Though you may consider your bunnies as pets, they are prey animals in the first place. Foxes, hawks, dogs, cats, raccoons and other wild animals hunt rabbits.
That’s the very reason you have to manage enough safety for your rabbits to survive against these predators, especially if your rabbits are kept outdoors.
In this article, we are going to focus on the predators that are enemies to your rabbits and how would you save your rabbits from those predators.
What Are the Predators of Rabbits?
Though Rabbits are herbivores, all the other animals cannot survive on grass alone. Some animals need to hunt to manage their meals.
It is sad but true that rabbits are very delicious food to many predators. You will find these predators both in the wild or in the towns and cities as well.
Predators are not choosy about whether a rabbit is from wild or home. They regard rabbits as food, irrespective of the places the rabbits are from. If your rabbits are placed outside to live, they are the easiest targets for predators.
Here are some of the most common predators that hunt rabbits to satisfy their hunger. Keep a vigilant eye to keep your rabbits away from these predators listed below:
- Wild Foxes
- Cats (both pets and bobcats)
- Wolves
- Coyotes
- Dogs
- Badgers
- Raccoons
- Owls
- Kestrels, Falcons, Hawks
- Stoats
- Weasels
- Large Snakes (e.g. gopher, python, rattlesnakes)
How to Protect Rabbits from the Predators
You may wonder about how the rabbits protect themselves from the predators. Unfortunately, though they can save themselves from small predators like cats sometimes, they are unable to defend themselves against strong predators due to their limited capacity and strategies.
With their powerful sense of sound and smell, they can understand the danger beforehand the predator arrives to hunt them.
In that situation, they try their best to run away from predators. However, sometimes they succeed and sometimes they fail to save their lives.
Well, if you have rabbits as pets, you need to know how to keep them safe from predators. Here are some of the strategies you can follow to keep your bunny protected:
- Keeping the rabbits outdoors is the most common reason that causes the death of rabbits by the predators. You should manage to house them indoors instead if you want to maintain the highest safety. What you all need are rabbit food, water, and toys along with some space for them to play.
- If you cannot keep them inside, a large and sturdy garden shed is also a good alternative.
- Having a bunny hutch is extremely helpful to keep your rabbits safe even if they are outdoor. Just make sure that they are made strong to keep the predators off.
- Managing a rabbit’s hutch will solve the problem of safety to a great extent. However, make sure that your rabbits are do not get frightened or shocked for any reason. If they are frightened, they may die out of cardiac arrest.
- Make your yard unattractive to the predators so that they do not appear before the rabbits. It is because rabbits may even die out of shock and fear when they are confronted by predators.
- You can use motion-detecting lights and CC cameras to have a vigilant eye on the rabbits. The use of sprinklers also works great to scare the predators and keep them away.
Final Thoughts
Keeping the rabbits safe from the predators is not very easy. However, if you can apply and maintain the safety measures mentioned above, the death of rabbits by the predators will drop to the minimum.
