for those fuzzies.
It’s all about the fence, and I agree that a good dog is very helpful!
@thesalemgarden, dogs are very helpful at preventing rabbit damage UNLESS you have a 135# Bernese Mountain Dog who runs in sheer terror at the mention of small rodents (or more correctly lagomorphs – but then canines are not very fluent in Latin so rodents and rabbits fall under the same umbrella to them). @TheSoulsbyFarm – you forgot one very frightening hair. Bunnicula! Even left in the fridge he can get to your tasty produce and drain all the life leaving pale, pasty white veggi-carci.
oops – my fingers typed ‘hair’ while my mind was thinking HARE! It must have been the fear of such a horror as Bunnicula causing my fingers to quake!
Rabbit shot by my uncle made a major part of our meat supply as a child growing up on my grandfather’s very small farm.
Now, I’m so glad I’m an urban gardener and don’t have to live with these realities!
We’re vegan and try to practice ahimsa, which does make dealing with garden pests a challenge. The slugs and aphids are bad enough! Luckily where we are, deer and rabbits aren’t an issue.
While we’re at it, can we get rid of squirrels too? They have picked my figs and left them on the ground, not to mention the baby plants they have dug up!!! I tried a spray I made from habaneros and garlic. It worked, but only sort of. They may have just been glad I seasoned their dinner up for them!
Agreed. They’re annoying. Can you really get that much meat off a rabbit though? 🙂
ARGH! Tonight I found a big, fat, happy rabbit inside my blueberry netting. The bushes are/were LOADED. The bunny was so terrified of me and excited to get away that it ran into and tore the netting. Now any other critter/squirrel, etc. will be able to get in until I can get the net repaired in the daylight…
My neighbor throws apples in his yard for the rabbits – I’ve even seen him laying on the lawn feeding them by hand. This absolutely infuriates me. Unfortunately, they love my flowers as much as his apples.
I think you should throw your neighbor in the yard.
well… this really made me smile!! 😉
There’s a rabbit that hangs around my mother’s (fenced in) vegetable garden, but it’s not been the problem – it’s a vole that’s been eating her veggies down to the ground.
hahaha! You can make good money raising local rabbit to sell to gourmet restaurants here in California. And no, they are not cute when you raise them for food. My sister raised them with her 4-H group and the mother’s were always eating the babies. What’s up with that?!!! Unfortunately I guess they do not eat enough of them to control the population.
Rabbits are persistent. They would just stand there and watch me mow. The nerve of them! I don’t have them every year. I don’t know why that is. My garden is 6’x6′ so I threw a net over it. They still persisted. They don’t even taste that good. They’re gamey. At least you can shoot your pests. I’ve got neighbor’s cats that prowl my yard and kill birds and leave their “presents” in my garden which also can carry disease. I remember reading a story about a couple who had a pet rabbit. Then they had a baby. The rabbit was found in the baby’s crib, nibbling on it’s fingers. They don’t even make good pets.
There were 92 holes in the netting over my 6 25-year-old blueberry bushes today. At least a dozen were big enough to have been made by rabbits or skunks. The smaller ones were probably made by squirrels who chewed their way in. The problem with the many holes is that the larger holes let in the birds who can do a lot of damage/eat a lot of fruit up high in the 9′ high bushes. ARGH!
I feel your pain. You probably need more hawks in your area.
[…] 11. soulsbyfar […]
My job has become to spot rabbits and make sure they don’t run while my husband runs for the air rifle. While squeamish myself about shooting them, I have gotten to the point where all cute and cuddly sentiments are gone. Thanks for the post!
Could you bring your .22 over this way and take out a woodchuck or two for me?
See http://peachyteachy.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=254&action=edit
Years ago, after we put up fencing, including electric wires at 6″, 12″ and 4′, we came home one eveing & found a rabbit that we had trapped inside. We eventually got it go out the gate. Rabbits are good in the crock pot. We just went to an FFA Stock Sale at the local county fair. The bidding was so high, that we came home with just 3 rabbits (for the freezer).
[…] this summer. I ran across another blogger also waging a war against garden produce thieves. Dan of “Soulsby Farm” wrote a pretty funny post on his bunny skirmishes. Thief! Photo […]
can you translate this into terms of endeerment? I would love to figure out how to protect from the deer that haunt my plants.
I’m a little concerned that one doe rabbit can produce so many offspring on her own, I thought a buck rabbit was required for a little input once in a while 🙂
We have a few pesky squirrels which tend to like our compost more than our garden. A few rabbits or hares exist up here in Yellowknife (i see them more in the winter when snowmobiling) but they don’t appear to be eating anyone’s gardens, luckily. Enjoyed the post and good luck with terminating the rabbits.
Welcome fox and coyote! They really keep our land clear of rabbits. If you have birds, you can connect 4 ft wire fence in a L shape (bend top third up with 2/3 horizontally on the ground) along the outside bottom fence of the bird area and cover it with some dirt (we covered ours with sod we had removed from a new garden area). This keeps fox/coyote from digging under. They hit the wire a couple of times and give up. When it is covered with dirt they can’t tell how far out from the fence it goes. Make sure you do this around any gates…we have to step over ours a bit to get into the pen. We then have a little ramp for the birds to get in and out during the day.
Well said!