A ??? about Ella's behavior

[dmmcnair]

Well, I had to give Ella a biggerlitterbox. She wasn't making it in the corner one we had forher. Well, now she is laying in the litterbox, which she usesand everything is going in there, but she is also digging init. I mean there are pellets and stuff all over thefloor!!! It's messier now then when she was missing thelitter box. I have a little shelf for her to lay on to takethe pressure off her feet, but she doesn't use it. Just thelitterbox. Oh she loves it...she just stretches out andcrashes. I have to clean the litterbox everyday to everyotherday, depends on how much she has dug out. Is there anything Ican do? Should I put the little litterbox back in?

Okay it is @ the 27th day since I took Jenna away from Lex.No sign of babies or hair pulling yet. The nest box went inabout two days ago...I saw fur in her sleep box...I guess it was justshed fur, cause I don't see nobabies. Maybe she isn't prego. I will let you know in a few days ifanything happens...if I don't see anything, then either they didn't dothe deed or he is sterile from the heat, or she reabsorbed them....I'lllet you know.

Dawn

 

[Carolyn]

Hi Donna,

Well, she might have been experiencing a false pregnancy. Keep an eye on her.

As to the litterbox, some rabbits do enjoy digging in them.Buck's rabbit, Missy, would do that when she was mad or wantedattention. I'd give her a little squirt when she'd start andwouldn't listen to me saying stop. When Iputin less litter, her tendency to dig was less, but it mayjust have been her personality and what works for one doesn't alwayswork for another.

Trust your instincts. If you feel a smaller litterbox woulddo it, try it. You might also try providing her somenewspaper or something so that she can take care of her diggingin. If she needs a resting place, you could get aresting mat for her. There usually no more than a fewdollars.

Not sure that I've helped you at all.

-Carolyn

 

[dmmcnair]

Front view of Ella's cage...I don't know if you can see everything.

Here is a view from the top. I took the pic before I cleanedtoday (I just cleaned everything yesterday!) so you could see what Iwas talking about.

The white basket thing is on top of her house. This issupposed to be her resting area, but she has been pottying init. And her litter box is where she is sleeping anddigging. She had a corner litterbox, but she would face thecorner with her bottom hanging over the edge and then do her business,not making it into the box. Below is a pic of her old litterbox. It's plenty big enough for her, since she issmall. And she never dug in that one.

I will try thenewspaper and see how that works.I'll be off to cleaning her cage now...again. But you cansee the nice mess she makes. It is also on the floor in frontof her cage :shock:. I think she is just apooterhead. She uses our fireplace for a litterbox instead ofthe litterbox we have for her. I even put it in the fireplaceand she ignores it!