Help needed on litter training

[Joe319]

Hi guys, I've recently gotten a 2 months old male lionhead. Have spoken to the vet, gotta wait for him to be at least 6 months old before he can be fixed.

I currently house him in a playpen attached to a cage(doors are open). I've bought a cage that's intended to house his litter box, hay, bowl and water. Prior to the cage, I put a tray in the corner of the playpen for his litter tray and he uses it 95% of the time.

I bought the cage(with the holes at the bottom of the cage for his little pebbles to drop into a tray) as he seems to kick the litter as well as some of his pebbles out whenever he's in/out doing his business in the litter tray.

How do I encourage him to conduct his business in the cage? He seems to prefer dropping his pebbles outside the cage. Also, any recommended floorings? Would jigsaw foam pieces work?


Thanks in advance!

 

[Mariam+Theo]

Welcome to the forum! Cute rabbit! What is his name? I would love to see more pictures!
What are you using for litter? Pine pellets (like these: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...-pine-pellet-stall-bedding-40-lb?cm_vc=-10005) work the best. Here is a link on litter training: https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/litter-training.html.
For the flooring, I use these puzzle mats: https://www.walmart.com/ip/seort/272629204. Some rabbits will chew them, but others won't. If your rabbit chews them I would change to several towels for the flooring.

There are also several things I want to mention. I can see a lot of pellets, no toys, no veggies, and barely any hay. Rabbits should be getting 1/4 cup of pellets for every 6 lbs of body weight. They should also be eating about their body size in hay every day, along with 2+ cups of veggies (see link: https://riseandshinerabbitry.com/2012/02/26/safe-food-list-for-rabbits/). Rabbits should have tons of toys such as cardboard boxes (no tape), toilet paper/paper towel rolls, and wood chews.
For some housing ideas look at these links:
https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/2020-indoor-cages-add-your-photo.96731/
https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/2019-cages-add-your-photo.93422/

 

[Blue eyes]

Caution. Theo's diet recommendations are correct for an adult bunny. At 2 months of age, your rabbit should not be getting any greens. However, he should be getting plenty of hay -- that should make up the bulk of his diet.

It is also fine for him to have more pellets if he is eating plenty of hay. If he isn't eating loads of hay, then it is a good idea to reduce the pellets a bit to encourage more hay eating. The ball you have with hay in it doesn't hold near enough hay for one day. He needs much more. You can see in the next post how the hay is put directly in the litter box. Don't worry. They won't eat soiled hay. Just put fresh hay on top once or twice per day.

Greens can be introduced slowly in a month or so.

 

[Blue eyes]

His cage isn't setup in a way (at least not in the photo) that would encourage him to go in and use it. I'm referring to the smaller cage within the pen. That may be why he's pottying outside it. I would consider just removing it altogether. You can use a plastic storage container to set up a litter box like the one shown here.

Without an inner cage, his pellets can just go in a ceramic bowl, and it is actually better for them to drink their water from a bowl. It is easier for them and more natural.

You can find any old cardboard box and cut out a couple doorways. That will provide a little hidey area for him when he wants to be left alone.

 

[Blue eyes]

Once he's trained, you'll have more flooring options. Many things can work provided he doesn't chew and ingest them. Some rabbits will devour what others will not.

Here's a temporary setup I had which could work permanently as well. It just shows how it isn't necessary to have a cage within the ex-pen area.

You can see the litter box in the corner, sheets on the floor, a water bowl attached to the pen wall (it twists onto a clamp making it easy to remove for filling). [hmm, well the bowl isn't easy to see in the photo, but it's there!] There's also a box for hiding (away from the pen walls so he doesn't use it to hop over the side), and some toys.

 

[Joe319]

Hi Theo and Blue Eyes, thank you for the kind advice.

My bun's called Latte, a couple of pics below

With regards to his diet, I'm slowly incorporating bits of veggies as I've read that too much may not be too good for a young bun (as blue eyes mentioned).

I bought the cage to sort of keep things tidy, housing his essentials. I particularly have a small issue with him seemingly liking to kick the litter out of the litter box when I was using it previously. How do you guys prevent this from happening? A deeper litter box? I'm using Cat's Best litter currently. Seems to be wood based without chemicals (according to the packaging). Will putting way more hay on the floor of the cage encourage him to conduct his business inside?

