Need to catch rabbits so they will stay out of the garden...alive plz

[Metallica_Band]

Hey there...First of all since this forum doesn't have a gardening topic I had to choose from a few topics that this would fit in...I thought it could fit in general discussion, living, knowledge, how to, or weaponry...so mods if this is the wrong place then move it plz...

OK...now onto my question...my mom needs to catch the rabbits that are roaming around our garden...they are eatting our vegetables too...so she wants me to find a way to catch them...now I wanna catch them ALIVE...and unharmed...who knows...I may torture one or two by dropping it in front of my dog...he'd tear it apart...LOL...but I need something that can catch them...anyone have any suggestions??? THANX
C'YA ?:-D

[kalashnikov]

Well I don't know a good way to trap them, but by staking up chicken wire you could keep them away from the vegetables.

[Jaseca]

Buy a few live traps. But if you're going to trap them live, let them live. I'm not a PETA member or anything but cruelty to animals drives me nuts when its something as innocent as a bunny.

[absorbentishe]

If you plant marigolds, they'll stay away. I guess the marigolds have an offensive odor to rabbits.

[Shades]

Here's the absolute best way to keep rabbits out of your garden. My relatives in Iowa, who are all farmers way out in the country, do this, and have no problems. We've used it down here in Texas to great effect also.

Get a glass jar, about one liter to one gallon in size. Fill the jar with water and cap it. Put a jar at the start of every third row or so and the corners of the garden. Rabbits, and quite a few other creatures, won't come near your garden anymore.

[slimshaydee]

just put chicken wire near your vegetables, or make ur dog stay near them to scare the lil critters away

[MSD]

Mark a few veggie plants with red stakes or something that will allow you to tell which ones they are, and use a samll brush to paint Mike's Insanity Sauce on the leaves. The squirrels feared my tomatoes for years.

[Metallica_Band]

Originally posted by Shades
Get a glass jar, about one liter to one gallon in size. Fill the jar with water and cap it. Put a jar at the start of every third row or so and the corners of the garden. Rabbits, and quite a few other creatures, won't come near your garden anymore.

And just HOW does this keep rabbits away??? Why wouldn't rabbits come near this???

[Penguin]

Originally posted by Metallica_Band
And just HOW does this keep rabbits away??? Why wouldn't rabbits come near this???

im guessing the same reason people fill bottles with water and put them at the bottom of trees to stop dogs pissing on them. they're afraid of their own reflection, which the water distorts.


apparantly.

[Shades]

i really can't say why it keeps the rabbits back, although the refracted sunlight and their own reflections is the usual ideas. See, they can't see their reflection, but they see something moving, and due to the curvature of the glass, that something is moving quickly. To herbivores, a quickly moving thing is a predator every time.

At any rate, for whatever reason, this does work.

[JStrider]

well my grandparents have these live traps... theres a platform in the back... and you prop it up so that when the platform is moved the door slams down and is locked in place... then when you check it you just carry it to where ever and let it go...

and if the rabbit has any kind of head start... most dogs would be pretty hard pressed to catch em...

[sambocom]

What about hiring a professional or calling animal control? Or how about putting some carrots in your neighbors yard and making it their problem?

[cj2112]

there is a brand of trap called havahart...they make excellent products and even give advice HERE

[QuasiMojo]

They ARE wascally, aren't they?

I suggest that you read a book called "Watership Down"

It may provide the information that you need

[Dano069]

We've tried everything, deer piss, red cauyan (sp?) powder, differernt sprays. Nothing worked, until we used live traps. I take 'em to the forest preserves near us and let the red-tailed hawks take care of them. As Paul McCartney would say, "It's nature's way, it's nature's way." At least, I think it was Sir Paul.

Forgot to add, we use apple slices to trap them. They've ignored lettuce and carrots and such, so, we tried the red apples and it worked!
I've also read/heard somewhere that rabbits don't like citrus, so orange/lemon/lime peels in the garden may do the trick also.

[jbrooks544]

If you put up a 3' high wire fence (I like the green rectangle wire better than reg. chicken wire) then you won't have to worry about rabbits, or deer, or whatever else. Seems a lot easier to just prevent them than to deal with them afterwards. I put up nice wood verticals every 5 - 6 feet and a vertical top rail (1x4) and just stapled the heavy wire to the inside with galv. staples and a regular hand staple gun, 1/2" staples. I had timbers already on the bottom to screw uprights and tack wire to. Otherwise, you could just bury the wire a foot down to prevent digging under. You could also use the metal stakes they sell with the wire instead of dealing with the wood, but I like the look of wood and a nice wide gate.

[MacGnG]

chicken wire is the only thing to keep rabbits out. we always have rabbits in the neighbor hood and in our garden. um i think they sell coyote urine or wolf urine which is supposed to keep rabitts and like away

[sipsake]

The ACME Company makes many fine products for eliminating pests.

[Hard8s]

Originally posted by sipsake
The ACME Company makes many fine products for eliminating pests.

No the ACME company makes things to catch roadrunners ( Meep, meep! )
You need to hire Yosemite Sam!!!

Ooh I hates that rabbit!