7 Ways: How to Get Rid of Rabbits From Your Yard

Written by Heather Hall
Updated: November 1, 2022
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Rabbits are adorable creatures, probably one of the most aww-looking domestic animals in our environment. To people who are not into crop production, rabbits are cute animals that produce super-cute kittens and make great companions. 

However, anyone who cultivates the soil regards rabbits as more than just adorable creatures. To be candid, they see rabbits as enemies or, in plain terms, destroyers.

Discover 7 different ways that you could keep rabbits out of your yard.

This long-eared animal has a ravenous appetite for every kind of fresh vegetation, be it annual plants, biennials, perennials, berries, or woody plants. Actually, the menu of rabbits’ favorites is so broad and absurd that there’s hardly any plant in your yard that they don’t enjoy.

Since you do not want these voracious herbivores destroying your yard, you need a lasting solution to get rid of these pests from your yard. In this article, we will be going over different effective ways of how to get rid of rabbits from your yard.

1. Household ammonia

Chemical in the laboratory and industry

©chemical industry/Shutterstock.com

The effectiveness of ammonia is in its smell. Ammonia has a scent that can be likened to the smell of urine predators use to establish territories.  

In the wild, several carnivorous animals feed on rabbits. As part of the food chain, rabbits feed on plants, and these predators, in turn, feed on rabbits. Therefore, to survive, rabbits need to be constantly aware of what they do, who is around them, and where they are.

When rabbits perceive the smell of ammonia, they think their predators might be present in that area, so they stay away. Ammonia poured directly from the bottle serves as an effective way to get rabbits out of your yard. It’s pretty straightforward, and you don’t need to make any mixture.  

The usual household ammonia will do the trick just fine, and gardeners see it as a suitable method of getting rid of rabbits from their yards. Dip some strips of clothes into undiluted ammonia, and place them on the usual paths the rabbits use to access your yard. The rags will spread the scent and make the environment unsuitable for the rabbits.

However, if you have an outdoor pet, this method isn’t advisable. This is because ingesting ammonia can be harmful to some pets.

2. Use Commercial Repellents

dried herbs and essential oils

Scents like lavender and mint can act as natural repellents to rabbits.

©botamochi/iStock via Getty Images

There are several ways of protecting your yard from infestation by rabbits. These include buying pest control products at garden centers or home improvement stores. Many online resources can help you with this task.

A unique feature of rabbits is their powerful sense of smell. This makes it easy for them to perceive and pinpoint delicious-smelling food, including those in your vegetable garden. 

Repellent work by making the smell or taste of these items unpleasant to the rabbits, thereby deterring them. Many rabbit repellent products work perfectly, and you can purchase them online or check in with your garden center.

Nevertheless, this method also comes with its cautions. If you intend to use repellents on produce in the vegetable garden, ascertain that the product is suitable for whatever vegetation you intend to use it for and won’t affect the flavor of your food. 

Considering the advantages and disadvantages, water-soluble repellents are easier to use, but the effects wear out more quickly as you water your vegetation or rainwater.

Likewise, you should avoid high-toxicity products if you have toddlers or pets playing in the yard. When you decide to use a particular pest control product, adhere to the manufacturer’s instructions. Also, you have to be consistent with the application to get maximum results.

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3. Install an Effective Fence

A rabbit stands up and leans on a garden fence, looking into the green garden helplessly.

An effective fence can help to discourage rabbits.

©Jay Gao/Shutterstock.com

How to get rid of rabbits without using foul-smelling chemicals? Put up a fence! The most effective way to prevent rabbits from getting into your yard is to utilize physical prevention methods like fencing. Putting an effective barrier such as a chicken wire fence can help deter rabbits from accessing your yard. 

You can install a fence with a height of about 4 feet, with its base well buried in the ground. Then, direct the top of the fence away from the yard. This makes it similar to a security fence, so rabbits can’t climb or jump over it.

The trick is to prevent these rabbits from initially setting their feet in your yard. Furthermore, rabbits do not like to move far away from their shelters because they have several predators. So, it would be best if you tried to reduce or get rid of the rabbit holes that are around your yard. 

Also, you should ensure that you seal off any spaces or holes that are present in any structures in your compound. Rabbits won’t stay in a place where they have nowhere to hide. The more they have access to tight spots to hide and live in, the higher the chances that they’ll breed and produce more pests in your yard. 

