Tag Archives: get rid of rabbits

Rabbits in the Yard

rabbit removal

I work for an organization that provides and maintains homes for people who are working hard to transition to life outside a mental health facility, and we have rabbits in the yard of one of our homes.  This home is located just off a busy street in a fairly rural neighborhood, and houses six female guests at a time.  Normally, we have a difficult time finding good properties in areas where the city doesn’t fight us on zoning issues.  For the sake of our clients, we try to be as discreet as possible, but sometimes when neighbors find out who we are and who intends on moving in, we face all kinds of opposition.

 

But, this property was different.  We were contacted by the previous owner, who specifically wanted to sell to us.  He said it had been his family’s home for twenty-five years, and he’d made all kinds of improvements to it and updated the bathrooms and kitchen.  His son had struggled with a mental health problem for years, but through perseverance and the efforts of organizations like ours, he was living a happy and healthy life with a family and a steady job.  When we did our preliminary investigations, we found the property was perfect.  It had enough rooms to transfer into bedrooms and one large day room.  Its kitchen was large enough for the needs of our clients.  And, it was on a large property that would allow house guests to meet outside, or stroll around on the premises.  In addition, the neighbors were well-aware of who we are and what we do, and they welcomed us with open arms.  They’d known the previous owner’s son, too, and loved him.

 

It’s been one of our most successful locations, until one of the guests tripped over a trench dug on the side of the house and twisted her ankle.  I inspected the property myself, and spoke with the guests.  Several guests admitted to having seen rabbits in the yard, poking their heads out of the trench, nibbling on the grass.  One of our employees at the home had even stumbled across a rabbit nest in the yard, a small depression in the grass, in which three tiny little rabbits huddled and waited for their mama to return.

 

As a property manager, I was frustrated that no one had brought this to our attention before now.  I understand the guests loved their little friends, but those adorable animals beget a lot more adorable little animals, and they can chew, and dig, and destroy.  Plus, rabbits in the yard might be attractive to other wild animals, like feral cats or raccoons.

 

So, much to the chagrin of our guests and employees, we need to get the rabbits out of the yard.  Fortunately, we’ve worked with Allstate Animal Control before, and we know they do a great job.

 

 

Rabbit Control

rabbit removal

We are in desperate need of rabbit control on our backwoods property, but it’s going to be a huge job.  We have a small cabin in the middle of the woods about a three-hour drive from our home.  It’s been our haven, our little getaway, to take us out of the hustle and bustle of our jobs and all the errands and work we have to do around our home.  Since it’s not too far, we can easily go there for the weekend, and just enjoy the solitude and quiet of the mountains.  We’ve also used it as a base when we go hunting, but as we’ve gotten older, we go there with all the intentions of hunting, and end up spending more hours with a fishing line in the nearby lake or just sitting on the porch with a half-forgotten book on our laps as we talk or sit silently listening to the birds.

Even when we’ve gone through some difficult financial times, we clung to our private backwoods property.  Of course, having a cabin in the woods means we have also had our share of dealing with wild animals, mostly raccoons or skunks.  And, we’ve taken care of those situations as they came up.  Lately, though, we have noticed a serious need for rabbit control in the area.  This year, the rabbit population pretty much exploded, and the woods are teeming with wild bunnies.  It was cute, at first, because we’d go to the cabin on the weekend and watch rabbits bounding happily through the undergrowth just beyond our porch.  Some would even venture up onto the wooden steps, noses twitching at our sandwiches.

Soon, though, we started planning in a couple of extra hours into our weekend trips.  It was necessary, because we had to do some rabbit control as soon as we arrived before we could start relaxing.  Inevitably, we’d have to chase some rabbits out of the cabin, sweep out rabbit droppings, and take extra precautions to rabbit-proof the area, including our truck.  It was starting to get annoying.

Then, we noticed the damage to the trees around the area.  Young juniper trees were stripped of their bark, all the way around the trunk.  That was opening the trees up to disease, which meant we could have more dead trees than usual surrounding our cabin.  Dead trees can fall on a roof, which means a lot of repair.  It was starting to get dangerous.

