Rabbit hutches need to be protected from foxes to make sure no harm comes to your bunny friends.
Although foxes are shrewd cunning animals, there are some simple things you do to make sure your rabbit’s hutch is safe.
Here are the 9 best DIY methods for securing a rabbit hutch from foxes. We have explained all these details in this step-by-step guide.
How to Make Your rabbit hutch safe from foxes?
Rabbits are small animals, they breed fast, and die at a young age. Wild and pet rabbits have different defense abilities.
Pet can’t move fast and escape from the fox as compared to wild rabbits. You can make them happy by providing toys, water, and a small playground.
In this way, you can train them better to develop a self-defense strategy. You can do multiple things to provide safety to a rabbit from foxes.
Building a Safe Hutch
You should have a safe hutch for pet rabbits. You can buy a hutch from the market or online stores. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find a good-quality hutch at pet stores.
They do not use original wood and sturdy wires.
If you want your pet safe from a predator attack, you should make a predator-proof hutch at home. You may design the hutch before starting work.
You can use wood or metal to make a hutch. Also, you can use net wires, but they are less secure and can be easily penetrated.
Wooden hutches are best suitable for rabbits. A hutch made of good quality wood like pine is secure and can be least affected by different weather conditions.
Metallic hutches are dangerous for rabbits in the summertime as they absorb heat and can suffocate the rabbits.
Your hutch should have a strong roof and strong support so that in a worst-case scenario when foxes get the access to hutch they will try to move it or roll it.
They will find a place where they can break it so strong support will not let them move or push it, also they jump on the roof of the hutch and a weak roof will let them easy access to rabbits so a strong roof is also important.
Your hutch should have enough space for rabbits to run and jump inside it so they can feel free if a small hutch can annoy them and they may try to sneak out of it and try to break through it.
It should have a good ventilated and grassy environment so that rabbits can feel comfortable inside it.
Placement of Hutch
Outdoor hutches are more prone to attack by foxes and less secure.
So, the hutch should be kept indoors ideally in the garden of your house or porch or any sheltered place.
Placing it away from your house may risk it being exposed to predators like foxes.
You will have to supervise it by placing the hutch at a place where it is always visible to you from inside the house so that you can keep an eye on the hutch.
It will be easy for you to take care of them if they are inside the house and the walls of the garden or the house will act as a shelter to the shelter so they will be in a more secure environment.
Secure the Hutch from Foxes
If it is vulnerable due to a large number of foxes around in that area you can secure the hutch by building a strong roof and using good quality locks on their doors.
Foxes can break weak locks by their sharp teeth so it is better to use metallic locks.
You can place chicken wiring to prevent them to go outside the area as it can be easy to pray for foxes outside the hutch so they need to be kept inside.
It will not harm them it will only prevent them to sneak through small holes or any little openings which might be left open during hutch formation.
Foxes can also dig around the hutch.
You can place electric wiring around the hutch. If a fox tries to reach the hutch it receives an electric shock as soon as it gets in contact with wires.
It is one of the most efficient ways to push foxes away and they will not be able to gain entry through any small gaps or holes.
Regularly Check the Rabbit Hutch from Inside and Outside
Once you have built a safe fox-proof hutch it’s not over.
The foxes just don’t easily give up trying to hunt for their food. If they trace your hutch and get to know that you have their favorite food, it can be a risky place for pets to live.
So, the first thing is that you should try to build your hutch which is out of reach from foxes.
Keep looking for any holes in which they might be digging and make sure they don’t let them give access to go outside of the hutch.
Secondly, you have to regularly keep a check on hutch walls as rabbits have a habit of chewing and digging.
So, they can weaken them by chewing and biting, or digging. Regularly examine the condition of walls so that foxes don’t get a chance to access inside the framework of the hutch.
You can regularly check around if there are any predators outside as they might be waiting to attack so if you see them before they can do anything you can take preventive measures and not let them attack your pets.
