Learning my new bunny....

[mandolyn17]

My family has just adopted the cutest bunny. We got "it" (I say that because I don't know what the sex is) about a month ago. My daughter named "her" Lulu. We adopted her from a farm who kept them outside. We are not sure how old she is, and will be taking her to the vet next week. We brought her home and it definately took a few days for her to warm up, but now she allows me to hold her and stroke her fur, and the top of her head. When I come near her cage, she will stretch to the top to get some attention. We love her dearly.

I have read a lot, and know that the bunnies take awhile to "potty" train. I have read that sometimes they don't get it until after they have been fixed. We would love to let her out and run around more, but she pees everywhere. I can't let her on my carpet because of that. Is it okay and safe to put a harness on them and walk them outside? I am worried about fleas and other bugs. Is that a concern??

I also have been trying to find the right toys and chew things that she likes. She will not chew the pumice stone I bought, the wood sticks, or the alfalfa cubes. She has however, been chewing on her plastic litter box. Ugh. I wondered if there is something that anyone can suggest.

Thanks so much, and I am so glad that there are forums like this because we just want to take the best care of our sweetie. I have learned a lot already!!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Ours like to chew on paper towel and toilet paper cardboard rolls--you can even stuff them with hay. We use litter boxes inside of cardboard boxes too and they do get chewed up quite a bit. Never had any of ours on a harness so I'll defer that one to someone else. Welcome to the forum. Now, we need to see some pictures.

 

[OneTwoThree]

mandolyn17 wrote:

My family has just adopted the cutest bunny. We got "it" (I say that because I don't know what the sex is) about a month ago. My daughter named "her" Lulu. We adopted her from a farm who kept them outside. We are not sure how old she is, and will be taking her to the vet next week. We brought her home and it definitely took a few days for her to warm up, but now she allows me to hold her and stroke her fur, and the top of her head. When I come near her cage, she will stretch to the top to get some attention. We love her dearly.

I have read a lot, and know that the bunnies take awhile to "potty" train. I have read that sometimes they don't get it until after they have been fixed. We would love to let her out and run around more, but she pees everywhere. I can't let her on my carpet because of that. Is it okay and safe to put a harness on them and walk them outside? I am worried about fleas and other bugs. Is that a concern??

I also have been trying to find the right toys and chew things that she likes. She will not chew the pumice stone I bought, the wood sticks, or the alfalfa cubes. She has however, been chewing on her plastic litter box. Ugh. I wondered if there is something that anyone can suggest.

Thanks so much, and I am so glad that there are forums like this because we just want to take the best care of our sweetie. I have learned a lot already!!

Hello!
What is your cage set up like? If there is bedding or litter on the whole floor, she wont box train. I keep my bunnies in Xpens(when they aren't running the house), as most cages as really too small to keep a bunny in. Samson was littertrained pretty much overnight, Lady has taken about 5 days for pee, and is about 80% for poop (2 weeks out). An older bun might be a little more difficult but be persistent, notice the spots she uses and put litter boxes there, (I have about 6 spread around now for Lady) and put hay and food in the box (I usually put it on one half, then they sit on the pellets and eat the hay so it doesn't usually get poo'd on).

 

[mandolyn17]

Thanks for responding!! She has a larger cage with the mesh wire floor. All of the droppings fall through. She has a litter box in the corner. Problem is she doesn't just use the box to go. She poops in all areas of the cage (although it all does fall through the wire) and pees in other areas beside the litter box. She is doing better when let out to roam, she has stopped pooing everywhere, but still pees on the linoleum. I have tried to move the litter box to suit her with no luck. I would LOVE to let her out and let her be, but not till she is trained. The other difficult thing is that I still don't know exactly how old she is. Maybe she is still too young? I just would like to provide the best environment for her.
Even though we have had her for a short time, we love her so much. I never knew a bunny could be such a joy. Thanks for taking the time to help break us in as new owners .

 

[mandolyn17]

Thanks for the suggestion about the cardboard rolls, she likes them!!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Another thing all of ours love is a large litter box filled with shredded newspaper. They dig, throw it around and even go submarine in it. When Coal is in there you can see the paper moving around and sometimes her ears, and then she'll pop up like a prairie dog.

 

[MikeScone]

I'd counsel patience - peeing outside the cage can be as much (or more) a matter of making the house smell like home to the bunny as it is lack of litter habits. As you can see in Natasha Rabbitova's blog, for the first few months she lived with me, Natasha would pee on my lap as I held her, or on the couch when she was sitting next to me. When she finally decided she was in her forever home, it stopped overnight.

 

[bowser]

are you sure bunny is not a boy and spraying?

We adopted Nugget when he was 3 months old. He was an outside bun and hadn't been litter trained.
We brought him home and he decided to pee in the laundry, so we put a litter box there and from day one he used it ever time - except for when he sprayed, which was usually on the lino floor in the kitchen aiming at me, or on the couch (grrr).
He also left poop every where. He had a sectioned off area in the laundry and in the mornings there was poop for Africa, and when I let him out he would leave mounds of poop where he layed. I actually thought that the poop was just part of owning a bunny.
However, after having Nugget for a couple of weeks the spraying stoped (even before we fixed him) as did the pooping, I think he was just trying to mark his territory - I wonder if this is the case with yours?

 

[mandolyn17]

Hmmm, I guess I don't know if she/he is spraying. It sure looks like pee. She squats and goes. I never thought it as her marking the territory, but that makes sense. She is not pooping all over the floor like she did at first, that has stopped completely. We bough baby gates and allow her to run around the kitchen. I have to keep a good eye on her because she does try to chew on the cabinets and such. She appears to be much more comfortable in our home. She loves to be stroked and loved. She is my first rabbit and I am so glad that we brought her home. She is the sweetest....even when she is trying to eat my jeans (lol). Thanks for the info!!

 

[mandolyn17]

Thank you, that makes total sense. Even though I don't appreciate the mess, how could I ever be angry with her cute face? Thanks!!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Sounds like "she" has you well trained already. When a bunny sprays it really is a spray. If they squat when they urinate it is an entirely different operation. Hutch used to do a run-by spray--thank the Gods for neutering.