Waging War On Chipmunks and Rabbits

The past few years, we’ve had a few unwelcome guests.  Some rabbits would come by and munch on whatever plants we were attempting to grow.  Later on, we found some chipmunks making themselves cozy in and around our garage.  I’ve been trying to rid ourselves of these pests for awhile, but recently I decided to get serious.

First, some ground rules I set in my War On Unwelcome Animals.  I wasn’t looking to kill them.  I don’t have anything against them per se.  I just don’t want them borrowing in my yard, living in my garage, or munching on my plants.  To this end, I wasn’t going to use any traps or poisons.  Besides, my kids play in the yard and the "kill the wabbit" poison could easily become the "made JSL sick" poison.  I’d rather have a thousand rabbits munching my plants than make my boys ill trying to get rid of the pests.

In the past, I’ve used a spray designed to get rid of deer.  It contains capsaicin in an egg white suspension.  The smell actually reminded me of very good buffalo wings.  (Yes, I was tempted to try it, but no I wasn’t stupid enough to actually taste it.)  Of course, while spicy buffalo wings might taste good to you and me, it tastes horrid to deer, rabbits, and other animals that like their diet to be more of the non-spicy plant variety.  This helped repel the rabbits, but any rain storm would wash away the capsaicin spray and soon the bunnies would return.

Over the weekend, I stopped by Home Depot to address two issues.  First of all, the stones in our garage have a lot of holes in them.  Some are due to age and weather, but many are due to small animals gnawing on the garage walls to gain entry.  Secondly, I wanted a long-term means of repelling the rabbits and chipmunks.

The garage holes were remedied using some foam sealant.  You simply spray this into the cracks and holes and it expands to fit the opened areas.  A few hours later, it hardens and sets.  It’s designed for outdoor use so the weather shouldn’t destroy it (at least not immediately).  Also, since animals could chew the foam easily, it contains a bitter tasting ingredient.  They can try to munch away, but they won’t like what they’re munching.

With those holes sealed up, I can now move onto the second stage.

These granules contain castor oil and will be sprinkled across my lawn.  Like capsaicin, castor oil is not among the tastes that rabbits and chipmunks desire.  Once this is spread across my lawn, it should help make the ground taste bad to any borrowing creature.

It’s too bad that rabbits and chipmunks don’t read blogs or I’d give them some helpful advice: Don’t get too comfortable.  Pack your things because you are about to be evicted from my yard.