Homemade Rabbit Repellent

Rabbits can be cute, but they’re also destructive. They’ll eat your flowers, chew up your garden, and dig holes in the yard.

If you want to keep rabbits away from your property, there is an easy solution: make some homemade rabbit repellent!

Rabbits don’t like these 3 recipes – so try them out and see which one works best for you.

Ingredients That Deter Rabbits

The recipes below will focus on using the primary ingredients that are known to deter rabbits.  These ingredients, which use a mixture of tastes and smells that rabbits don’t like, work to discourage these animals from your yard or garden.

The primary ingredients we will use to create a homemade rabbit deterrent are:

• Crushed Red Pepper
• Tabasco Sauce
• Cayenne Pepper
• Garlic Cloves
• Raw Egg

We will combine these ingredients along with water and liquid dish soap to create our solution. Don’t skip the dish soap as it will help the repellent stick to plants and deter rabbits.

We will create our recipes in a gallon milk jug so it is easy to transfer to smaller containers or spray bottles.

Homemade Rabbit Deterrent Recipes

Let’s look at three proven rabbit deterrent recipes you can make at home. These recipes are very effective in discouraging these animals from your yard or garden.

Recipe 1: Red Hot Rabbit Restraint

The first recipe is Red Hot Rabbit Restraint. This recipe focuses on using all of the spicy and hot ingredients that are known to keep the rabbits away. This spray works great to get rid of chipmunks too.

Ingredient List:

• Crushed Red Pepper
• Tabasco Sauce
• Ground Cayenne Pepper
• Liquid Dish Soap
• Water

Instructions:

Fill an old 1-gallon milk jug with warm water.

Add 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper, 1 teaspoon of Tabasco Sauce, and 1 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper to the jug of water. Swirl the mixture to dissolve the ingredients.

Next, add 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap and shake up the jug again.

Let the mixture sit for 2-3 days preferably in the hot sun. This will allow the ingredients to permeate the water. After sitting for a few days, transfer the solution into a spray bottle using a coffee filter and funnel to remove any red pepper flakes that might clog your spray nozzle.

Spray your new homemade rabbit deterrent on your plants, flowers, garden beds, etc., wherever you have seen rabbits nibbling or hopping around.

The spicy hot ingredients will stop rabbits on the first bite and discourage them from coming back for more.

Recipe 2: Garlic Deterrent Drizzle

The next recipe is Garlic Deterrent Drizzle. The recipe uses a lot of garlic with a little bit of heat to deter rabbits from an area and stop them from nibbling on your plants. This is a great homemade rabbit repellent for hostas and other plants.

Ingredient List:

• Garlic Cloves
• Cayenne Pepper
• Liquid Dish Soap
• Water

Instructions:

Fill a 1-gallon milk jug with water.

Crush 6 – 8 garlic cloves and place the crushed garlic in the jug of water. Add 1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper and 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap to the mixture.

Let your homemade rabbit repellent sit for two to three days in the jug before using. Letting it sit outside in the sun will give you the best results.

Once ready, you can apply the mixture directly to plants or in a circle around your yard or garden. For this recipe, I just poor or drizzle the solution directly out of the milk jug container. If you want to make the homemade rabbit repellent go further, fill a spray bottle with your mixture, and spritz it around areas in need.

I prefer to use the Garlic Deterrent Drizzle around my deck to keep rabbits from building nests under there. The smell is overbearing to rabbits but not really noticeable to humans.

Recipe 3: Rabbit Barrier Breakfast

The final recipe is Rabbit Barrier Breakfast. This rabbit repellent uses raw eggs and Tobasco sauce to create a smell that rabbits hate. This is a potent (smelly) homemade rabbit repellent that is best used in areas that don’t have a lot of human activity.

Ingredient List:

• Raw Egg
• Tobasco Sauce
• Liquid Dish Soap
• Water

Instructions:

Fill a small bucket or gallon milk jug with water.

Crush 2 to 3 eggs and mix them into your water. It’s OK to include the shell in the mixture. Add 1 tablespoon of Tobasco sauce to the mixture and stir everything together.

Let this mess sit outside away from your home for 3 – 5 days. It will stink, but that is why it works. When it’s ready, just pour the solution around the perimeter of your garden or yard to create a barrier to keep the rabbits out.

I don’t recommend this recipe if you have neighbors. This approach is best used in the country where rabbits and deer are really tearing up your garden.

Applying Homemade Rabbit Repellent

Once you create one of the homemade rabbit repellents, you should apply it around the areas where you are seeing rabbits. Rabbits will likely come back into the area, but they will not hang around for long.

An important step in keeping the rabbits away is the reapplication of rabbit repellent.

Initially, you should reapply the repellent every week and after every rainfall. This will ensure the repellent maintains its maximum potency and trains the rabbits to leave this area alone.

Once the rabbits leave the area, you can cut down on the frequency of reapplication to every two weeks or less. Just keep an eye out for the rabbits in case you need to whip up a new batch of homemade rabbit repellent!

Other Questions about Homemade Rabbit Deterrent

Conclusion – Homemade Rabbit Repellent

I hope you’ve found these three homemade rabbit repellent recipes helpful. If you are looking for alternative ways to keep rabbits away from your flowers and garden, then it’s worth trying one of these homemade rabbit repellents.

The Red Hot Rabbit Restraint is my favorite way to deter a hungry bunny without having them tear up all of my plants in search of food. The best thing is that you can make it with ingredients that may already be sitting around your home.

If homemade repellents aren’t your thing, don’t worry- there are plenty of other solutions out there for preventing rabbits from damaging your flowers and garden plants.

For one, try the Ivory Soap rabbit deterrent trick. This is a super simple and effective technique.

Just remember to give all products time to work before giving up on them!

What has worked for you? Share your rabbit deterrent stories with us below.