Close the Entry Points of Your Garden
Foxes are creative animals and they may take a long time to decide to enter new territory. You can see a fox entering your garden in-camera recording.
You should check the entry points where the fox has entered.
Fox usually enters the place from the same path each time. You should mark these entry points and target them with a fox deterrent.
It is not a difficult task to avoid foxes in your garden. If you have a little knowledge of fox, you can make the garden safe for pets even without a camera.
Fox may choose to enter from any point in the garden.
They can enter by climbing over the wall. If your wall fencing is weak or loose, he can enter in your garden. He may enter through holes in the wall or over a flat roof.
If you have completely gone through the entry points of the fox, you should focus on these points to make difference. You can see their hair and footprints on these entry points.
These things will make you confident to know the entry points. Now you have to use fox deterrents at every point where he may enter.
Use a Different Type of Odor Deterrents
You can use a different type of repellent to keep your rabbit hutch safe foxes.
These repellents are available in chemical and physical form. You should secure a rabbit hutch before using repellents.
Foxes find their prey by their sense of smell so odor repellents can be very effective.
It counters their major hunting weapon also you need to apply it regularly, they are a mixture of different odors by which foxes are made to believe that it is the territory of some other animal and they should keep away from this area.
We can use different ways to apply them, spraying them through a garden hose is most common and to make it more effective and efficient.
You can install a motion sensor in your garden which will detect anybody’s movement and instantly spray that repellent even if there is a human being or any other animal.
It will spray it but it is harmless for them and if a fox enters the garden it will help in pushing it away.
Using odor repellents not only introduces some other smell it also helps in making sure foxes don’t get to smell the rabbits.
Use Sound Deterrents
Audible deterrents are very effective in keeping foxes away. There is an ultrasonic device that has a high-pitched noise.
Humans cannot hear this sound but it is effective to scares the foxes. The audio repellents are an expensive method as compares to other repellents.
The best sound repellents sound working range is 10 to 15 meters.
You should assemble sound repellents at the main entry points of your garden. Sound repellents are easy to set up and install.
The sound repellents can work day and night even in the bad weather like raining. You can use one 9 volt battery to functionalize the sound repellents.
Some of the sound repellent brands have installed solar technology in repellents to run it.
Solar technology equipped repellents could work only during sunlight. You should connect a 9-volt battery to it so that it is active when there is no sunlight.
Supervise the Hutch
The most important thing is not to leave the hutch alone. You need to always keep an eye on the hutch and make sure they are safe and sound inside the shelter.
If you have a pet dog well trained to not harm and dangerous for rabbits you can leave it around the hutch to provide security to rabbits.
Foxes usually do not enter the territory of dogs and in this way, you can keep foxes away from your rabbits.
But for this, you will have to be extremely careful as most of the dogs hunt rabbits instinctively.
So you will have to make sure you select the right breed of dog and it must be well trained.
You can also place security cameras around the hutch.
In this way, you will always be aware of the situation inside and outside the hutch and you can take timely action in case of any danger.
You can keep the hutch where you and your family members move around mostly.
Because foxes avoid such places where there are too many people. In this way, they will not come near the hutch.
Foxes often attack at night so it will be a good idea to place lights around the hutch. So that it remains visible to you or the camera at night time.
You can also install motion-detecting lights in your garden which will detect the presence of foxes at night.
Make the Environment Unfriendly for Foxes
Make sure that the place around the hutch is clean and has no long grass left around.
Always make sure that there isn’t anything around the hutch like water, meat, etc to which foxes might get attracted.
So that foxes don’t find anything to eat around that area. Because it might attract them to visit that place too often and get their attention towards the hutch.
Do not let them wander around that area even if they are not attacking the hutch. They might trace down the hutch and little complacency by you may cost you your pet’s life.
Also, make sure that rabbits don’t confront foxes as they frighten them easily and they can die of a shock. So, even from outside make sure rabbits don’t see them.
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