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| There are lots of rabbits in my neighborhood. Some of them like to lounge on my lawn which is fine except the loungers usually destroy one-foot-long swaths of zoysia grass after they've been laying on the same spot for a few days. Then they'll go on to destroy a new spot.
There are a couple cats that roam around the neighborhood. Would it be a good idea to feed the cats by putting tuna (or some other food) in the front and back yard so maybe the cats will scare the rabbits away? Will this work, or will the rabbits just return if the cats leave after finishing the tuna? Will the cats actually keep a helpful eye on your lawn after they learn that they can get a meal there daily? And will this be enough to keep rabbits away? I guess another question is will cats cause their own problems to the lawn? Thanks. |
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| Putting food like that out will attract skunks, possums, raccoons and foxes. Skunks and raccoons like to tear up lawns looking for grubs and earthworms. It's not a great idea. You could try trapping, but other rabbits often move in to take their place. I have done the same with squirrels, but if you don't do it continuously then next year there are the same amount. You could try those fake owls, and fake coyotes, but I suspect over time the rabbits will figure out they aren't real, but if you move them around it might keep them at bay. |
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| Thanks very much. I won't place food out on the lawn, then, for all animals to feast on. But what if I feed the 2 roaming neighborhood cats by hand whenever I see them? Would that make the cats keep the rabbits away for good? Or would the cats just harm the lawn in their own way? I tried a trap but the only things I caught over a month were a possum and a mockingbird, Of course, I released both. The same mockingbird got caught several times. The rabbits and squirrels seem to be too smart in my neighborhood to enter the Haveahart rabbit trap. I tried fox urine powder (or was it coyote urine powder?), but it didn't work longer than a couple days. A retired elderly woman in my neighborhood said she was bitten in the leg by one of the cats after it got jealous that she was also feeding the second cat. But she likes cats and still feeds both of them. |
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| I wouldn't feed them, I don't think they will have much interest in the rabbits either way. You would be better off with a dog like a terrier to chase them away. The best way of course would be to shoot them, but that usually isn't a good idea in a neighborhood environment. |
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| Not sure, but I think the cats here kill rabbits, because I saw some big, adult-size rabbit bones and parts of a rabbit corpse in the yard across the street a couple weeks ago, plus in the summer, I saw 2 small baby rabbits whose heads were missing in my own back yard. Not a pretty site. I can only guess that the perpetrators were cats. |
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- Posted by fruitjarfla (My Page) on Tue, Nov 8, 11 at 8:14
| Scatter some mothballs around the yard to see it that keeps the animals away. |
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| Thanks for the mothball idea. I might try it, but am really hoping the cats will do the work for me. Doesn't anyone here think that the 2 roaming neighborhood cats can somehow be coaxed into keeping a special eye on my lawn? I'm tired of chasing the rabbits away to prevent anymore bare lawn spots. But I'm also concerned if I feed the cats when I see them, the cats might eventually cause their own lawn problems? I don't know if it makes a difference, but the rabbits might actually be hares. |
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