I returned from a business trip to find a rabbit diligently building a new pad in my front yard.
Unfortunately, he/she has rather bad timing. The township lawn police are days away from issuing citations for the height of my grass.
So is there a way to lure this creature out of the yard for a new minutes so that I can safely mow? The last thing I want is for the rabbit to stick his nose up due to the commotion and get it chopped off. I am sure the township would fine me for that as well. Are rabbits paranoid enough to stay under ground while I quickly roll over the hole?
IMO - just mow away. I consider it natural selection. If the bunny is stupid enough to nest in the middle of your lawn, might as well get those genes outta the pool right away! And its not as tho they are an endangered species.
A couple of times I’ve had rabbits nest in the lawn in our fenced, dog-infested yard. I’ve tried different ways to peacefully interact with them, filling in the early nest, moving the young, etc. But those darned things can be insistent in their stupidity, and I just stopped going out of my way for them. Now I’ll generally kill the young before burying them in a hole. Would be too messy to risk hitting them with the mower.
And I’m not sure about the nest in your yard, but IME, the nests are shallow, not really underground burrows. So the rabbit would likely hop elsewhere while you mowed.
I don’t have to worry about hitting them with the mower. Our dogs think they’re crunchy and tasty, apparently. :eek:
Edited to say:
Yes, I’m sure they will get out of the way when they hear the mower.
Those Who Cannot Remember the Past are Comndemned to Repeat It.
Don’t you remembef what happened the time they tried to build a Freeway over Bugs Bunny’s rabbit hole?
Most of the time we’ve had stupid Goldens, who thought the baby bunnies and squirrels wanted to play with them. About once a summer we’ll see them in the yard acting a certain way, and we’ll realize they have some helpless creature between their paws, picking it up in their mouth and such. On occasion they’ll come proudly trotting to us with it in their mouth. Never seen one of these fearsome beasts kill another creature larger than a bug. Our current old girl used to play with my son’s rat, which was smaller than her snout. One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.
But when we had a Brittany, that bitch was a varmint killing machine. Those rabbits would scream…
As of this week I am dealing with the first rabbit nest of the season in our yard. I usually try to stop them before the young are born if I can because I don’t like the holes they make in the lawn. Once they have baby bunnies in them I mow around them. You can get surprisingly close to them with a lawn mower without them moving. I have actually mowed right over a nest with young it in a couple of times without them moving.
The holes are shallow, just deep enough to hold the babies with a covering of grass and fur during the day. The adults hide out during the day but I assume they are close enough to watch the nest at all times. They come out of hiding at dusk to tend to the young.
My advice is to destroy the nest before the young are born if you can but if you are too late for that go ahead and mow right up to the nest.
Rabbits will NOT get out of the way of the mower. In fact, they may get scared and run into the dispensing chute if it’s a push mower. Something I would rather not have seen.
:eek:
I’ll keep this in mind. We have a little guy who lives under our back porch who ventures out every once in awhile to check us out, and I know my husband would prefer not to send him to an untimely death. He’s getting more and more brave all the time (I’m not feeding him, we’re not doing anything but watching him and a few occasional 'Hi, bunny!'s from the crazy bunny lady - me - but he seems to enjoy hanging out when we’re in the backyard.), so that makes me a little nervous.
E.
Does anyone else feel the least bit queasy about this?
Yep. I’m right there with you Terracotta.
It is unpleasant. But there’s no denying that bunnies are huge pests. They will eat your garden, make a mess, and invite more back every year. Suddenly your lawn is filled with holes that are easy to trip over. And Dinny is right when he says they are abominably stupid, so it’s hard to deal with them in humane ways.
I would do my damndest not to kill them but I don’t fault others for doing so.
Also, Terrorcotta, Omega Glory’s spelling of your name made me realize I’ve always read it wrong.
Notta problem, it’s a joke my wild-assed, repressed alter ego made to goad my normal, mild mannered self.
I know wild bunnies can be pests, I remember a saying about planting a garden - remember to plant double for the wildlife - but they are still a member of the ecosystem that’s all.
I think it’s amusing at the very least. You should let your alter ego out more.
Mow! Mow! Mow! Mow! Mow!
Noooo save the cute little bunny!
Mow! Mow! Mow! Mow!
Dont hurt it!
Mow! Carnage! Moooow!
Save save save!
Mow!
Save!
Mow!
Save!
AAAAAAAHHH!!! ::head asplodes::
About 20 years ago, in my previous house, I watched cute bunnies stripping all the leaves and flowers off my roses. I already had rabbit fence around my vegetable garden. That’s when they stopped being so gosh-darned cute. I bought a pellet rifle.
I’ve mellowed a bit since then. I just let 'em be rabbits. My neighborhood is overbunnied. When my cat empties a nest of its li’l rabs, it’s okay by me. He’s wary enough to leave the grown rabbits alone.
The young bunnies, past a couple of weeks, do not have enough sense to keep the heads down while being mowed over.
Don’t worry about a rabbit. They chew off all the plants in the yard. Have you ever seen bunny fur come out the mower? I have.
Move the bunnies, you heartless creature!
Can’t you just mow around the burrow and leave it alone for a few weeks? Rabbits mature quickly.
I think I will try. I suppose if I get most of the yard, I can hold off the lawn police for a little while.
Found in Neptunian Slug’s fortune cookie: Nature will thank you in the long run.
Or not.