Litter training

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emmaskye

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Is it ok if I take my 8 week old bunny’s pellets away for awhile to encourage her to use her litter box for litter training (it is filled with alfalfa hay)
 
You can put the bowl of pellets next to the litter box, but myself didn't find any problem with the pellets being somewhere else. I just cleaned up the droppings and my bunny later understood where to go until the hormones kicked in, then he was not allowed free roaming without being supervised 😂
 
You can put the bowl of pellets next to the litter box, but myself didn't find any problem with the pellets being somewhere else. I just cleaned up the droppings and my bunny later understood where to go until the hormones kicked in, then he was not allowed free roaming without being supervised 😂
Haha!! I have been picking up the droppings for almost a week now, still not getting the point (the litter box is large enough for her to do a 360 spin inside) should I just put the pellets inside maybe?
 
Haha!! I have been picking up the droppings for almost a week now, still not getting the point (the litter box is large enough for her to do a 360 spin inside) should I just put the pellets inside maybe?

What you focus first is that the bunny pee in the litter box, myself is still finding a few droppings random in rooms and both my boys are neutered. So it won’t be 100% everything in the box. Took a week to pee in the box and over a month to learn to leave the droppings in the litter 😂
 
Hi, sure you can remove food bowl it doesn't have to be there all the time. Do you use alfalfa hay only or regular grass hays too?
 
Hi, sure you can remove food bowl it doesn't have to be there all the time. Do you use alfalfa hay only or regular grass hays too?
Just alfalfa because she is only 8 weeks old... should I throw in some Timothy hay too?
 
Haha!! I have been picking up the droppings for almost a week now, still not getting the point (the litter box is large enough for her to do a 360 spin inside) should I just put the pellets inside maybe?
I put my bunny’s pellet bowl in his litter box initially but then I stopped because I didn’t want him to associate his pellets as the place to do his business. I would continue with the conventional litter training (place all poops in litter box as soon as you see them, wipe up pee and dab it in the litter box, make sure to clean pee and poop area with vinegar so it doesn’t smell, encourage her to use the litter box by offering her treats when she’s inside, as soon as she pees or poops pick her up and put her straight into the litter box.) You’re bun is still really young so you couldn’t have been training her for that long since a bunny isn’t weaned until they are 8 weeks. When did you get her?
 
I put my bunny’s pellet bowl in his litter box initially but then I stopped because I didn’t want him to associate his pellets as the place to do his business. I would continue with the conventional litter training (place all poops in litter box as soon as you see them, wipe up pee and dab it in the litter box, make sure to clean pee and poop area with vinegar so it doesn’t smell, encourage her to use the litter box by offering her treats when she’s inside, as soon as she pees or poops pick her up and put her straight into the litter box.) You’re bun is still really young so you couldn’t have been training her for that long since a bunny isn’t weaned until they are 8 weeks. When did you get her?
She is nine weeks tomorrow
 
Can you post a photo of her housing setup and litter box? Sometimes it is the setup that determines the success of litter training.
Can you post a photo of her housing setup and litter box? Sometimes it is the setup that determines the success of litter training.
she has a large cage that acts as a home base for her free roaming around my basement.. I will attach a picture shortly
 
Just alfalfa because she is only 8 weeks old... should I throw in some Timothy hay too?

Just my opinion:
Alfalfa is great to get rabbits to butchering weight quick, it doesn't matter much then if it would be a chore to get them used to grass hay later on. ;)

You're feeding pellets anyway, so I would definitly start to introduce grass hay now. Pet rabbits are way more in danger of being overstuffed and of dental problems than of any deficiencies. Growing rabbits can tolerate rich stuff, but rabbits evolved on a rather meager diet. Bigger breeds, like over 5lbs, might actually profit from some additional nutrients since their digesten didn't completly scale up with the creation of those breeds.

I wouldn't stress about litter training, it's still quite early. It's also more taking advantage of a natural behaviour that emerges with pubety, by nudging them to use the spots we would like them to use. Hay rack above litter box worked fine for me.
 
Here is the picture of the setup
 

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It’s a lot easier to train a bunny if only the litter box have bedding in it and how big is the litter box? It will also be easier to clean the area and get the urine smell away.

Myself use a cat litter box for my bunnies, it’s perfect size for smaller bunnies ☺
 

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Here is the picture of the setup
In my opinion your litter box is too small and for training you only have soft bedding in her toilet and everywhere else you leave it hard and uncovered. Only her toilet should smell like toilet so you remove any urine spots with white vinegar 5% to remove smell.

Also she is only one week with you and is 9 week old, I wouldn't let her free roam yet, she can get confused, you can use this cage for training and when you are sure she understood how to use toilet and other rules you can expand her territory gradually, maybe attach a playpen to her cage for a few weeks, then make it bigger and then keep it open so she can free-roam. it could take a few weeks or months.

For alfalfa hay, if she's not underweight and you feed her junior pellets (they are already based on alfalfa) there's no need to feed alfalfa hay. Some people do until 3-4 months but often rabbits don't want to eat regular grass hays after alfalfa and they shouldn't stay on alfalfa after 4 months since it would be too rich diet for them, so I would transfer her to grass hays like timothy, meadow or orchard or other grass hay, or at least would start mixing grass hay into her alfalfa hay gradually decreasing alfalfa and increasing grass hay.

There's a very good site explaining how to toilet train your rabbit and also check out other sections and info on free roaming. I see you already use wood pellets and hay in her toilet just think it should be much bigger

Litter Training
 
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Here is the picture of the setup

Gotcha. Thanks!

As others have already noted, there are a few reasons you're having trouble with litter training.

1. no loose bedding should be on cage floor.
2. the only litter/bedding being used should be in a large litter box
3. she should be confined to her cage until she gets the hang of the litter box (aside from short, monitored excursions for exercise)
The following page from my website explains this with photos and more detail:
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/litter-training.html
Also agree that if she is already on alfalfa-based pellets, it's a good idea to mix timothy hay in with the alfalfa hay in ever increasing ratio of timothy to alfalfa. By 6 months of age, she should be exclusively on timothy. Some rabbits resist the change, so by mixing now, it helps prevent problems later.
 

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