How do you keep rabbits from coming in your yard? We live in a newer subdivision and our house and the two houses to the right of ours don't have full fencing around. There are a couple of rabbits that keep coming around and are eating the one neighbors raspberry bushes, and other plants and birdseed that has dropped to the ground. The rabbits have left a lot of nice trails of poop and pee all over the snow -- I do home daycare and don't even want to take the kids outside in the back because of this, it's GROSS. Any ideas on how to keep the rabbits away, other than putting up a fence, we will be doing this in the spring/summer once we get the last of our sod and the house beside us gets all of their sod from the builder. TIA

By Mommyathome on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 10:07 am:

Hmmm, other than a fence I don't know. We have deer that come into our yard and eat our flowers and bushes. We don't have a fence in the front yard, but the neighbors do and they just jump it. Deer poop looks a lot like rabbit poop I feel for ya!

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 10:44 am:

I once bought something to keep rabbits away that was a bunch of small bottles with wicks (yes, sort of like the Airwick bottles) which you hung on wire supports about a foot off the ground and, I think, about 3 feet apart, and the bottles were filled with fake coyote pee. The odor is supposed to terrify rabbits.

Fences, by the way, won't keep rabbits out unless the fence is installed to go 2 feet into the ground. What I had to do with our vegetable garden is dig a trench next to the fence, put chicken wire in the trench and put the dirt back in, and wire the chicken wire to our chain link fence.

By Bellajoe on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 10:47 am:

Maybe you can go to your local garden center and see if they know of anything to plant or put in the yard to keep the rabbits away, that is also safe for children to be around. Good Luck

By Trina~moderator on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 11:39 am:

We have a bunny burrow in our yard and see rabbit prints in the snow often but have never seen droppings or anything gross. That's a good thing! LOL! Good luck and let us know if you find something that works.

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 03:33 pm:

I see rabbit tracks, but on rabbit poop or urine. Of course, my dog is out there, too, but all I see is what belongs to her. I do feed birds, so the rabbits and squirrels come over for the free handout!

By Bea on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 07:17 pm:

There is a product called Liquid Fence that is sold at nurseries. I know it works against deer and rabbits and several of my friends swear by it. It must be reapplied about once a month and it's not cheap, but it does work.

By Mcrosby57 on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 07:54 pm:

Get a Laborador Retriever!!!! We have zero rabbits, moles, deer, possums, skunks, racoons, etc. in our yard! Labs are also wonderful with children and people. Better than a fence.

Mary

By Mommyathome on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 10:44 pm:

We have a black lab and we still have deer. When we first moved here she would go nuts if they came in the yard. Now, she just sits there and enjoys watching them. Most of the time she doesn't even come all the way out of her dog house.

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 11:29 pm:

LOL! My dog chases the rabbits, but she is NO threat to their life! She can't run quite that fast! I have never seen her catch one. She is no threat to the squirrels, either. If one is on the feeder and we let Honey out in the backyard, the squirrels can leap halfway to the big evergreen tree before they even have to start running, so by the time Honey gets halfway to the tree, the squirrel is quite safely up in the tree!