One weekend, we arrived, and found a spot of animal blood on the porch, some matted rabbit fur, and, a little distance off, some scat that looked like it might have been dropped by a bobcat.  We realized that our little spot of heaven, with all of its wild rabbits, was attracting some very unwanted animals.  It was starting to get really dangerous.

So, now we’re looking into hiring real trappers for some rabbit control in the area.  It’s the only thing we can think of to make sure we can continue relaxing at our weekend haven instead of worrying about stepping on rabbit droppings, falling trees, or hungry predators.

How To Get Rid Of Rabbits

Rabbit
Rabbit by a tree.
(Artwork by Sharon Davis. Contact us for her contact info.)

I’d just enjoyed a weekend camping trip up in the mountains, thoughts of how to get rid of rabbits far from my mind.  Some people hate camping in the snow, but I love the quiet.  I love feeling like I can just get away from it all for a little while and escape from my everyday worries.  Worries like the rabbits.

I love wildlife, at home and in the woods.  At home, we have a bird feeder and my wife and the kids like to keep track of all the different species of birds come by our house.  Of course, the bird seed attracts all kinds of squirrels and chipmunks and we just watch them play outside our window.  Since it’s not as cold in our neighborhood as it is up in the mountains, there’s still a lot of wildlife activity we can enjoy from the warmth and comfort of our home.  I’ve even gotten a couple of great pictures of animals playing just in our backyard.

Last year, my youngest daughter saw a rabbit in our backyard and got really excited.  We got online and figured out it was a cottontail, which is pretty common around here.  The kids named it “CAB” for “cute as a button.”  What can I say?  The kids have their own logic, right?  My wife noticed there were actually a few rabbits that had taken a liking to our yard, and the kids tried to name each one of them.

But, the rabbits stopped being cute as time went on.  I had some young fruit trees I’d planted, and I found gnaw marks on the lower branches and around the trunk.  One of the fruit trees died.  Shrubs, tulip bulbs and my wife’s herb garden were all chewed up and eaten away.  Rabbit droppings were all over the yard, to the point where we couldn’t let the kids just go out and play whenever they wanted.  I wanted to clean it up before they went out there, to prevent them getting sick from touching or playing around the rabbit droppings.  Then, the digging.  Shallow nests were dug up against the back shed and scattered around the yard.  I found a lot of droppings under the stairs leading up to the deck, and wondered where the rabbits were nesting under there.  I stopped enjoying my yard, because all I saw were pests and the damage they were causing.  It was getting to be a real problem, so I needed to figure out how to get rid of rabbits, and fast.  I took the weekend off to camp, and decided to work on the problem when I got home.

I’d unloaded the camping gear from the truck and was inside enjoying dinner with the family when I heard a bump, scrape coming from outside.  Sighing, I knew it had to be the rabbits.  Back to reality, I thought, and decided to call a professional to come out to get rid of the rabbits for me.

Get Rid of Rabbits

get rid of rabbits   
            For some reason, I assumed that I wouldn’t have to worry about getting rid of rabbits from my new garden.  I realized it probably happened to some people, but that cartoons and children’s books made it seem like a bigger problem than it actually was.  I had visions of shotgun toting bald men chasing cartoon rabbits out of their garden.  It didn’t happen in real life, did it?

            As you can tell, I was new to gardening.

            I had decided I would see how self-reliant I could be.  A couple neighbors had lost their jobs, and, while it didn’t seem like it could happen to me, I thought it was a wake-up call.  I cut back on my frivolous spending, shopped with coupons, and decided a garden would help me be self-reliant and save money. 

            I spent a few days planning out my garden, deciding what I would plant, where I would plant everything, if I would use a water drip system or hose it down by hand, how I would handle weed control.  I stayed up late into the night researching gardening tips online.  Not once did I think about how to keep rabbits out of the garden, or how to get rid of rabbits that might come uninvited. 

