No one wants their furry little best friend to be eaten by snakes. However, rabbits or bunnies appeal so much to them that you need to protect your pet rabbits from deadly snakes.
Here are 4 Simple and Effective Ways to Protect Rabbits from Snakes.
Why Snakes Love to Eat Rabbits
Rabbits may be cute, sweet, gentle, and very delicate, so rabbit farmers, pet owners, and other rabbit enthusiasts handle them with care. However, snakes are very different. Snakes do not recognize the gentleness or delicacy of rabbits, only seeing them as prey.
Whether wild or captive, snakes have a varied diet but primarily love meat since they are carnivorous.
Pair this with the rabbit’s calm nature, and it becomes easy prey for snakes. And regardless of the rabbit’s size, the snake will be after them for their delicious meat.
Thus, if you have a pet rabbit, you must ensure that they are well protected from other animals preying on them. This protection includes safeguarding them from snakes, which can easily and quickly get into a rabbit’s hutch.
How to Protect Rabbits from Snakes?
There are many ways how to protect your rabbits from snakes. But it takes a lot of planning, time, and money for you to protect your rabbits from snakes or any predator.
Here’s what you should do:
1. Clean Your Yard
Some people say that one of the best ways to protect their rabbits from snakes is to build a robust rabbit hutch.
These people forget that the snake-proof or predator-proof hutch is just a secondary thing that you must do or make to protect your rabbits from snakes and other predators.
Cleaning your yard so as not to attract any snakes is the first thing you must do. Cut off the grass, bushes, and other plants that may provide shade or shelter to the snakes. Remove all those things that may also attract rodents, like a rock pile.
Snakes’ favorite snacks are rodents, as they can easily be caught and eaten. If your place is rodent-free, then there’s a huge possibility that your yard is snake-free.
2. Supervise Your Rabbits
Even if you already have a clean yard, you must not be complacent with your rabbits. Instead, you must be vigilant and suspicious that a snake attack might happen every time your rabbits play outside their hutch or in your yard.
Thus, you may stay outside to watch your rabbits play. Or, you may check them every hour to ensure that they are still alive and playing. Checking them from time to time is also another way to monitor them and see if one of them escapes.
3. Build a Snake-Proof Rabbit Hutch
You can use several materials to snake-proof your rabbits’ hutch. However, the real issue that needs to be addressed is not just about how to snake-proof your rabbits’ cage. But how to protect rabbits from snakes through a snake-proof rabbit hutch?
This means that when you build a rabbit hutch, you must also consider the weather conditions in your area. Thus, the rabbit hutch must address these two aspects:
- It must be snake-proof.
- It can withstand harsh weather conditions.
4. Keep them inside the house.
Another best way to protect your rabbits from snakes is to keep them inside your house. This will give them a huge chance not to be eaten by a wild snake compared to wild rabbits or pet rabbits who can just simply wander in your backyard.
Even rabbits enclosed in the rabbit farms or kept in their enclosures are subject to the snakes’ attack.
So, if you are keeping your rabbits outside your house, you must create a snake-proof hutch for them. Otherwise, the rabbits, which are of minimal threat to snakes, can quickly be devoured.
Before we proceed to make, please remember that snakes can only eat rabbits that are in proportion to their size.
For example, small rabbits are a perfect breakfast for smaller snakes like rattlesnakes. At the same time, larger rabbits are best for pythons, boa constrictors, and anaconda.
Therefore, you must make a snake-proof hutch ideal for your rabbits’ sizes. But in case you want them to keep them inside the house, check this and see what it’s like to have a rabbit inside your house.
3 Important Things to Remember When Building A Rabbit Hutch
Snake-proofing your rabbits’ hutch is a must. Here are the steps on how to do it.
1. Gather the materials.
If you are new to raising rabbits, you must understand that a rabbit hutch is mainly composed of the following:
- Net
- Wood
- Metal
You can make a snake-proof rabbit hutch using each component or mixing all three. But what we are looking at is a cage that can withstand all season all year round. Let’s get into it one by one.
Net
If you plan to let your rabbits freely move around your backyard, this material is ideal for them.
However, this one is not ideal for the summer or winter seasons. Also, your rabbits may start biting it, creating a hole that the snakes may use to enter the rabbits’ vicinity.
Wood
Most rabbit enthusiasts prefer this material in building a cage. This is because a wood-made hutch can protect your rabbits as it can withstand any weather conditions.
However, you must design the cage into a place where rabbits cannot feel that they are caged. They must still have a vision of the outside world.
This means that this design can make them very vulnerable to snake attacks, especially if the snakes can fit into wood gaps. Also, the rabbits may start chewing the woods.
Metal
Those rabbit owners who have money prefer this one. It’s not because it can look aesthetically beautiful for a rabbit hutch, but simply because it is sturdy and withstand all weather conditions.
Your rabbits can also chew off the metal frames, making this an excellent investment.
However, this metal cage is not ideal for rabbits during summer. Metals are good heat conductors, during summer, putting your rabbit inside the metal cage can significantly affect their body temperatures and condition.
2. Locations
The location of the hutch plays a vital role in protecting rabbits. You must make sure that the place where you put your rabbit hutch must be away from bushes, woods, or other things that attract snakes.
You must also not put the cage directly on the ground as it will give the snakes easy access to feast on your rabbits. When building the cage, it must be around 1 foot to 3 feet above the ground.
This distance is ideal as it makes it more difficult for snakes to reach the rabbits’ hutch, giving you a better chance to spot any potential threats and protect your rabbits.
3. Rabbit Hutch Build
Before building the rabbit hutch, you must take into account the size of your rabbits. The cage must not be too big or too small for them.
When you start building your rabbits’ hutch, make sure that the hutch design allows the rabbits to get enough fresh air. At the same time, ensure that windows, and doors, are properly bolted. There must not be a gap when the doors and windows are closed.
Otherwise, the snakes will feast on them from dusk until dawn.
Tips for A Rabbit Friendly Snake-Proof Rabbit Hutch
Though we have stated that the cage must be snake-proof, it doesn’t mean that you will simply build a rabbit hutch in the middle of your yard.
Here are two things that you should remember before building a rabbit hutch or anything on how to protect the rabbit from snakes.
Keep the Rabbit Hutch in a Cool Area
Though it is advisable that the ideal cage must be away from grass and bushes, the cage should still be located in a shaded area.
Remember, we are protecting the rabbits not just from the snakes but from any other potential dangers to their well-being.
Also, rabbits do not sweat. This means that the rabbits may overheat, leading to heatstroke and dehydration. This is why putting the rabbit hutch in a shaded area is essential.
The Rabbit Hutch Must Withstand Weather Conditions
In this part, you must consider the nature of rabbits and their body temperature. Rabbits are naturally playful, and their ideal body temperature is around 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
Their body temperature cannot go too low or too high. Otherwise, they will be prone to sickness.
You must also protect the rabbits from extreme coldness, snow, wind, and rain as they are prone to get pneumonia. This signifies that you must also protect the cage from these weather conditions.
The hutch must be sturdy and must control and keep the temperature inside the cage. Regardless of the weather conditions, the rabbits inside the cage must not feel too cold or hot.
Conclusion
How to protect rabbits from snakes is straightforward. But you need to be cautious now and then to ensure their safety from the snakes and other predators. If you plan to keep them in cages, you must also consider their health and well-being.
