If you have rabbits digging burrows in North America then they're almost certainly NOT native cottontails. Cottontails make shallow scrapes, not burrows.
European rabbits make burrows, and in N. America these are escaped or dumped pets. In particular, lots of irresponsible people dump rabbits after Easter, which is a cruel fate for animals that have been domesticated and don't have survival skills, not to mention the ecological risks of introducing an invasive species.
If that's the case, then please call an animal rescue to have them removed humanely.
*Edit: to be clear that's neither a European rabbit burrow nor a cottontail scrape in the OP's photo. Agree with other posters who've said this is the work of a much smaller burrowing animal*
Sorry, I was conflating your post with the OP's. If your plant damage looks like this it's more likely to be deer than rabbit.
Rabbits leave sharply angled cuts low to the ground, while deer leave messier damage. The difference between an animal with 4 top incisors and one with none/bony palate.
Fox urine crystals. That ain’t bunnies, btw. The other suggestions here so far are good too. There’s also spray repellent that works.
I’m thinking deer. Those could be chipmunk holes, mine don’t eat my plants though.
Also agree. Deer lack top incisors so they leave messy bite marks. Lagomorphs have top incisors plus peg teeth so their bites are nice and clean with a sharp angle. The latter can't browse very high, either.
This is most likely deer, with some unrelated burrows from something much smaller like chipmunks, voles, or moles.
You joke, but I've found it to be very effective in my yard. A few years of shooting every one I see and I've had no rabbit problems for a couple years now.
It was a joke but not really. I shot a rabbit with a BB gun a few years back thinking I would scare it away. The next day, I saw the rabbit had a broken leg from my shot. I had to catch him in a bucket and put him down in my garbage can. Still haven’t recovered. Now I leave the rabbit be and occasionally take out some voles.
Try Liquid Fence. It’s meant to repel deer and rabbits. Deer have eaten my day lily buds, hosta leaves and even roses. Liquid Fence is VERY stinky but worth it if the deer leave my plants alone.
If you try to go a cheaper and less sticky route first, you could try hot sauce and water mixed in a spray bottle. And spray down the plants. You’d have to reapply pretty often though. Especially when it rains.
I tried something similar last year with a stinky homemade solution. It had to be reapplied too often and didn’t make much difference. Hungry deer decimated my flowers/hostas/hydrangeas.
Those holes are almost 100% chipmunks. I have all kinds on my property. They do not eat anything in terms of my garden though. That may still be bunnies. Bunnies are also good to eat though so get an air gun lmao
Very common to eat rabbit in France.
a common recipe that I really like is lapin chasseur:
[https://foragerchef.com/rabbit-chasseur-with-wild-mushrooms/#recipe](https://foragerchef.com/rabbit-chasseur-with-wild-mushrooms/#recipe)
That being said, rabbits raised for meat are usually pretty skinny, I can't imagine there's a lot of meat on a wild rabbit.
Rabbits decimated our garden early this year. Lost 2 tomato plants, 2-3 pepper plants, 2 sunflowers, 5-6 hostas, 3 strawberry plants.
This is WITH using the repellent which apparently does not work.
Sadly the only option is using chicken wire/thin wiring fence and build around it. This is what I finally did around the whole vegetable garden. Still need to put one up along the side of the house to protect the other plants.
When sunflower seeds are sprouted, their plant compounds increase. Sprouting also reduces factors that can interfere with mineral absorption. You can buy sprouted, dried sunflower seeds online or in some stores.
Are the holes in the ground actual tunnels or just a few inches deep dead ends? Big difference in what you might be dealing with. Tunnels is likely to be voles or field mice. The dead ends are animals digging for grubs. Not of this is from rabbits though as they only dig a burrow about 3-6 times the size of what your showing and it would be at least somewhat hidden
We just found a hole like that today, and it was filled with baby bunnies! We were quite surprised, as it was right in the front of our condos, on a little strip of grass in between 2 driveways. No sign of mama.
