Litter training?

[Cloud_the_bunny]

I've only had my bun for a week and a half. She's not a baby and does really good about not having an accident in the house when I get her out of her cage. I was wanting to start litter training her. The only thing I'm unsure of is what I should use for the litter pan. I use yellow pine shavings in her cage, would this be a suitable litter substance since it's what's she is used to using?

 

[Amethystkytten]

If you are using pine shavings in the cage it may confuse your bunny as to where the litterbox is and where the living area is..You could take the shavings out of the main part and use them in the litterbox otherwise it will just be confusing as to where to go.Personally I hate pine shavings as a liner in cage but thats only because I have two long hair rabbits but to each his/her own.Some here use horse stall pellets as litter or carefresh or yesterdays news.

 

[Cloud_the_bunny]

Well, I haven't got a litter pan yet I was just trying to decide if that would be suitable. If it is then ill do that and just get a fleece blanket to put in her living area.

 

[JBun]

The litter boxes that seem to work the best are either the rectangular cat ones, or a plastic bin with short enough sides your bun can jump in, but high enough that your bun won't pee over the edge. You also want it big enough so that your bun can move around in it comfortably. The corner boxes for rabbits will sometimes work, depending on the rabbit and it's size, but some rabbits do better with a larger size litter box that they aren't so cramped in.

Here's a good way to set up the litter box. Having hay in it encourages your bun to poop and pee in there as well, as buns poop while they eat.
http://www.sandiegorabbits.org/litter-box-training/litterbox-setup-success-0

For litter, if you use the pine shavings you need to make sure the bag says they are kiln dried as regular pine contains oils that can cause respiratory issues. I don't like to use shavings as they tend to stick to little feet and get tracked everywhere. I've found that wood pellets seem to control odor the best and are pretty cheap, and aren't too messy(unless you have a digger ). You can get 40 lb bags for less than $8 usually, at feed stores(as horse bedding) or sometimes home improvement stores(as wood stove pellets) during the winter. You can buy it at pet stores too(usually with the cat litters) but it is usually more expensive and the bags are smaller.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/tractor-supply-coreg%3B-pine-pellet-stall-bedding-40-lb

 

[Cloud_the_bunny]

Okay thanks for the info. I'll keep that in mind when getting the litter pan. 😊

 

[HototMama]

if i were you i would not use pine for anything. i ONLY use aspen for all of my animals. pine has many different kinds of chemicals in it.

 

[PaGal]

I use a thin layer of horse stall pellets and on top of that a thin layer of kiln dried pine shavings. It seems to be what works the best for me and both litters are inexpensive.

If you would choose to use wood pellets and they are sold as wood stove pellets then just make sure they do not add any chemicals as an excellerant.

I have a cat litter box for my male. For my females since there are two of them I use a plastic storage box. I cut one side down lower so they could easily get in and out. Their hay rack hangs inside of the litter box so with them I have very little clean up outside of the cage. Loose hay falls into the litter box. They will spray and the high sides help keep this in. They are diggers so if I had to do it again I would probably just cut a hole big enough for them to hop in and out of.

 

[Cloud_the_bunny]

if i were you i would not use pine for anything. i ONLY use aspen for all of my animals. pine has many different kinds of chemicals in it.

Thank you. I've just been using it because the people that owned her before had bought a huge bag of it and just have it to me for her. So I'm assuming that's what they had been buying. From my experience owning small animals in cages I usually prefer the paper bedding but was going to use what they gave me first so it didn't go to waste.