Therefore, ensure that you find their burrows or any safe spot and block them from accessing it.

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4. Garlic Hot Pepper 

Garlic and onions are a vegetable garden and agricultural use to cook a delicious aroma.

©Tongsai/Shutterstock.com

Garlic hot pepper is another homemade product that can serve as a repellent. Homemade rabbit repellents are cheaper, but this one requires some effort from you to be effective.

The ingredients are familiar and cost a minimal amount. You need five to six garlic cloves, some amount of chili powder, water, a jug that has a lid, and some amount of dish soap.

Firstly, peel the garlic cloves, crush them and transfer them into a gallon jug. Add dish soap and the powdery red pepper to the jug. Then fill the jug with water and cover it. Shake the jug thoroughly to mix the content.

After that, leave the jug with its mixture for about two days. This is a steeping process that ensures the water becomes fully concentrated with the ingredients. 

At this point, use a sieve to strain the mixture and transfer it into a  garden sprayer. You can apply it to your plants or areas you don’t want the rabbits to get to. This mixture should be applied to the yard every five days.

It might take a while before you start to see positive results. If there’s heavy rain, you should reapply as soon as the weather becomes clear to reinforce the repellent efforts of these products.

5. Linseed Oil And Detergent

A woman holding a bottle of dish detergent in her hand

A woman holding a bottle of dish detergent in her hand

©Robin Gentry/iStock via Getty Images

Linseed oil is another accessible product that can serve as a natural repellent for rabbits.  You can bolster its effects by adding detergent.

The linseed oil solution can be prepared by pouring some oil into a bowl and mixing it with detergent. Add some water and stir. You shouldn’t add much water to the mixture for optimum results. The water must not be more than the oil. With this, you can sprinkle your repellent solution on your plants 

6. Onions

Onion plants row growing on field, close up. Gardening background with onion bulb, closeup.

©nnattalli/Shutterstock.com

Onions, yes, the usual onions in your kitchen, have a distinctive scent that rabbits find offensive. This offensive smell makes onions an effective rabbit repellent. 

You can peel off some onions and disperse them around your yard. A lasting and more effective solution would be to plant onions around other plants in your yard that rabbits love to feed on.

Using onions as repellents for getting rid of rabbits is preferable because you only need to plant onions once, unlike other natural repellent methods that require intermittent application.

7. Predator-like Dummies

Bird decoys

Replica Owl Bird Scarer or Fake Owl Decoy in a Shady Woodland Garden at Tremenheere in Rural Cornwall, England, UK

©Peter Turner Photography/Shutterstock.com

How to get rid of rabbits without constant replacement of organic solutions? Install a life-like fake predator in your garden. Rabbits are a sumptuous meal for predators such as hawks, owls, and falcons. However, your intention is to get rid of these rabbits without killing them. So if you present them with something that looks like their predator, it scares them off. This is where real-life-sized dummies of their predators come into play.

You can purchase an inflatable hawk, an Owl bird scarecrow decoy, or any other prey bird and place them at strategic positions in your yard. If you have a large yard, you should consider buying more than one dummy. 

Make sure these dummies look terrifying, their wings must be spread outside, and their mouths should be wide open. This gives the rabbits the notion that the predators are about to attack them. You can tie the dummies to trees or other areas in your yard using a string or thin rope and allow the wind to do its magic.

The natural breeze will make the dummies assume a moving position, causing them to look natural to the rabbits. Regardless of whether the dummies move or not, the rabbits will still find them scary. Place as much as you can around your property for more effectiveness.

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Conclusion

If you have a yard and act nonchalantly towards pest control, your garden might become a mess in no time. Rabbits naturally have a high reproductive potential. They can produce about three litters of six kittens, depending on their region of origin. The gestation period for rabbits is just 29days!

Therefore, if you let them roam around unchecked, it will lead to the infestation of your garden. Consequently, destroying valuable crops and plants. 

This is why you need an effective method to get rid of them from your yard. Following some of the tips that have been discussed above will save you from a lot of headaches. 

Be proactive, and save your yard from the cute little jaws of these creatures.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © FullframeFactory/Shutterstock.com


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About the Author

Heather Hall is a writer at A-Z Animals, where her primary focus is on plants and animals. Heather has been writing and editing since 2012 and holds a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture. As a resident of the Pacific Northwest, Heather enjoys hiking, gardening, and trail running through the mountains with her dogs.

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