My grandson has just had a pet rabbit which is in a fairly substantial hutch outside the back door. I am a bit concerned that foxes will terrorise it by trying to get into the hutch. Any ideas for keeping them away?
Shotgun - a double barrel, side by side 12 bore Purdy for a bit of panache!
Mount the shotgun in a clamp with solenoids to pull the triggers and switches inside the hutch for the rabbit to use. Then it can sort its own problems out.
Just for once I agree with you. Foxes are a bloody nightmare around these parts.
A lifetimes supply of replacement bunnies would be cheaper than a Purdy though!
The fox that comes in my garden ignores the rabbit. The rabbit bolts into the four foot long tunnel I have made it (from 18 mm ply) for a few minutes.
substantial hutch
Chicken electric netting arround the hutch, but spaced off obviously, and a suitable energiser. We are plagued by foxes here on the farm yet the electric chicken netting is effective. Comes in green or red and is usually 900mm tall, and in 25M and 50M rolls. eBay abounds with it.
AWEM
In message , Andrew Mawson writes
Hmm.. I have adult Foxes jumping 48" (6" buried) 18# netting topped with two strands of barbed wire.
The answer is accurate lead poisoning.
regards
Have kept poultry (plus sundry other small animals) for years and had many skirmishes with foxes.
IMHO The most robust solution is 2 lines of defence, and also make the hutch door fail-safe.
Put the hutch within a high chickenwire run so rabbit can free-run about (and indeed child can get in with it). By night also fox cannot press nose directly against the mesh and spook rabbit.
Adapt the hutch door to be a vertical "portcullis" style sliding affair that is held shut by gravity. You can then be sure it is shut properly when it is shut.
Single biggest cause of animal loss for us have been improperly shut doors (or doors not shut at all). Also avoid very cheap chicken wire that foxes seem to be able to go straight through (just like the Terminator).
pack of dogs is allegedly pretty good.
Mark your territory with piles of your sh*t and pee all over the area in between the piles.
There used to be a product called Renardine, that has a very strong pungent smell. It was supposed to deter foxes if rags soaked on it are placed around the area you are trying to protect.
I don't know if you can still get it - a farm supplier would be your best bet.
Jonathan
If there are no pet cats around, you could use a Timms Trap:
There is no may, very few traps are legal as they don't kill cleanly and aren't selective about what they kill.
Then it'd have to wait for the fox to walk into the path of the gun, though. What bunny really needs is a turret on top of the hutch, so he can aim as well as fire.
(on a serious note, we had rabbits years ago and plenty of foxes around, but it was never a problem. Hutch had a homebrew run attached, maybe
4'x6', with mesh on the inside and outside of the framework "just in case", but the foxes never showed an interest)cheers
Jules
substantial hutch
No, like everthing else that actually works, the EU has banned it!
AWEM
Sentry gun. As featured on that stupid video game.
"Grandad, why does Flopsy change fur colour overnight?" "'cos he's a magic rabbit, lad" "Grandad, why does Flopsy not recognise me after he's changed colour?" "'cos he's a forgetful magic rabbit, lad"
Owain
Not funny.
A girl I once went out with discovered her son's hamster cage open whilst he was at school and the hamster was missing.
We searched all over to buy a hamster the same colour and put it in the cage before he got back from school.
When he got back from school it turned out that he had taken his hamster to school to show his mates.
"The little bastard!"are the thoughts that I imagine the adults had when they found out! :)
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