What is the best rabbit repellent? There are three types of these products: odor repellents, taste repellents, and electronic frightening devices. The first type of repellents is based on substances with an offensive smell, like ammonia and putrefied fish, or ingredients that rabbits dislike or stay away from. The latter include predator urine, feather meal, human hair, and blood meal. Odor repellents are particularly effective in a perimeter treatment to protect a certain area from rabbits. Taste repellents are used to deter rabbits from consuming particular plants and vegetables. Generally, they contain thiram or putrescent whole egg solids and work upon contact. Electronic repellent devices include sound deterrents and motion-activated sprinklers that are designed to physically chase rabbits away from the protected area.
1. Liquid Fence Deer & Rabbit Repellent Concentrate | Check the current price |
2. Shake Away 5006258 Fox Urine Granules | Check the current price |
3. Orbit 62100 Yard Enforcer Motion-Activated Sprinkler | Check the current price |
Finding a repellent designed especially for rabbits on the market is not that easy. However, there exist a few good options aimed at scaring these lagomorphs. We have thoroughly and meticulously studied the modern chemical repellents market and will tell you about the most popular and trustworthy products we’ve found.
But first, let’s turn to entomologists and learn which types of repellents drive the rabbits off.
According to Edward K. Boggess (Kansas State University), deer and rabbits repellents can usually be classified as either area (odor) or contact (taste) repellents.
- Area (Odor) Repellents: Ammonium Soaps of Higher Fatty Acids, Bone Oil (containing nitriles) and Miscellaneous Natural Substances: putrified fish, fermented egg, packing plant tankage, blood meal, feather meal, human hair, fecal material, seal oil, and hot pepper sauce.
- Contact (Taste) Repellents: Thiram (tetramethylthiuram disulfide, TMTD, fungicide), Putrescent Whole Egg Solids.
No matter how weird it may seem to us, modern people, many experts advise using old traditional methods and ingredients for repelling the rabbits, such as using human hair and dried blood. A Rutgers University professor Bill Hlubik’s experience of 17 years taught him that the one repellent that has worked well in many situations is dried blood. The dried blood eventually breaks down and provides nutrients to the surrounding plants.
So don’t be surprised if you find out that a ready-to-use repellent you’ve bought contains dried blood or human hair 🙂
You can collect and dry the blood, collect human hair and stick it into socks and cook pepper potion (by the way, you’ll find the recipe of this spicy homemade repellent at the end of this article), but wouldn’t it be easier to forget this, not waste your precious time and buy a ready-to-use repellent? For those who value fast effect, we have prepared a review of all the ready-to-use repellents available on the market today.
Granular Rabbit Repellent
Nature’s Mace 5 Lb Granular Deer & Rabbit Repellent, 5,000 Sq Ft – University Studies Prove Our Technology Works Best!
Nature’s Mace Granular Deer & Rabbit Repellent . This repellant is well liked among it’s users.
Nature’s Mace can be used on any landscape, be it a lawn, a garden, a shrub, near the tree trunks or climbing plants. It is barely affected by both rain and wind, as the repelling effect lasts for 1-1.5 months. This is a good result, considering that a single pack is supposed to cover 5-6 thousand sq. m. The most important thing is that the repellent components are harmless for people, pets and irrigation systems.
How to use it? Spread it around the plants as uniformly as possible. Some of the product will fall on the ground and some will fall on the foliage. It doesn’t harm the plants. Rabbits and deer will ignore your plants in the treated area.
Among active repelling ingredients listed on the bottle you’ll find putrescent egg solid, and peppermint oil. Some users even claim having seen bone flour and dried blood there. The product description bears a warning that you have to rinse well all of the vegetables and edible herbs covered in the repellents. Make sure you also wear protective cloves when tossing the granules.
As for the complaints, they are mostly by the deer victims. “Rabbit haters” are quite happy. They even state that Nature’s Mace works well in winter. Thumbs up!
Price: Check current price
Liquid Rabbit Repellent
Nature’s Mace 40oz. Concentrate Rabbit Repellent
Another Nature’s Mace product has made it into our rating. It is aimed at getting rid of specifically rabbits and will suit those who don’t want to have the fuss with using granules. And don’t forget that the 40 oz. product costs only Check current price.
