How to Make Rabbits Come to Your Yard
Although rabbits tend to be considered insects, some people enjoy watching wildlife and want to entice rabbits to their backyard. Attracting wildlife is as straightforward as providing what that they need to live on your yard — shelter, water and food. The food and shelter may vary by animal, and that means you have to use the kind of shelter and food that rabbits like.
Provide shelter for the rabbits so that they could hide from predators and feel a sense of overall safety. Plant bushes and evergreens along the edge of the yard, or add brush piles for the rabbits to hide in. Build brush piles by placing sticks on the ground, using smaller twigs and leaves on top. Rabbits can also be attracted to weedy areas and tall grass, so allow an area to grow, and don’t mow it.
Supply food for rabbits to eat. Rabbits such as various green plants which grow in flower beds and vegetable gardens. Plant their favorites — clover, lettuce and carrots. Avoid planting vegetables they don’t like, like potatoes, corn, tomatoes and cucumbers. Plant berry bushes, like blackberries and strawberries, as rabbits feed on the bark of the woody vegetation during the winter, including white oak, sumac and dogwood. The rabbits eat the buds, twigs and bark of young woody plants since the bark of young plants is thin and smooth, and provides an easily-accessible food supply during winter. They do not eat the hard bark of older plants.
Supply water for rabbits to beverage. Set out a shallow dish of water, or even dig a shallow hole in the ground close to the brushy or weedy area, making sure to keep water available from the lack of rain. Make water available year-round, replacing it frequently to make sure it’s new, and keep the water ice-free from the winter.