Digging in litter box

[Dragonrain]

Berry won't stop digging in the litter boxes.

The bunnies have a dig box - I tried filling it with hay and another time with old phone books. Berry enjoyed both of those and used the dig box, but it didn't stop her from also digging in the litter box.

I have 3 litter boxes (I have a bonded trio of rabbits) and Berry just goes nuts all night digging everything she can out of them. She gets hay and dirty litter and poo all over the floor and it's a huge pain to clean up. Not to mention that the sound of her nails against the litter pans is annoying and keeps me up at night.

Two of my litter boxes are grated and that at least keeps her from being able to reach the dirty litter, but the third box is new (it's just a giant storage tote with a hole cut in it) and I haven't gotten around to making a grate for it yet. Last night she drove me crazy digging in it for hours, even after she had already got everything out of the box, then she just dug against the bare plastic. The mess in the bunny room this morning was horrible to clean up, most of the floor was covered in dirty litter and hay.

Is there anyway I can discourage her digging in the litter box until I get around to finding a way to make a grate for the new box? She seems obsessed with digging lately. I don't understand why - she has free range of a room, lots of toys to play with which I rotate weekly, two other bunnies living with her...I don't think she should be bored.

 

[elrohwen]

Not really - you just have to put a grate on it so she can't do it. Digging in litter boxes is so much fun for them sometimes that there's nothing you can do to discourage. It's not even about her being bored - a bunny can have a million things to do but if she thinks digging in the litter box is the most fun choice, that's what she's going to do.

For a grate, I recommend getting some 1/2" hardware cloth from the hardware store (found in the garden section to use as fencing). It's kind of a pain to cut down and dremel the sharp edges, but it's cheap and you can cut it to any size.

 

[Dragonrain]

Yeah I thought as much. Thanks for replying.

I made my grates for my other two boxes with hardware cloth. I don't have any left right now though. I'll get around to it eventually, I'm sure sooner rather than later because I'm getting sick of cleaning dirty litter off the floor all the time.

 

[sandras warren]

I have a few diggers as well, and honestly, I just kept changing the type of litter I used until I found one they'd poop in and not dig in. carefresh, wood shavings, and shredded newspaper they dig in, so I use those in dig boxes. but they left alone newspapers and wood stove pellets. so I line the litterpans with newspaper and fill with an inch or two of wood pellets. Also think maybe if the bunny room floor is wood or tile, you could put down an old towel and he might decide its much more enticing to bunch up and flatten the towel over and over than to mess with the soiled litter. hope I was able to help you