establishing a peepee corner...

[andreabaylon]

So I just set up my lil Nibbler's pet playpen. It's similar to like a dog playpen, except one of the panels has a circular cutout to attach like tubes and such (mainly for ferrets) It comes with a plastic tarp to lay on the floor but otherwise it has no bottom. I set her up with her hay and pellets and have fresh veggie snacks in several strategic places. I also set up what I hope she decides to use as her pee-pee corner and I am hoping someone has some advice on getting her to use it. I bought one of those little corner litter pans and filled it with clumping kitty litter. I then laid a few handfuls of that crumply paper cage liner stuff over it. She's been in her new digs for over an hour now, and still no pee. This lil rabbit can't usually go more than 5 minutes without going so it's kinda weird. Should I perhaps put a handful of soiled cage liner from her small cage to get her familiar with the scent? Or is that just gross?

Another thing I have been wondering in general about bunnies is their nails. Cats have all sorts of scratching post things but they don't make one for rabbits. Or do they?? I purchased a pedi-paw for my cats but it's hard to grip bunny's tiny paw properly. How does everyone else deal with their bunny's claws??

Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!

 

[elrohwen]

Congrats on your new bunny!

Here are my litter suggestions-
1) Get her a bigger box - something like a small cat litter box. The corner ones are really small, even for little bunnies, and it often improves litter habits dramatically to get a bigger pan.
2) Get bunny approved litter. Clumping cat litter really isn't safe or healthy for bunnies. If they eat it, it can clump in their stomaches. I personally like to use Yesterday's News or wood stove pellets.
3) Putting down some soiled litter in her pan is a great idea! That should help her realize that it's her potty spot.
4) Do you have hay in her litter box? Hay encourages them to hang out there and they like to eat and poo at the same time.

Hopefully one or more of these ideas will help her figure it out! Sometimes it can be very hard to get unspayed buns to consistently use the litter box, so if nothing is working know that it should get better after she's spayed in a few months.

For nail trimming, there are some articles in the library that should help (http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12075&forum_id=17). I use regular scissor type pet nail clippers. It's not very hard if your bunny is ok with being held. The vet can also do it for you for a fee (which is what I do, because my bun is a terror about being picked up).

 

[aurora369]

Definitely good points brought up by elrohwen.

Get rid of the clumping cat litter asap. If she ingests it and it causes a blockage, she will need surgery to remove it and the success rates of intestinal surgery are not the best in terms of recovery. A paper based litter like Yesterdays news or compresses wood pellets are excellent at absorbing odours and are bunny safe. I personally use compressed wood pellets bought from the feed store for $4 per 40 pound bag.

A large litter box with room for a large pile of hay in the front is awesome for bunnies. They will go and sit in the litter box to munch on hay.

Keep the rest of the cage very clean. Give it a wipe down with vinegar water (50/50 mixture) if she pees outside the litter box. You can also soak up the pee with a tissue before wiping down and place that in the litter box.

I also use scissor type pet nail clippers. I had to get the ones for small dogs because Baxter's nails are so thick the cat ones can't cut them very well. I trim nails about every 4-6 weeks depending on how fast they grow.

-Dawn

 

[nicolevins]

The litter I use is for ferrets and small animals its called Critter Litter. It is great and doesnt smell.

There's great help from elrohwen and Dawn

 

[andreabaylon]

Wow everyone thank you so much for replying!! Ok so I dumped the clumping litter before posting this message And yes, I see now that the small corner litters are for like hamsters and not for my dwarf bunny lol! I tried arranging her new pen in the same order as her cage, you know food on the left side, pee on the right yadda yadda. Yea, she went to the opposite corner and chose that one. So we turned things around to suit her, and I am going to keep an eye out for something more suitable. She has both Timothy hay and alfalfa in different areas of the cage.

Of course she started tearing right into the plastic tarp that came with the pen to use as a liner. When I picked her up out of her pen to put her in her cage she must have gotten spooked because she clawed the bejeezus out of my cleavage and scampered up to my shoulder. Welll for me that was it. Called the local petsmart to see if their groomers were in and was informed that they can only groom dogs and cats, no other animals. Luckily I was able to find a bunny vet specialist a short ten minute drive up the street, She charged me $10, which I felt was more than reasonable considering I couldn't do it myself.

But back to nibbler tearing up the bottom tarp of her cage...my boyfriend thought the best solution was to get a large piece of astroturf for the bottom of the pen. I couldn't think of a better idea so I did get a piece but I wanted to know if anyone else has used astroturf in their cages/habitats?? Thoughts??

 

[aurora369]

Not sure if anyone has used astroturf. I know some people have used indoor/outdoor carpet and just hose it off if it gets too dirty.

I have had great success with linoleum over ply-wood. I made boxes to fit inside my NIC cages, and would probably work for an x-pen as well. The edges are protected by metal corner stripping for drywall. Very easy to clean up, and chew/dig proof.

Here's a picture:


-Dawn

 

[andreabaylon]

thanks for the pic dawn! i've got hay and alfalfa in similar buckets, so I am happy to see I am on the right track. I've been trying to take pictures of her set-up all day but the pics are coming out something awful, hopefully I'll have something to show by tomorrow and y'all can critique by handiwork...:shock:

 

[elrohwen]

Chloroplast is also a great flooring - it's the corrugated plastic stuff that they use for making signs. It's very cheap and difficult for bunnies to destroy. I wouldn't use astroturf because it may be too tempting for her to resist eating.