Some weeks ago, I noticed that the tops of my swiss chard were eaten off. My u-shaped metal raised bed garden is 17 inches high. I supposed a deer jumped out chain link fence. A few days ago, I noticed one of my drip lines looked like it was cut in 2 pieces. Yesterday, I saw 5 small baby bunnies burrowed underneath straw further shaded by squash leaves. I'm wondering how a pregnant rabbit jumped up into that bed. And of course, she's nowhere in sight! I CANNOT kill these bunnies but I want them out of my garden and safe. My solution (although probably a bad one), is to feed them small amounts of shredded carrots until they're big enough to jump 17 inches to the ground and survive. lol...anyone out there with better ideas?

It's a classic @Farmette the mothers will get their babies inside the wire. Huge advantage for the wee ones.
I have wee hares lurking around my back door every year now. Safest place for them to escape predators.
5 is a lot though. !!

@Farmette If they are big enough to be out of the nest then they are big enough to be on their own. Could you put your carrots into a live trap and then move them out of your garden as you catch them?

Definitely agree about Mom knowing what she was doing and that they are probably old enough to leave. Mom showed up and now there is just one left. I wonder if the nest was under the plant and maybe there is something wrong with this last one. I'd trap and release it, but we live across from a wildlife area...coyotes howling at night. But it's going to have to be, at least he'll have a chance.

There was never anything wrong with the little bunny that moms have left in my garden. She probably knows that five of them would draw too much attention. The little foundling probably won't do a lot of damage, hoping to enjoy your protection. But if you want to trap it, should be really easy. I'm amazed how the little hares will crawl into bales of wire, under tables, any kind of enclosed area. They go for the structure big time. Not hard to imagine how they got domesticated, because they are looking for a hutch!

GOTTEM!!!

i checked the live trap i had set in my wifes garden where the woodchuck was having its way.
it had been out there for a couple weeks, baited with a damaged cabbage from the woodchuck.
i was about to give up, and replace the cabbage with some sun flower seeds, but today in between
rain showers, i noticed the trap was sprung, and inside was my garden nemesis.
now i won't lie. i did look up how to cook a woodchuck just to see if one would actually want to eat one.
you can. they are similar to rabbit in flavor. there was even a step by step tutorial on how to prepare the
woodchuck for eating. all that cabbage, broccoli, kale, brussels sprouts, bean, and cucumber leaves the woodchuck
ate, i figured it ought to taste pretty darn good, right?

i decided to let it go. i took it to an area a few miles away, and not near anybody. i went a short ways down a snow mobile
trail and let it go. i should probably reset the trap. my neighbor said he also has a woodchuck hanging around.


keith

In many states such as mine it is illegal to release a woodchuck if you happen to capture one. I also hope that it was more than just a few miles or it will be back in a few days enjoying your wife's garden again.

MissS wrote: ↑Wed Sep 06, 2023 9:07 pmIn many states such as mine it is illegal to release a woodchuck if you happen to capture one.

Ruh roh! Good thing there were no witnesses to my...um...relocation program, even if there were; The Gotch would plead Civil Disobedience.

Saw some rustling in one of the Tomato beds yesterday, and when I went out and clapped my hands, another one of those dastardly critters waddled out into the neighbor's yard.

Even had a bad dream about horribly gnawed Tomatoes during the overnight.

Sensing that's a...um...SIGN...the trap's been reset.

The Gotch

my choices were either locate it to a safe spot, and give it a chance to live or kill it.
i don't kill critters unnecessarily. raccoons that kill my chickens go swimming, otherwise
they get relocated to a remote area. we have a lot of that here. just don't make your problem
critter someone elses problem.

my sister living in suburbia, if they have a woodchuck or skunk problem, they call the critter guy.
he comes and traps them, and then........what do you think happens to them.
we have all manner of critters here, small to big. we learn to live with them. impossible to get rid of them all,
nor would i want to. thats life in da U.P.


keith

I had to mow a path to the oil filler pipe on the side of the garage and found a wild tomato plant growing.
Must be rugged because it only gets the morning sun and it was in about 1/4 inch of soil.
I dug it up and brought it indoors under lights.
A rat must have spit some out in it's travels.
I never planted there in my life due to lack of sunlight.

slugworth wrote: ↑Thu Sep 21, 2023 3:28 pm I had to mow a path to the oil filler pipe on the side of the garage and found a wild tomato plant growing.
Must be rugged because it only gets the morning sun and it was in about 1/4 inch of soil.
I dug it up and brought it indoors under lights.
A rat must have spit some out in it's travels.
I never planted there in my life due to lack of sunlight.

I've had tomato plants sprouting in places that's never seen a tomato as well.
I blamed it on birds.

no bird pecks this year
just rats and slugs

I think I got u beat
I found a tomato plant growing in the bed of my pickup truck.
Not the cleanest spot on earth.

I had a weird one. I spotted some kind strange looking of fluffy critter flailing around on a tile floor. I was able to catch it by placing a bowl over it and then sliding a piece of cardboard under the bowl. I released it outside. I took a second look and it was one of our native tree frogs covered with a blob of dust! I managed to recapture it and washed it off and then placed it in one of my frog ponds.

brought a potted plant indoors.
after a couple of days I noticed a slug on the soil.
Put salt on it and it did it's wicked witch imitation after taking a shower.
I was afraid of aphids now I got crawling meat to worry about.

you think birds would eat the crawling meat past it's expiration date.
too fussy.

slugworth wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 3:58 am I think I got u beat
I found a tomato plant growing in the bed of my pickup truck.
Not the cleanest spot on earth.

Sounds like the old pickup I used to have where occasionally a few pine seedlings would be found sprouted.

earwigs eat holes in the peppers and leave their calling card behind inside

the same beetle that eats my pepper leaves ate the leaves on my peanut plants.
They look like Swiss cheese.