Messing up his pen

So, my three-year old lop-ear, Bun Bun (did not name him), tends to make quite a mess out of his pen. Because I have the opportunity to do so, I do not keep him in a cage, other than when I am cleaning out his pen. Even then, it's just a cat carrier for fifteen minutes or so.

The Pen: His pen does change shape as I clean it, since it's an old one of those collapsible play pens for children that my sister was getting rid of. It currently stands at about 5 feet by 5 feet. Once I am back to work and bringing in money, I will be buying some molding to go along my floor so I can expand the cage. I recently painted my office and put a laminate floor in. Last time I let him roam free, he found a small tag of paint along the floor and managed to peel the paint off the wall. He dug into it so badly I had to cut the wall open and put a new piece of drywall in. So, right now the open side of the pen is up against a heater on the wall so he can't peel any paint up (the heater is NEVER used, no fears!)

There's a thin rug underneath his pen, as I do not want any spilled water or pee possibly staining the laminate. If I can get his litter situation under control, I'd be more likely to try and remove the rug and just put it under the water/litter so that any other dry mess could just be swept up.

He's been having these problems for a while now, but I would like to see if anyone has some suggestions on how to improve.

Food: I have a large feeder in his cage that he can snack on as he pleases. I know that we're told not to do this, but he's become too accustomed to it. I do not intend to change this. He doesn't like hay when I give it to him, so I have stopped trying with him. He's not starving or thin, so I'm not worried about him being malnourished. Even the vet thought he looked a good weight.

The problem is that he likes to spread his food out all over the pen. It's a dry mixture made for rabbit/gerbils/etc... It's not just pellets, it has a blend of other things in it. When I say spread, I mean SPREAD. Half of it ends up on the floor of his cage. I won't refill the container until he has eaten some of it, because otherwise, it gets WAY too expensive. (He does eat it eventually and I would never let him starve). When it gets lower, he'll butt the container around the floor with his head, sometimes tipping it over.

Litter: I use the bottom to an old cage of his, which is plastic. It's about six inches tall, a foot and a half wide, and about 2.5-3 feet long. I have been using aspen shavings, but they track EVERYWHERE. He's not the cleanest rabbit, and I don't know if changing his litter might not only improve his cage, but by chance his hygiene as well. It's not uncommon for poop to get stuck in his fur. I definitely need to work on cleaning his pen more often than I do (I don't let it get TOO bad), but his litter box isn't usually too bad when I go to change. It's that he poops and spreads the shavings everywhere else.

I was thinking about trying some shredded newspaper, especially since I just got a cross-shredder (yay for parents who go to yard sales!). I have plenty of it and it would be cheaper than buying shavings and more readily available. As I am currently unemployed with few good prospects, cheap would be nice. I also wonder if it would be less likely to stick to his fur and whether it might be easier to change.

I'm not opposed to more expensive options, but if something less expensive will accomplish the same goal, I'd rather go with that. I want to try and improve HIS standard of life along with the cleanliness of his pen (which is in my office).

FOOD: You said you're feeding him "a dry mixture made for rabbits/gerbil/etc." What is this??? Gerbils are rodents and are fed a diet totally different than rabbits (which are lagomorphs). Rabbits should not be eating seeds or mixes. Their pellets should be plain and limited -- it is no wonder that your rabbit has not been eating hay! Most rabbits will choose pellets over hay if given the option.

Having a rabbit at an acceptable weight does not equate to "a healthy diet." 80% of a rabbit's diet should be hay for good digestive health. The way to encourage hay eating would be two-fold. First, transition him to an appropriate pellet - plain, timothy-based pellets like Oxbow. Then, second, begin cutting back on the amount of pellets he receives. If this is done, then he will begin eating hay.

There are bowls that twist onto a clamp. Such bowls cannot be tipped over. So that should prevent food spills.

LITTER: Shavings are a mess - no wonder you're frustrated! Newspaper shredded will be just as messy, can stain bunny's fur, and does nothing for odor control. Try using compressed wood pellets. You can use wood stove pellets or pellets used for horse stalls. A 40 lb bag is about $6. It's very cheap and does wonders for odor control. They are also heavy enough to not get tracked nor stuck in fur.

I top the pellets with hay twice per day. (I buy hay in bulk) This keeps bunny from direct contact with urine. It also helps keep odor down. It prevents any tracking of litter. I show how I set this all up at my website here.