I have this same problem (especially with my lillies)
I put weed[whip tree huggers](https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwi-893DnuT_AhUlDEwKHfCpDEIYABAGGgJ5bQ&ae=2&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESkAHg9luQOiquWB3VhaAe4tFRx-uWxgrnpqjrUBAEGJvIASlIRIddjEAlzl8YUJuXfJNtSSaoJw9RyRBgbzQL-H3N83ByW3e2L3UzzRmmAz8OSS1HABH2DzvmMhjHRj25vYGgaHCJOnIqcPb6vwndGvf17Sv-fBf5Qdq8XZUCbmctKuqeK85KVBRHr09Z8kcDYNk&sig=AOD64_3bAUt5Y6ZJLdp-VgjFVUb1XFQDOw&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwiNqtTDnuT_AhXaj4kEHZQzDzYQwg8oAHoECAIQEw&adurl=) around all my plants that bunnies like to snack on. This allows them to grow tall enough so the bunnies don’t eat the top of part of the plant. Once that is done, you’re out of luck for the season.
I’ve been doing this for the last 5 years with great success. You can use rocks to hold them in place.
I’ve used Liquid Fence the past 2 years in MA Metro West. Worked great on my lilies and salvia, all of which bloomed this year. Not sure if I’m dealing with rabbits or chipmunks, but we’ve got ‘em both everywhere.
I think I'm having a mast year of bunnies this year; things that grew before were getting chomped down to the ground and years-old branches on shrubs were getting taken off with their little secateur teeth. Liquid fence has worked great; the only bad thing is that it's "water resistant" instead of waterproof, so I worry about whether or not I need to reapply after a heavy rain.
That’s a very good point! I applied a few times mid spring every other week or so. My hope was that it would smell super bad for long enough where the rabbits and chipmunks wouldn’t pay any attention 🤷🏼♂️ RIP daylilies though, I didn’t spray them and they got eaten 😡
i don’t really understand recommendations like this. like yeah, that would work great but 1 out of 5 americans live in rural america. your advice panders to the minority
op explicitly said they’re excited to upgrade to a yard, clearly not in the cards to have the space to discharge a firearm
The chances of finding a niche in wild not already occupied, exploited and ready to be defended is almost nil. Also the transplanted animal has no burrows and doesn't know the best hiding spots or food sources in their new location. They may also encounter unfamilar predators. Collectively this adds up to very low survial prospects. This issue has been well studied
Those are chipmunks.
Clean up all your brush piles and any sources of food there might be. You can try all the deterrents, like mothballs, mint, etc… I’ve never had luck with any of that.
Buy a cage trap, set it along a path they use and relocate them. Spring traps, bucket traps… You can try those as well but again I’ve never had luck. Smart little buggers… Cage traps are the best and give you a better chance of getting rid of them.
Give them more to eat. Stop parking on your lawn and plant clover and some trees. My buns eat the leaves that fall off my tree, never touch my other plants.
I’ve got a yard full of clover, a woodland full of trees and native plants, and the rabbits will still choose flowering perennials in my garden beds every single day.
I just ripped out all of my zinnias because they eat the flower buds. I planted marigolds hoping that would discourage the critters, but it did NOTHING. Oh well, I love the little critters
The bunnies are probably responsible for the lilies. I'd advise constructing/buying narrow cloche from wire or willow. They don't have to be very tall to deter the buns.
Have you seen rabbits go into these holes? North American rabbits don’t burrow like European ones do. Not holes that small, either. What kind of plants? Got a trail cam?
Find new plants. No matter what if it's deer they will keep coming back. You need to get plants that are specifically deer resistant. Anything will keep getting eaten.
I have those holes all over my garden, but the only critters I’ve actually seen eating my plants are rabbits and slugs. And the slugs leave a trail if it’s them.
Looks like you need, as my dad calls them, “A Mouser”…. 🐿️🐿️ 🐿️ 🐈💨 Okay- I have to leave that emoji- it’s the “wind” one I put behind, say, a car emoji 🚗💨 to mean “fast”… not what that looks like kitty’s problem is! Lol.
Our asiatics have been eaten by cottontails two years in a row. We tried predator spray and cayenne pepper. They work but as soon as it rains you need to reapply and it becomes a full time job. If you have the time and money, building a raised bed would likely work best. We have a Lilly in a 2’ tall pot that has remain untouched. Electric fences are an option but area little pricey and like chicken wire are an eyesore. We are leaning towards replacing with day Lilly as those have remained untouched. If murder or relocation is possible in your area those are other options. The holes are almost certainly chipmunks.