This isn’t granules, but a liquid repellent. You are to dissolve it in the water in the proportion stated and spray it over your territory with a hose, a spray or even a watering can. The solution concentration differs, so it won’t be difficult to treat ½ an acre with this product. According to some consumers, you don’t have to spray Nature’s Mace Rabbit Repellent all over the garden, as you can simply create a “barrier” along the perimeter of your site. Despite the fact that the manufacturer doesn’t state the contents of the bottle, it is likely to resemble that of Nature’s Mace 5 Lb Granular Deer & Rabbit Repellent.
As a rule, liquid repellents don’t work well when it’s raining. Here we’ve been able to describe Nature’s Mace survival over 2-3 downpours within a few weeks. It has rained a lot the last few months, which I thought would make it stop working as effectively, but I’m glad to say that it’s still working great! This 32oz jug mixes to make 4 gallons of mace, so you can get a lot of coverage with just a little of the product.
This product may require monthly application. This makes this substance more expensive in comparison with its competitors: you can spend money on several such cans in one year. However, this drawback doesn’t really affect the product’s efficacy as customers have found it useful.
Price: Check current price
A Review of Liquid Fence Spray, Concentrate and Granules
Liquid Fence is a brand which has become a repellent market leader. Many complain of its expensiveness, though. Is it that good? Is LF worth its price?
The brand Liquid Fence sells various types of mosquito, cat, dog, rat and even snake repellents. We are interested in 4 Liquid Fence products, which were designed for eliminating rabbits and deer. They are Liquid Fence 110, Liquid Fence 265, Liquid Fence 113 and Liquid Fence 112. The advantage of such an assortment is that a consumer can choose between a spray, a concentrate, granules or they can even combine these products.
Liquid Fence 113 Deer and Rabbit Repellent, 40-Ounce Concentrate
This is the most popular product of the “Big 4”. When it comes to the chemical composition, this is the most powerful and concentrated mixture existing. 40 quart of such concentrate will be enough to cover 10 000 sq. m. No rival products can boast of the same. Among the active ingredients of the product, you’ll find natural rabbit deterrents, such as putrescent whole egg solids and garlic. They repel the rabbits well both separately and when combined with other organic or artificial chemical components.
The application is piece of cake. You have to mix about 8 oz. of the product in a gallon of water (the entire bottle will be enough for about 5 gallons), and then you can start spraying. You’d better “renew this liquid fence” more often than others. The manual states that it has to be done once in a fortnight within the first month of use, and then the spraying is to be monthly. There is some doubt in the claim that the product is rain-proof. So if you live in a rainier area you may need to spray at least once a week depending how much rain has fallen. Otherwise we put it on monthly and have had pretty good results.
Some experienced gardeners don’t recommend spraying Liquid Fence along the perimeter of the garden and using it all over the place. According to them, it’s better to spray Liquid Fence 113 on certain plants, their leaves and trunks. This will neither repel nor poison birds and pets. Don’t expect the product to be extremely effective when directly applied to the vegetables and fruits. LF is not designed for them; you’d better spray the concentrate around them and additionally spray the leaves.
The only disadvantage which you can find fault with is that the smell of the liquid is rather unpleasant but if you dont like the smell perhaps Rabbits and deer wont either. All in all, it gets ventilated within a day from spraying. As for the rest, Liquid Fence 113 didn’t get its title of the most reliable and powerful product among the similar ones in vain, and its price of Check current price is fully justified.
What can we say about the three other Liquid Fence products? They contain the same active ingredients, as LF 113 does. Let’s go over these remaining repellents very fast.
Liquid Fence 112 is a bottle with a built-in spray. It will suit the owners of small gardens who need to solve their problem really fast. There is nothing to be dissolved; the repellent is ready-to-use. We haven’t found any complaints of the effectiveness of LF 112 in the comments section.
Price: Check current price
Liquid Fence 265 Granular Deer and Rabbit Repellent, 5 Pounds is the manufacturer’s first attempt at introducing granules. It costs 20 bucks cheaper than the concentrate, but doesn’t sell as well. Its effectiveness in winter is a bit higher, although the granules are not convenient to work with.
