how 2 train a rabbit so it doesnt have 2 live in cage

[just_emma]

hi e1,

i am wondering how 2 litter tran benjamin so that he doesnt have to stay in his cage most ofthe time as i think this is cruel and i believe they should be allowed to live like a cat or dog would in anyones house.

also if you have any tips on training a guinea pig to do the same this would also be appreciated so that he can also live outside the cage.

looking forward to the replies.

cheers emma xxx

 

[Flashy]

Hi Emma, Welcome to the forum

You might get more replies if you post in the nutrition and behaviour forum,but hopefully a moddy might move this thread for you.

Litter training a bunny is quite easy, but it's even more easy when they are 'fixed' (spayed or neutered) because then they don't feel the need to use their poos to mark their territory.

you might want to have a look at the Litter Training article in the Bunny 101 forum (which is a MINE of knowledge). If you are aiming to have him free run, you might also want to check out bunny-Proofing your home.

With my buns I just put some litter under some hay and then put some poos and wee soaked tissue or hay on the top. It took a while, but most of them got an idea. I started with lots more litter trays than I needed and gradually took those that thr bunny didn't use away.

 

[TK Bunnies]

My buns have full range of my room!! And are almost never locked in their cage.

First you need to bunny proof the room that your bunnywill be living in. Here's a list of what you'll need to do bunny proofing,

1. pick up any thing you don't want your bunny to eat and put it some where the bunny can't get to (bunnies can jump heights greater the 3 ft so keep that in mind)
2. Get EVERYTHING and bunny can't eat out of the room (like cleaning chemicals, electrical cords, lamps, toys, ect.)
3. Cover ALL electric outlets and cords, make sure your bunny CAN NOT get to them, it can cause a fire if they're chewed on and may eletricute the rabbit.
4. Block off areas you don't want your bunny to go (other rooms and such) you can use baby gates, and NIC panels to do this
5. Put things in to the room that the bunny'll want to chew on (willow or apple twigs and toys) so the bunny will chew less on everything else.

Once your bunny is roaming free around your room deffinetly put litter boxes in, this is what we did to litter train our bunnies (I don't know if this'll work for you, but if not there are lots of other methods)

1. Find the place your bunny poops & pees most often, belive me, rabbits are creatures of habbit, you will find a spot.
2. Put a litter box over the spot where they go most often. If the rabbit has more then one spot you can put more litter boxes in the area. (We currently have 4 boxes in my room)
3. Pick up any stray poops and put them into the litter box, and clean up all the pee that's not in the litter box.
4. If the rabbit doesn't want to go in the litter box put something that the rabbit won't want to pee on (something they think is too nice to ruine), onto the floor around the litter box (we did this for Teacup, it doesn't always work though) We used and old jacket with fake wool.
5. Next slowly remove any extra boxes depending on how much they use them, (If they have one with almost no dropings in it, you should take that one away) You don't have to take any away at all if you don't want to though.

Here's a list of litter box litter that you CAN NOTuse.

• Clumping cat litter (This can get stuck in his GI track and may cause death).
• Clay litter (the dust can cause breathing problems).
• Pine or cedar shavings (bad for his/her liver).

YouCANuse,

• Pellet stove wood.
• Hay with newspaper (NO COLOR!! The color might have harmful dyes, just use black and white) underneath as a liner (This is what I use).
• Care Fresh with newspaper liner.
• Aspen litter (i'm not so sure about this, I've heard both good and bad about it)

Here are a couple good sites that might help:

http://www.rabbit.org/

http://www.myhouserabbit.com/

Also check out some of the pins on this forum!

Hope I was some help,

-TK

 

[TK Bunnies]

Woops I forgot to mention that to clean the litter box use distilled white vinegar, it really works!! And you can dump it out on to any weeds gorwing through cracks in your walkway and it gets ride of them, and you know that it's safe to use!!!