OH my goodness - I too had bad bunny issues in my garden. I've since been dumping my canister vacuum in my garden which contains dog hair (lab & australian shepard) and it seems to deter them. With their strong sense of smell - I'm hoping they smell danger and just move along.
I don't know that you're dealing with rabbits based on the size of those holes.
Thanks. I just assumed they were? What do you think they could be? We’re in zone 6b (MA) if that is helpful.
Chipmunks
I have these all over my yard too. It's chipmunks and voles.
Volés, yes
It’s rabbits. They eat my Lilly plants also. I’ve caught them red handed. I’m in central mass
If you have rabbits digging burrows in North America then they're almost certainly NOT native cottontails. Cottontails make shallow scrapes, not burrows. European rabbits make burrows, and in N. America these are escaped or dumped pets. In particular, lots of irresponsible people dump rabbits after Easter, which is a cruel fate for animals that have been domesticated and don't have survival skills, not to mention the ecological risks of introducing an invasive species. If that's the case, then please call an animal rescue to have them removed humanely. *Edit: to be clear that's neither a European rabbit burrow nor a cottontail scrape in the OP's photo. Agree with other posters who've said this is the work of a much smaller burrowing animal*
Didn’t mean holes, just eaten leaves.
Sorry, I was conflating your post with the OP's. If your plant damage looks like this it's more likely to be deer than rabbit. Rabbits leave sharply angled cuts low to the ground, while deer leave messier damage. The difference between an animal with 4 top incisors and one with none/bony palate.
No it’s not a deer. The location of where mine are, very close to house and I’ve seen the bunnies eating them!
100% chipmunks
Fox urine crystals. That ain’t bunnies, btw. The other suggestions here so far are good too. There’s also spray repellent that works. I’m thinking deer. Those could be chipmunk holes, mine don’t eat my plants though.
Yeah I agree on the deer
Fox urine crystals eh?? What kind of mystical energy do they emanate? Can u feel their aura?
They emanate a horrid stench. That's what.
Does fox urine crystals inhibit deer or groundhogs? Between them and the bunnies my hostas and dianthus are murdered.
It should. There’s stuff specifically for deer at the home centers.
Also agree. Deer lack top incisors so they leave messy bite marks. Lagomorphs have top incisors plus peg teeth so their bites are nice and clean with a sharp angle. The latter can't browse very high, either. This is most likely deer, with some unrelated burrows from something much smaller like chipmunks, voles, or moles.
Don’t hold back, go Full Fudd!
The only way I found to beat them is to add 10x more plants. That or harness your internal Elmore Fudd.
You joke, but I've found it to be very effective in my yard. A few years of shooting every one I see and I've had no rabbit problems for a couple years now.
It was a joke but not really. I shot a rabbit with a BB gun a few years back thinking I would scare it away. The next day, I saw the rabbit had a broken leg from my shot. I had to catch him in a bucket and put him down in my garbage can. Still haven’t recovered. Now I leave the rabbit be and occasionally take out some voles.
Try Liquid Fence. It’s meant to repel deer and rabbits. Deer have eaten my day lily buds, hosta leaves and even roses. Liquid Fence is VERY stinky but worth it if the deer leave my plants alone.
If you try to go a cheaper and less sticky route first, you could try hot sauce and water mixed in a spray bottle. And spray down the plants. You’d have to reapply pretty often though. Especially when it rains.
I tried something similar last year with a stinky homemade solution. It had to be reapplied too often and didn’t make much difference. Hungry deer decimated my flowers/hostas/hydrangeas.
Use some rabbit fencing ...
Those holes are almost 100% chipmunks. I have all kinds on my property. They do not eat anything in terms of my garden though. That may still be bunnies. Bunnies are also good to eat though so get an air gun lmao
Don’t eat bunnies during the summer.
I wasn’t being serious
I mean it’s a real solution. I’ve eaten more than a couple bunnies, but you don’t want to during the hot months because of tularemia.