            I tilled a large portion of my grassy yard, and turned it into a garden plot.  I got a truckload of good soil and blistered my hands hoeing it into the dirt.  I spent the money on a good drip water system and worked two entire Saturdays figuring out how to put it together and lay it out correctly. 

            I purchased the seeds.  Carefully and excitedly, I planted each one to the depth marked on the seed packet.  Day after day, I went out and pulled weeds, after making sure I wasn’t pulling up the vegetables and herbs I’d planted.  My water system worked perfectly and within a month, I cheered as I started seeing little bits of green sprouting up in the dirt. 

            Within 3 months, I was happily eating spinach salads and steamed green beans, all fresh out of my garden.  It was official.  I was a gardener!

            Then, one day, I walked out to see disaster.  My beautiful spinach bunches had been nibbled almost to the ground.  My tomato plants that had just started showing buds of tomatoes were gone.  I wouldn’t be eating cucumbers from my garden anymore.  Even my water system had been destroyed in places.  I was devastated.  I thought of all the time I’d devoted to this garden, and all the money I thought I’d save. 

            You can bet that I got rid of those rabbits that year, and the following spring, I spent plenty of time figuring how I would keep rabbits out of my precious garden.  Cartoon rabbits might be funny, but the damage real rabbits cause is no joke to a gardener.

Rabbit Removal

rabbit removal  
          Here at Animal Caregivers and Lovers United, we try to get all sides of a story before taking any kind of action, which is why we have stepped in to interview both the homeowner and the rabbits before the homeowner proceeds with rabbit removal.  The following is a transcript of the interview:

Moderator:  Mr. Homeowner, can you explain exactly why you are so anxious for rabbit removal?

Homeowner:  See here, now it’s like this.  I work real hard each day, and then I come home and spend my nights and weekends trying to spruce up the place.  I like a pretty patio and a nice backyard.  Then, I come out one day and these darn rabbits have been eating up my plants!

Moderator:  Mr. Rabbit, do you have a reply?

Rabbit:  Mfff, hungry.  Juicy, green plants just sitting there.  Must eat.

Moderator:  You each seem to have reasonable points.  Mr. Homeowner, what is the extent of the destruction to your property, and what has been the cost to you?

Homeowner:  Hard to say exactly how much it’s cost me.  You gotta consider how much the ornamental plants cost.  Plus, they’ve ransacked my garden – eaten my vegetables up almost overnight.  We were using our garden for fresh food and then we were going to can some of it and keep it for the winter.  Now, we’ve got nuthin.  Plus, you gotta take in how much time I spent planting everything . . .

Rabbit:  Mmmm, spinach and carrots.  You did good job.  Still hungry . . .

Moderator:  Mr. Rabbit, do you have any way to compensate Mr. Homeowner for the damage you’ve done to his yard and garden?

Rabbit:  Compensate? 

Moderator:  Yes, pay him back.

Rabbit:  I’m a rabbit.

Moderator:  Uh, yes, I suppose it wasn’t a fair question . . .

Homeowner:  See here, I’m ready for some serious rabbit removal.  Rabbits live around 8 years, so if I don’t do something with you now, I’m in for a long time of losing MY plants.  Then, you’ll breed, and your babies’ll grow up and be around for a long time . . . I just can’t have it, see?

Moderator:  Mr. Rabbit, any reply?

Rabbit:  Must eat.  Must have babies.  Love to sleep in your yard junk pile or under the big bush.

Homeowner:  That’s it!  I’ll just get rid of the junk pile and the bush.  Then you’ll have to leave, right?  That’ll solve my rabbit removal problem??

Rabbit:  I am too cute to remove.  My babies cute too.  You want to keep me.

Homeowner:  That just ain’t good enough!  I want cute, I can git a puppy.  Any way I look at it, you’ve just gotta go!

Moderator:  I want to thank you both for your time and offering your opinions.  Let us …

Rabbit:  Lettuce???

Moderator:  Um, no, I meant “let us” all work towards a greater understanding.

Rabbit:  Lettuce???

Moderator:  I think we’re done here . . .