I've got a rabbit in my yard who thinks I'm running a salad bar. I'm borrowing a Havahart trap this evening. I know a couple of sure-fire ways to lure a squirrel into one of those, but not a rabbit. The bait's got to be something tastier than my lettuce & broccoli leaves. Anyone got any ideas? I'd try a carrot, but I wonder if rabbits are tired of being stereotyped based on Bugs Bunny cartoons.
It's the carrot tops they like. There's nothing sure fire I know but violence.
I have a rotator cuff injury that's wreaking havoc on my shooting skills. So, at the moment, I'm stuck with the trap. :-)
I'm a vegetarian & have been for 30+ years, but my great-grampa ran a rabbitry & when I was a kid I ate rabbit, both farm-raised, & hunted out on the San Juans. So I would not be horrified to learn some gardener shot a rabbit, if they at least didn't waste the meat afterward.
-paghat the ratgirl
OK....well, I'm not sure I want to kill the bunny because I have this thing about cute ears. But I still need to get it into the trap. Other than carrot greens, got any suggestions? I just bought a 3 lb bag of organic carrots yesterday. The last thing I need right now is to go buy another bunch of carrots just for the greens. I can only eat so many carrot muffins, glazed carrots, carrots in salad, carrot sticks.....
Just last week we noticed we have a rabbit in our garden. I was delighted, but then feared it would reproduce and what then? So, I just leave it. This cute thing is not that afraid of me as I've been as close as five feet and it just stays there chewing it's shoots. It seems to like the shoots of my St. Augustine, which is fine by me.
The other night, last night as a matter of fact, my husband was outside smoking a cigarette (poor guy) and he heard some rumpling in one of our brush piles. So, he got out the Maglight and he saw two foxes in the backyard! I asked him ten times if he was sure they weren't opossums or skunks, but no, he said they were definitely foxes. One larger than the other.
I am vegetarian, on my way to becoming vegan and I hope people would reconsider killing things in nature. It truly is such a non-virtue and creates such horrible conditions for the killing person.
Victoria
A rabbit's favorite food is whatever vegatables are available: Lettuce, carrots, cabbage - they aren't that fussy.
Dick
The message from "Doug Kanter" contains these words:
Careful Doug..you'll get that fluffy-ear look, then someone will shoot you.
Janet.
I can't seem to find an answer to my question in your essay, V. Are you suggesting that the bunny might like a couple of cigarettes? :-)
Fine. Tonight, I'll be making salad for dinner. I'll make one for the bunny, too. Maybe I'll leave out the red onions & pepperoncini, though.
You can usually cut the top end of a carrot off and stick it in a bit of water to get some fresh greens to grow, if it hasn't been trimmed too closely before being stuck in a cello pack...
I'ved had some luck with fresh lettuce leaves sprinkled with vanilla extract. Romaine lettuce leaves work best (mostly due to shape), set in a small yogurt cup filled with water.
I remember reading an article by a scientist who studied cottontails and had to live-trap them regularly. IIRC, he claimed that the best lure was to have had another cottontail urinate in the trap!
If you are trying to protect ornamental plants, I recommend Ropel.
For vegetable gardens, a fence.
This company's advice and products have been useful to me in the past, and this is their page on rabbits:
I'd say a rabbit's favorite food has to be my wifes tulips but you might try an ear of corn.,
Marv-Montezuma, IA
Interesting project, but this trapping thing is going to begin this evening. :-)
You ARE running a salad bar for rabbits. You are the one now aware of it yet.
Or, my reality has been adjusted to correctness. :-)
Try an apple slice - a fresh one every day. Some folks swear by them. I use a bb bun.
Also, pepper spray works for me, but you have to apply it before they start chomping away, so their first taste is bad. Hard to break them if they've already found something tastes good.
If the vegetables and fruit fail, try stale popcorn. Yes, really, it worked with a rabbit which ignored the standard bait.
Try an apple slice - a fresh one every day. Some folks swear by them. I use a bb bun.
Also, pepper spray works for me, but you have to apply it before they start chomping away, so their first taste is bad. Hard to break them if they've already found something tastes good.
"Future reference?"
The project may have started last night, but the rabbits will go on forever...
Put lettuce and broccoli leaves in there if that is what the rabbit is eating. Maybe a big pile of them would look more appealing than a long row growing in your garden. :) I have lots of rabbits around here, but they don't seem to be eating anything in either my veggie garden or my flower beds. I was watching two of them from my kitchen window yesterday while loading my dishwasher. They hopped right by the flowerbeds and into the woods. I don't know what they're eating, but they appear to be well fed and healthy. Gayle
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.