Why is her food bowl a toilet?

[Persephone]

My 11 week old nethie poops in her pellet dish, a lot. Why does she do that and can I get her to stop? She was using her litter box for potty but now she is pottying around her food dish too. She poos and pees in it so much I moved it to inside her litter box.

 

[tonyshuman]

A lot of bunnies like to poo and eat at the same time--very gross, but for humans it's like reading a book on the toilet, I guess. The best thing to do is to put hay in or next to the litterbox so that they can eat hay whilst using the box. I'd actually move the pellet bowl to another level that the litterbox isn't on as well. Also, many bunnies will have bad litter habits when they're not fixed, so that should help.

 

[Persephone]

I'm going to get one of those crock dishes that attatches to the bars, that way at least she can't sit inside of it and poo At least with it being on the bottom level, she doesn't pooh on the other levels.


Going to somehow attatch her hay thingy to the bars above her litter box too. Might have to get a different hay holder.

 

[kherrmann3]

I found that it was very easy to just start putting a handful of hay in the litter box every day. Just push the hay to one side. Normally, the bun will just sit facing the hay, munching away. None of the buns I've done this with have ever peed/pooped towards the hay.

 

[Persephone]

hmmm, worth trying then, thanks

 

[Pet_Bunny]

I've given up on mine. Bebe insisted on using her food bowls to pee and poop, so I changed them into litter boxes. :shock:

Here you can see her with two dishes, one for pee,one for poop and she doesn't get the two mixed up. :foreheadsmack:
Since then she is very good with her litter habits. :biggrin2:

 

[Persephone]

Is she spayed?

 

[Pet_Bunny]

Yes she is spayed.
This is my other bunny Pebbles (spayed too).

You can see her litter box is in the back corner by the water bowl.

 

[Persephone]

The stool is a great idea. Does she ever lay underneath it?

 

[kherrmann3]

Off topic: That is too funny! Bebe looks like a loaf of bread rising in the bread pan!

 

[Pet_Bunny]

Persephone wrote:

The stool is a great idea. Does she ever lay underneath it?

Yes she likes to hide underneath it. Andshe likes to sit on top of it too.

This is Jester sitting on the stool. You can see the front half of his litter box is filled with hay.

 

[Pet_Bunny]

I am bunnysitting Shadow and Jester while Luvabun is on holidays.

Here is Shadow in his litter box filled with hay.

 

[Persephone]

Oh wow, it really does, how cute!! :bunny24

Pet Bunny, what is that mat thingy you have in the litter box and what is it for? I'm using wood pellets in Persephone's box.

kherrmann3 wrote:

Off topic: That is too funny! Bebe looks like a loaf of bread rising in the bread pan!

 

[Pet_Bunny]

Persephone wrote:

Pet Bunny, what is that mat thingy you have in the litter box and what is it for?

I came up with the idea to use a plastic screen on top of the wood pellets so pellets don't get kicked out of the litter boxes. I found it faster andeasier to clean litter boxes when the poops don't get mixed into the clean wood pellets.

Check out this link....

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=10792&forum_id=1&page=1

 

[kherrmann3]

Doesn't Pebbles kick her poo out of the litter box? How often do you change the litter under the screen? Does the screen get yucky?

 

[Pet_Bunny]

Every day I just lift the screen and pour out thepoops.

I scoop out the wet portion of the wood pellets with a serving spoon and mix in fresh pellets to the remaining pellets in the box.

I rarely clean the screen. It does stain but rinse it under hot water will clean it.

 

[kherrmann3]

And she doesn't chew on it or dig at it? I want to try that but I am afraid of my rabbits kicking their poop out.

 

[Persephone]

Wonderful, I'm going to try that, I already have a rubber mat thingy like that, I think its supposed to be shelf liner. Thanks for that link too, there is a lot of great ideas in there

 

[Pet_Bunny]

kherrmann3 wrote:

And she doesn't chew on it or dig at it? I want to try that but I am afraid of my rabbits kicking their poop out.

Give it a try. Some bunnies will bite it. The screens I have are the originals (2 or 3 years now).
Just be sure the screen fits the box, so they can't pull it out.

This is Jester jumping out of his litter box. If the sides are high enough, nothing gets kicked out.

 

[Frustrated]

A lot of bunnies like to poo and eat at the same time--very gross, but for humans it's like reading a book on the toilet, I guess. The best thing to do is to put hay in or next to the litterbox so that they can eat hay whilst using the box. I'd actually move the pellet bowl to another level that the litterbox isn't on as well. Also, many bunnies will have bad litter habits when they're not fixed, so that should help.

My 11 week old nethie poops in her pellet dish, a lot. Why does she do that and can I get her to stop? She was using her litter box for potty but now she is pottying around her food dish too. She poos and pees in it so much I moved it to inside her litter box.

Persephone where do you find a cage in your photo the wire one with levels.