You're right there are lots of folk myths. Some of them are effective for some rabbits and not others. Some of them are more effective during certain times of the year. You can run around trying different things if you want to keep the visual aesthetics nice, but physical exclusion is the only sure-fire, 100% effective method.

If you get hungry enough, even really, really nasty tasting beats out starving to death. So anything you might try along those lines could suddenly lose their effectiveness some night.

It sounds like you're saying you have your garden fenced up up to 2.5 ft above the ground. Could the rabbits be jumping over? Could deer be doing the eating? Or something smaller, like a squirrel or chipmunk, be climbing the fence to feast?

The rabbits have been awful in my yard this year! Did you know they live only 12-15 months? Only 1 in a 100 makes it to year 3. Small consolation...

I have a belief in Chili powder. Buy the bulk containers for about $7. Sprinkle it on the things the varmints find tastiest. They will not come back once they get it on their fur.

Thanks for the consolation, I did not know that. I will try the chili powder with reluctance but if that doesn't work then off to Fleet Farm I go to get more fencing materials.

Dave,

Fences are best...but we have also had some success live trapping them and carting them off to (well maybe I shouldn't say for fear I have dropped them off in another gardeners neighborhood) but usually a park or wild area. My neighbor insists on crossing a body of water, a railroad track and a major highway so they can not find the way home LOL. My mom has done the same thing and all but eliminated the need for fences in her yard. Now is a good time to trap because the new little bunnies are stupid and easy to lure in. I appologize to the bunny lovers out there...but this is war and war is hell.

Helen.

Fencing works. Repellex works, but it's expensive and it reeks. Chili never worked at all in my garden. Dogs don't work, either. Mine have given chase and cought a couple, but the rabbits emerge at night when the dogs are inside. I could never lure one into a trap, either.

After years of frustration, I bought a pellet gun and started shooting them. That works pretty well, especially (this is gross) if THEIR blood spills on the ground. The little monsters must sense what happened and stay away.

Trapping them and carting them off to another place doesn't really work either. You only create a space for another animal to move in. A new family then occupies the area. Shoot them(including deer!).

Ah yes, the pellet gun. Has worked well except for one little one that is faster than lightening. You just step out onto the patio and no matter where he is; it takes off and through the fence like lightening. John even went out the back garage door, positioned himself with the gun, and then I stepped out on the patio. The bunny made it past John like there was no tomorrow! We thought we had him twice, but his little amour suit is holding up well against the pellets. John at least is getting in his shooting time! IÂm going to have to dig up my recipe for my homemade bunny repellent spray. It stinks to high heaven, but itÂs worked in the past, so will give that a shot too. IÂm tired of all my little baby plants getting ate.

The vegetable gardens got fenced in when our broccoli was nibbled down to nubs (has come back, thankfully). All my gardens together are just too big to fence in everything. I try to ignore what I can. And what I can't, well, lately we've had good luck using urine from a carnivore around the plants they seem to find tastiest. I won't say what carnivore, but he does wait until it's dark...! ;-) I've tried the stinky repellents, and they reek so much they keep me out of the garden, too!

I have some questions for the pellet gun users: Is it legal to use in the metro area them for this purpose? (I don't want the neighbors to get me arrested.) Do you have to get a head shot to kill them? Do they flop around in death throes very long? What do you do with the carcass?

I know this won't solve the problem, long-term. Sooner or later another rabbit, probably a pregnant one, will move into the area.

BTW, please know that it is illegal to relocate an animal to ANY property without the owner's permission. Every bit of land in this fair state is owned by some person or entity and just because you pay taxes doesn't mean you own public lands. I'm not criticizing anyone, I may have even done this myself upon occasion; I'm just saying, for those who may not already know.

Keep a few cats. My sister has a horrible problem with rabbits. I live 6 blocks away and, although I see them in my neighbors' yards, especially straight across the alley, I get none. My spinach and lettuce and beans are just fine, thank you.

I have 4 cats and they all like to chase, but my Sweetie has the heart of a Zena. When I was leaving the flap door open while I was away from home, I one day found a decapitated bunny in the basement when I got home. The flap door is now closed when I am not home.

One of my cats (Baby Bear) is a scrapper but not a hunter. He does his part though by taking his naps on the straw in the garden. He lays out there looking like road kill for hours.

I also have an owl (plastic) with big, shiney amber eyes and a head that swivels. It may also be of some help.

My sister did have some luck with short fencing around some tulips that she was determined to see bloom just once in her life. The bunnies ate them off every year. She put flexible metal garden fencing no more than 14 inches tall around the oval where they were planted. It was short enough she could step over it to weed. It seems that bunnies are not really hoppers - that is hares, which we do not have. The 14 inch fence, with no gaps that could be squeezed through, was enough to allow her beautiful tulips to bloom. They have bloomed for 2 years in a row now. So maybe not allowing any gaps is more important than height. (?) Carmellia

Pellet guns should be 1000 feet/second to kill a rabbit. That's powerful enough to go through the animal. How quickly they die depends on where you hit them, I suppose. I always aim for the chest area, and mine have died within seconds. I take only close shots and shoot from above.

I'm not sure of the legalities of the pellet gun within the twin city area, but the use of the gun is done as discretely as possible. The neighbors on both sides of us and both houseÂs behind are okay with the bunny hunts too.

John also aims for the chest which is very successful 99% of the time to instantly end the bunnies torment in which he bestows upon us gardeners.

Up at the lake a 22 also works well, but do not use in the cities.

I discovered a gopher mound and tunnels tonight in my veggie garden. I donÂt own a trap so any other ideas to get rid of him.

Sandy

What do you do with the carcus? Rabbit stew... maybe

I did that one time but that particular rabbit must have been an old one as he was pretty darned tough!