Other than cardboards, what would be safe chew toys for buns? Would a soft toy be appropriate? Or a dog chew toy?

Thanks a lot guys, from both Latte and myself

 

[Blue eyes]

Hi Theo and Blue Eyes, thank you for the kind advice.

My bun's called Latte, a couple of pics below

He's a cutie!

With regards to his diet, I'm slowly incorporating bits of veggies as I've read that too much may not be too good for a young bun (as blue eyes mentioned).

Yeah. There's no reason to give any yet as it has the potential to cause serious tummy issues or GI stasis. If you feed any at this age, keep it to tiny, tiny amounts of green leafy veggies. If you see a change in his poos, then stop. His poos should be firm round balls about the size of cocoa puffs cereal.

I bought the cage to sort of keep things tidy, housing his essentials. I particularly have a small issue with him seemingly liking to kick the litter out of the litter box when I was using it previously. How do you guys prevent this from happening? A deeper litter box? I'm using Cat's Best litter currently. Seems to be wood based without chemicals (according to the packaging). Will putting way more hay on the floor of the cage encourage him to conduct his business inside?

I figured that's the purpose of the cage. I only suggested removing it because it seemed to not be filling that purpose. A proper size litter box would be close to the size of the cage anyway. Little or small litter boxes are a pain to keep clean, encourage bunny to dig (and push stuff out), and harder to train them to.

You can see in the photo of my ex-pen that the litter box just sits in the corner. (It is about 16" x 23" which is a good size to consider.) With hay covering the top of the wood pellet litter, it is less likely he'll dig it out because he'll be busy eating the hay. They like to potty while they graze on hay.

Other than cardboards, what would be safe chew toys for buns? Would a soft toy be appropriate? Or a dog chew toy?

Soft toys generally need to be avoided if bunny can chew and ingest parts. Hard plastic baby toys can be tossed about. Seagrass mats are fun for them to chew and ingest (that's safe). Empty tp tubes can be stuffed with hay for fun.

I can't tell from the photo whether the cage is on solid flooring or carpet. If the floor is slick, does bunny have any difficulty moving about on it? Some slick floors can cause splay legs in young rabbits if they cannot get grip. A rug can be put down in the pen if bunny doesn't chew it. A piece of fleece or a sheet could also work. Getting him to potty in the box is best done sooner than later. Without a box, he'll 'learn' to potty elsewhere. You can read more about the process of litter training at my website on this page.

 

[Joe319]

Noted on the litter tray part. I'll source for a big tray and probably link the cage to the playpen rather than let it take up the space in the playpen. Hopefully my boy can conduct his business in the tray.

With regards to toys, hard plastic baby toys will work? I'm hesitant to introduce toys other than those of cupboard material as I'm unsure if my boy will start devouring anything I place in his pen.

The cage is on solid ground. My floor tiles are a little smooth actually. He does not seem to have issues running around on these tiles but he obviously doesn't have full traction on them. Which actually brings me to my next question, what sort of flooring should I use? I currently place a rag that covers 3/4 of the playpen for him to rest on. Should I get a big piece of fleece cloth or would those foam boards work as well?

I'll check out your website! Thanks loads!

 

[Mariam+Theo]

Fleece has a tendency to cause sore hocks, so I would try the foam puzzle mats. Just make sure he doesn't chew them.

 

[Blue eyes]

With regards to toys, hard plastic baby toys will work? I'm hesitant to introduce toys other than those of cupboard material as I'm unsure if my boy will start devouring anything I place in his pen.

Yes. Hard plastic is best. Soft or thin plastic will likely be chewed. Something like these are too thick and hard for bunny (99% of bunnies) to destroy:

Some cat toys will work too. Several members on here have the following ball for their rabbit... oh, this isn't the best photo but it does show the blue ball I was referring to. Some keys are hanging on the side wall and there is another "cat ball" made of wire sitting in his red bowl. The wire ball comes with some feathery thing inside which I removed so bunny wouldn't eat it.

Now that I'm looking at this photo, you might note that there is a rug in front of the open cage. That is there because that rabbit does not like the slick wood floor. The rug spans the space between his cage and a large area rug in the living room. That's where he can run around.