:yeahthat:
The diet you feed is going to kill your rabbit.
A rabbit has to eat hay first (try different kind of hay and different brands). If you have to, stop giving pellets. It's not a weight or even a vitamin / nutriment thing : a rabbit's stomach doesn't have muscles, it needs long fibers to push things out or you are risking a blockage as soon as the rabbit will swallow something he shouldn't, or a bit too much of hair during his moult or when the rabbit is a bit stressed. It's also the only thing with grass that can wear your rabbit's teeth correctly. You are putting him at high risk for malocclusion (it is a very common ailment with rabbits who are fed incorrectly). Then you'll need to go to the vet every 5-6 weeks to have your rabbit's teeth filed under anethesia or they will grow (rabbit's teeth grow constantly) until he can't eat and die, or until they pierce his skull and the pain kills him (I'm absolutely not making that up, it's very serious).
Then, he should be eating greens. Leafy greens and hard vegetables should come after the hay (2/3 leafy greens). About 10% of the rabbit's weight should be given in vegetables everyday.
Pellets (not mixes, mixes are no good for rabbits) can be given as complements. For a dwarf rabbit, about 15g a day.

About the litter. Not only do aspen shavings make a mess but they are bad for your rabbit.
http://rabbit.org/the-dangers-of-softwood-shavings/

Nope, screwed up. This food is for rabbits (Dumor advanced diet). I think I was thinking gerbils because it's in that same aisle where I buy it, and they might have a bag next to it for multiple animals. Not sure where I got that from.

Next time I head to the store, I will pick up some hay and some pellets, and wean him off the mix. I might have to take Aki's advice and cut back on the pellets almost altogether until he starts eating the hay. He goes nuts over the dry food and basically ignores the hay, so this should be an interesting transition. Any suggestions on encouraging him to eat the hay other than deprive him of other food?

Stupid question: Is grass right out of the back yard bad for the rabbit? I'm not saying as a sole source, but our back yard grows grass like CRAZY. Not the kind of stuff you see in your normal yard, but that tall, dark-green, heavy stuff that grows like an inch a day. Wouldn't take much to walk out with a pair of scissors and snip him some fresh grass.

I think I'll try the wood pellets, as we have a pellet stove and an ample supply of them. A bit more expensive, but if it helps to control the mess, I'm more than happy to give it a shot. I've read a dozen articles on the subject, but none of them ever mentioned wood stove pellets until you mentioned them (and then when I did a search on that, it popped up like crazy). Thanks for the tip.

If I am going to transition him away from the mix, then the pellet issue might eventually resolve itself. He'll hate me for it (he actually picks through the mix and leaves the pellets for last), but his health is more important.

About the litter. Not only do aspen shavings make a mess but they are bad for your rabbit.

Click to expand...

It says right in the article that aspen shavings are okay, and to steer clear of pine/cedar... :?

Just took a look at the ingredients list on that Dumor advanced diet for rabbits. OMG! It is worse than I thought. It has whole corn kernels (hulls are indigestible to rabbits), it has seeds (should not be fed to rabbits), and the order of ingredients shows more of both ground corn and whole corn before timothy hay pellets. It also has dried fruits and veggies mixed in - these should not be part of his normal diet, but an occasional treat only.

I suggest checking the pellet brand recommendations at my site (linked above) before going out to purchase your new food. Not all plain pellets are equal. It will explain what to look for in the ingredient/nutrition info.

The wood pellets for litter are actually about the least expensive litter you can use. Because it expands, you only need to use a little. It also holds the odor much better so it doesn't need to be changed as frequently. I have had a 40 lb bag last 2 rabbits for 2 months. My site has photos that show a litter box with the right amount of pellets needed. Then it has a follow up photo of that same box 4 days later (2 rabbits using) .

All right, update time:

-Pellets are definitely the way to go for litter. They're expanding faster than I thought they would, but there are NONE outside of his litter box, which is fantastic. Plus, it doesn't smell as bad. Definitely more expensive, though. :\ He took to it slowly at first (jumped into the litter box and immediately jumped back out once he realized it wasn't shavings). But he's gotten the hang of it now.

-He's not really taking to the hay. He enjoys playing around with it, but I don't really see him eating too much of it. He is eating some, just not a lot.

-Cut back on pellets to 1/4 a cup a day, like Blue Eye's site recommended. I'm still weaning him off of his other food (mixing it 50/50), but will eventually transition to the pellet-only stuff.

So far the pen is a little bit cleaner. He's still leaving little droppings, but at least those are dry and easy to clean up.

I would say the transition is going okay so far. He's not enjoying the food transition, but he seems to be acclimating more and more each day. He hasn't climbed into my bed with a knife yet, at least. Nor have I seen him fashioning a noose and writing a note.

Don't be discouraged with the food! It's sort of like trying to get a younger child to eat veggies when he's used to getting chips with his meal. It takes time and patience- which it sounds you are giving! Keep it up.