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 Post subject: Wascally Wabbit
PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 7:59 am 
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Joined: Tue Oct 20, 2009 12:22 pm
Posts: 129
Location: Frisco, Tejas
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Let's see.... Do I want Alyssum, Dianthus, Lobelia, some Calla Lillies or this stuff between the rocks?

My wife took these from the window in our study. This little guy has remained with us all Summer to my dismay and aggravation. As these were taken my wife was flanked by all 3 of our Cavalier K. Chas. Spaniels barking their heads off. When I chase him now he doesn't bolt to the neighbor's lawn he just lopes around the 'ring' flower beds I have around the trees in front. and laughs at me while I chase him.

I tolerated him all Summer because frankly the vegetation outpaced his appetite and he kept this area 'mowed' (lg rocks right in the flower bed with some Adirondack chairs where my wife reads w a glass of wine while I garden).

So in a few weeks there will be around 1500 snacks going out - pansies and violas.... last year, this guy and his little friends ate them to the ground several times and we're not going to allow that again this year.

Who has had success getting them to go away? Rabbit scram seems to have worked well last year but at $25/small jar that seems silly. I know it has dried blood in it - does that work without a lot of white pepper added (the other component)?

I have a substantial number of habenero, serrano, jalepeno, tabasco and cayenne peppers in the garden - would a hot pepper tea help or would a Tejas rabbit merely send out the alert to bring extra chips and margaritas to my salsa party?

Our neighborhood has a real rodent issue. The rats I trap, rabbits may be a long eared, cute, cotton-tailed rat but I just don't have it in me to use a .22 on a rabbit - yeah, I am a whuss. Any ideas? I think the two bobcats that have taken up residence along the river/walking trail in our neighborhood have encouraged the bunnies to go yuppy and look for houses in the burbs.

Funny side note: I was told in a very sneering manner by a professional nurseryman that the stuff between the rocks would never survive in Texas - Bugs bunny here is dining on it's third year and it looks pretty good aside from the teeth marks.


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 Post subject: Re: Wascally Wabbit
PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 10:34 am 
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Location: Fort Worth,TEXAS
That's a very healthy looking hare in your garden!

I always wondered at those idiot cereal commercials, when the guy in his PJs walks into his garden, picks a few strawberries to drop into his cereal bowl, and just smiles at the rabbit hopping in his garden. Like that's a good thing.

I have larger dogs and the trickster rabbits figured out not to come into the back yard (they come near the fence outside our yard and tease them, but they don't come in). The skunks, possum, and squirrels haven't figured that out, to their peril.

After I got the dogs, I put in Invisible Fence. This was to keep the dogs in the yard, because they can't get close enough to the cyclone fence to shimmy under or over it. The front yard is part of the circuit, and though the bunnies continued to nest under shrubs in the front yard for a while, since I walked the dogs out of the yard for walks through the front across the turf, they decided to stop sticking around so close to the regular dog traffic.

I'd recommend you start with the resources you have there. Why don't you simply let the dogs out to chase off the rabbit? Will they come back when you call, or stop if you call them at the property line? (It would be pretty radical to put in Invisible Fence to keep the dogs in but so they can scare rabbits--it is an expensive system, but it does work very well.) If you put the dogs on a long leash they can still charge the rabbit and perhaps convince him to move along. The rabbit will move to avoid you, but come back when you leave. If the dogs meet it face to face a different message is delivered, so the dogs need to be able to rush the rabbit. It'll take a few times, and I'd definitely walk the dogs out there a lot, letting them mark the territory so the rabbit gets the message that dogs are in the vicinity.

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 Post subject: Re: Wascally Wabbit
PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 4:16 pm 
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Location: Frisco, Tejas
Well, we have 3 cavs, Mom, Dad and Baby... OK, Baby is almost three now but she was born on my foot and will forever be the baby. Two weeks ago she ran under a car and miraculously came rolling out the back in one piece with a few bruises and a little scrape. I can't risk anything that could endanger them at all - I confess that those three are my 'blanket' as soon as I hit the couch to watch TV and though I swore I would always stick to proper, manly, BIG dogs.... alas, I am a victim of CDAS (Chick dog adoration syndrome). Best dogs in the world though - stuck to me like glue when I had my cancer surgery and had to lay around doing nothing for a few weeks (wouldn't recommend that, not fun)

Cavs are sweet, lovable, adorable and absolutely dumber than a drunken dung beetle. They were made to lay in your lap, keep your feet warm and make you laugh. If they had to survive in the wild, they would be screwed.

I'm going to see if I can make some homemade rabbit scram - $25 for a quart jar of bloodmeal and white pepper is silly and I have a LOT of garden space... I also have some seriously nasty habeneros in the veg garden, might spray some of that around their favorite foods. This week, the favorite is muscari (blue grape hyacinths). Need to take some garden pics and post them, it would be hard to fence the front yard where they raise hell.

Know what you mean about the strawberries, I have a bit of a tantrum when I find teethmarks in mine. I'm a nature lover until mealtime... then I'm all about "hey, I'm at the top of the foodchain here pal"


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 Post subject: Re: Wascally Wabbit
PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:04 pm 
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I think making your own is a great idea, at least it's worth a try. It sounds, as a friend of mine says, that the Rabbit Scram folks are "very proud of their product." Doesn't mean you should have to pay that much!

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 Post subject: Re: Wascally Wabbit
PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 11:04 pm 
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A few other ideas...I have pinwheels all around my lettuce and spinach crops to intimidate the bunnies--works like a charm.
You can find them cheap at dollar stores. A few realistic looking fake snakes can help too, move them around every day and that can keep the bunnies away.


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 Post subject: Re: Wascally Wabbit
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:30 am 
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Location: Frisco, Tejas
Hadn't thought of rubber snakes.... I wonder if the faux owls would make them nervous too??


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 Post subject: Re: Wascally Wabbit
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:33 pm 
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This may have already been mentioned but the Rabbit Scram product works better than anything on the market and better than the homemade recipes.


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 Post subject: Re: Wascally Wabbit
PostPosted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 11:06 am 
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Joined: Tue Oct 20, 2009 12:22 pm
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Location: Frisco, Tejas
Well, I set out my Pansies and Violas a few weeks ago, after growing them from seed this year I had quite a bit of concern that the buffet would look interesting to the wabbits.

1 Jar of Rabbit Scram has thus far saved my plants and saved the rabbits from being stoned or shot which is nice... I hate seeing my hard work eaten unless it is in the veggie garden but I don't have the heart to throw a rock at the rabbits either.


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