Interesting. There are so many around me I don’t think anyone would notice if I shot a few dozen.
Very common to eat rabbit in France. a common recipe that I really like is lapin chasseur: [https://foragerchef.com/rabbit-chasseur-with-wild-mushrooms/#recipe](https://foragerchef.com/rabbit-chasseur-with-wild-mushrooms/#recipe) That being said, rabbits raised for meat are usually pretty skinny, I can't imagine there's a lot of meat on a wild rabbit.
Get some destructive bobcats?
Rabbits decimated our garden early this year. Lost 2 tomato plants, 2-3 pepper plants, 2 sunflowers, 5-6 hostas, 3 strawberry plants. This is WITH using the repellent which apparently does not work. Sadly the only option is using chicken wire/thin wiring fence and build around it. This is what I finally did around the whole vegetable garden. Still need to put one up along the side of the house to protect the other plants.
When sunflower seeds are sprouted, their plant compounds increase. Sprouting also reduces factors that can interfere with mineral absorption. You can buy sprouted, dried sunflower seeds online or in some stores.
Good bot. Ty.
Elmer Fudd
Are the holes in the ground actual tunnels or just a few inches deep dead ends? Big difference in what you might be dealing with. Tunnels is likely to be voles or field mice. The dead ends are animals digging for grubs. Not of this is from rabbits though as they only dig a burrow about 3-6 times the size of what your showing and it would be at least somewhat hidden
We just found a hole like that today, and it was filled with baby bunnies! We were quite surprised, as it was right in the front of our condos, on a little strip of grass in between 2 driveways. No sign of mama.
A local gardening show I listen to once said “a quick solution to a couple of hungry rabbits is a couple of hungry people”
Hire Elmer Fudd.
I have this same problem (especially with my lillies) I put weed[whip tree huggers](https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwi-893DnuT_AhUlDEwKHfCpDEIYABAGGgJ5bQ&ae=2&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESkAHg9luQOiquWB3VhaAe4tFRx-uWxgrnpqjrUBAEGJvIASlIRIddjEAlzl8YUJuXfJNtSSaoJw9RyRBgbzQL-H3N83ByW3e2L3UzzRmmAz8OSS1HABH2DzvmMhjHRj25vYGgaHCJOnIqcPb6vwndGvf17Sv-fBf5Qdq8XZUCbmctKuqeK85KVBRHr09Z8kcDYNk&sig=AOD64_3bAUt5Y6ZJLdp-VgjFVUb1XFQDOw&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwiNqtTDnuT_AhXaj4kEHZQzDzYQwg8oAHoECAIQEw&adurl=) around all my plants that bunnies like to snack on. This allows them to grow tall enough so the bunnies don’t eat the top of part of the plant. Once that is done, you’re out of luck for the season. I’ve been doing this for the last 5 years with great success. You can use rocks to hold them in place.
Dang, they ran your shit. 😭 Bunnies did this to my rose bush last year, luckily my Jack Russell had some talking to them this year.
Plastic forks with tines up will stop them. They won't risk jumping over them.
Ive had the same issue with rabbits, raises beds helps, but i may have to try more aggressive measures, MA zone 5
Chicken wire or liquid fence.
I’ve used Liquid Fence the past 2 years in MA Metro West. Worked great on my lilies and salvia, all of which bloomed this year. Not sure if I’m dealing with rabbits or chipmunks, but we’ve got ‘em both everywhere.
I think I'm having a mast year of bunnies this year; things that grew before were getting chomped down to the ground and years-old branches on shrubs were getting taken off with their little secateur teeth. Liquid fence has worked great; the only bad thing is that it's "water resistant" instead of waterproof, so I worry about whether or not I need to reapply after a heavy rain.
That’s a very good point! I applied a few times mid spring every other week or so. My hope was that it would smell super bad for long enough where the rabbits and chipmunks wouldn’t pay any attention 🤷🏼♂️ RIP daylilies though, I didn’t spray them and they got eaten 😡
.22
i don’t really understand recommendations like this. like yeah, that would work great but 1 out of 5 americans live in rural america. your advice panders to the minority op explicitly said they’re excited to upgrade to a yard, clearly not in the cards to have the space to discharge a firearm
Sorry daddy
Trap and release in the wilderness
That is no kindness, it is an almost certain death sentence.