Price: Check current price
Liquid Fence 110 is a concentrate, a 32 oz bottle costs as much as a 40 oz LF 113 bottle. We haven’t found any drawbacks here, the product works well and a single bottle will be enough for covering 8 000 sq.m.
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Best Rabbit Deterrents
As a rabbit deterrent you can use self-supporting mesh as a physical barrier, Scarecrows and Motion activated sprinklers.
Pest Control Pop Up is a sort of a tent for your garden plants which is easy to install and to remove when necessary. It comes in different shapes and sizes, and cost from Check current price; The netting will provide proper air circulation, let light and rain but won’t let the rabbits spoil your crops or flowers.
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When using frightening devices like Scarecrows (Check current price) and Yard Enforcer Motion Activated Sprinklers (Check current price) change their location regularly so that rabbits do not habituate to them.
Rabbit Repellent Pellets
Bonide (BND2362) – Repels-All Animal Repellent, Granules)
This is a universal proven product, the effectiveness of which is confirmed by hundreds of customers. By the way, we have already mentioned it in our Best Natural Mice Repellents review. We still have to note that it is not that cost-effective, as it weighs half as much (it is supposed to be enough for 1 200 sq. ft) and costs as much as Nature’s Mace products. Nevertheless, it repels not only the rabbits, but also the snakes, spiders, fleas, ants and various rodents.
The manufacturers didn’t add any lethal poisons to this product. They’ve stuck to the idea of child and pet safety. The chemists count on the effect of essential oils: cedar, cinnamon and cloves to lemongrass and rosemary. You can even use it indoors! Diatom soil makes up for the rest of Repels-All Animal Repellent as a non-active ingredient. You’ll find no artificial chemicals here.
What is really surprising is that the longest period of granules action is up to “1 year in any weather conditions”. We haven’t found a single real comment attesting that this repellent works well either in the winter or all-year around. But the thing is that the product has been launched only recently, so no feedback is there. So far the users are positive that the product works well even after a heavy rain, which is also good enough.
What do the users detest about it? They might as well dislike the smell and the threat it poses to the pet rodents. This product has a strong odor and it claims also to be for indoor use. From our experience after use and clean up the scent still lingered throughout my house, so I mopped the floor. I can see why the animals stay away. On a plus side, I did not notice any bugs or mice while using this product”
Why is it praised? Its simplicity to use and effectiveness!
Price: Check current price
Best Rabbit Repellents and Deterrents Comparison Chart
100% Natural Homemade Rabbit Deterrent
Last but not least, we’ve promised you a universal recipe of a liquid hot and spicy homemade repellent Here it is:
Red cayenne, jalapeno or habanero Or any HOT fresh peppers can be used in this preparation. jalapenos should be hot enough to keep the bunnies away. The quickest way to come up with a concoction is to take three fresh peppers, and a clove or 2 of garlic and run them through a food processor with enough water added to create a liquid. Pour the liquid through a cheesecloth mesh into a glass quart jar. Add about 2 tablespoons of olive or other vegetable oil, a squirt of Elmer’s glue and a drop or two of liquid dishwashing detergent. Use one part of the concentration to 10 parts water. Shake well just before using. This should discourage the bunnies without hurting them. If not, then make the concentration stronger, to 30%, or just go up to the cayenne pepper for extra heat. Be sure to reapply after new growth appears or after a good rain”.
FYI: The effectiveness of the repellents is limited. They work best to protect woody plants during the early years before they bear fruit or during winter. Most, except for some of the taste repellents, can’t be used on plants or plant parts that humans eat.
Read our article about how to get rid of rabbits and keep them out of your garden to learn about all of the methods of rabbit control
3 thoughts on “10 Best Rabbit Repellents Review”
Very disappointing. My search was for thiram based repellants and none of these mentioned that.
Thank you for writing about all the Liquid Fence. Now it’s easier to choose which one I need.
My aunt at the chalet got rabbits, even last week she began to notice that constantly someone eats her crop. Then it turned out that they were rabbits. Kill them do not want to, so they decided to take rabbit repellent. Have chosen the Liquid Fence 113 Deer and Rabbit Repellent and Non-Toxic Pest Repellent Pellets. What would you advise on your part?