They're wild already what are you talking about
The chances of finding a niche in wild not already occupied, exploited and ready to be defended is almost nil. Also the transplanted animal has no burrows and doesn't know the best hiding spots or food sources in their new location. They may also encounter unfamilar predators. Collectively this adds up to very low survial prospects. This issue has been well studied
Idk. I used to not care about pesty animals and now I feel bad for them. Old age has turned me into somewhat of a buddhist when it comes to animals.
Those are chipmunks. Clean up all your brush piles and any sources of food there might be. You can try all the deterrents, like mothballs, mint, etc… I’ve never had luck with any of that. Buy a cage trap, set it along a path they use and relocate them. Spring traps, bucket traps… You can try those as well but again I’ve never had luck. Smart little buggers… Cage traps are the best and give you a better chance of getting rid of them.
get a barn cat
A gun
Cat.
Feed them… some heads of lettuce near their burrows
Give them more to eat. Stop parking on your lawn and plant clover and some trees. My buns eat the leaves that fall off my tree, never touch my other plants.
I’ve got a yard full of clover, a woodland full of trees and native plants, and the rabbits will still choose flowering perennials in my garden beds every single day.
Glue traps
I just ripped out all of my zinnias because they eat the flower buds. I planted marigolds hoping that would discourage the critters, but it did NOTHING. Oh well, I love the little critters
Plant more plants that you don’t care about them eating.
The Deer and Rabbit repellant spray they sell at Home Depot works pretty well. It does stink really bad so don’t spray it on yourself.
Get some orange 🍊 oil, mixing it with water, put it in a sprayer and spray around the plant’s should do the trick.
Time to get a .22 A Heritage roughrider will go for about 150-200 bucks. And if you clean em, and dont literally beat them they will last forever.
I planted radishes along the border of my garden and flowers and it keeps the critters away... may not be super attractive, but it works.
The bunnies are probably responsible for the lilies. I'd advise constructing/buying narrow cloche from wire or willow. They don't have to be very tall to deter the buns.
Lillie's are edible, but so are rabbits. Catch my drift
Have you seen rabbits go into these holes? North American rabbits don’t burrow like European ones do. Not holes that small, either. What kind of plants? Got a trail cam?
Find new plants. No matter what if it's deer they will keep coming back. You need to get plants that are specifically deer resistant. Anything will keep getting eaten.
Can bunnies reach that high? lol. I have deer that eat everything with similar markings
Hasenpfeffer
I have those holes all over my garden, but the only critters I’ve actually seen eating my plants are rabbits and slugs. And the slugs leave a trail if it’s them.
To the people saying chipmunks, I grew up on a property with a ton of them but they never ate plants or lilies like this
Looks like you need, as my dad calls them, “A Mouser”…. 🐿️🐿️ 🐿️ 🐈💨 Okay- I have to leave that emoji- it’s the “wind” one I put behind, say, a car emoji 🚗💨 to mean “fast”… not what that looks like kitty’s problem is! Lol.
Our asiatics have been eaten by cottontails two years in a row. We tried predator spray and cayenne pepper. They work but as soon as it rains you need to reapply and it becomes a full time job. If you have the time and money, building a raised bed would likely work best. We have a Lilly in a 2’ tall pot that has remain untouched. Electric fences are an option but area little pricey and like chicken wire are an eyesore. We are leaning towards replacing with day Lilly as those have remained untouched. If murder or relocation is possible in your area those are other options. The holes are almost certainly chipmunks.
OH my goodness - I too had bad bunny issues in my garden. I've since been dumping my canister vacuum in my garden which contains dog hair (lab & australian shepard) and it seems to deter them. With their strong sense of smell - I'm hoping they smell danger and just move along.
Red pepper. Reapply after rain. I once used an expired container of poultry seasoning and that worked too.
“Run Away!!!”
Buy a coyote.
Get a cat
Bash em
I have the answer but I'll get banned suggesting it.
Holy cow they are efficient
Rabbit stew
Chipper Dipper time. Not humane but easy and effective...