New rabbit owner,digging,litterbox and some other questions

[brennacolleen22]

HI all!
A few weeks ago my fiance brought me home a rabbit! I am in love with my new pet and she is fitting into the household nicely(we have 2 dogs a chihuahua and a hairless chinese crested and a 2 yo old son)
.I have always wanted a house rabbit so when a lady came into the gas station he runs and asked if he wanted her bunny he said yes because he knew how happy it would make me.
It is a long story but to sum it up this lady bought her from a pet store,the pet store told her she was a boy.(A week ago I was able to check and discovered she is infact a girl). I tracked down the pet store and found out they get there rabbits from anyone who comes in with unwanted rabbits and turns around and sells them.
These people know next to nothing about rabbit care,they keep all there male and females together(so she could be pregnant but thats another post for another day). The girl who works there that I talked to did not even know there was a way to check for gender!
But they were able to tell me that the lady who brought them in kept them as house rabbits and were litter box trained,7 months old,and that one she brought in was a girl and the other a boy.So I do not know if they got the boy and the girl mixed up or if they were both girls or what but anyways Im getting off track.

I have done a TON of research.but still have a lot of questions and probably will be posting on here a lot because there seems to be a lot of conflicting information on rabbit care,diet ect.

What I really want to ask about right now is litter box training, and digging.
She is usually pretty good with the litter box,but sometimes she likes to instead of going into her litter box and eating hay/doing her business.She just eats out of the litter box and poops on the mat by the litter box :/ Not a super big deal that is why I put the mat there but I was just hoping to get some tips on encouraging better litter box habits. Also if she gets a chance to get on the bed or couch she will poop and pee all over it,so I keep her out of the bedroom and off the couch.
That brings me to the next thing,digging,her favorite thing in the world is to climb up on the couch and dig dig dig.It is the only thing she does binkys over.So I have the hardest time stopping her because it makes her happy like nothing else does.But she chewed a hole in my couch,Im not worried about the couch it is pretty much garbage and we need to get a new one. But Im worried she will eat part of it and get sick.I have given her shreded paper,hay,old sheets, but she only wants to dig the couch.Does anyone have ideas for other things she might want to dig in? We will need to get a new couch soon and I cannot let her destroy it.
I also give her other stuff to do,I made her a cardboard tunnel she does not care about it,she has some toys does not really care about those either,she does like a nice tp roll filled with hay and greens and that keeps her busy for awhile but does not satisfy her urge to dig...sigh. I just want her to be happy!

So I know this post is all over the place,and really long so if you need me to clarify on anything let me know.
Some more information. Her name is Freya ( used to be Floyd) she is super sweet and calm does not hate being picked up but I only do it if I have to,likes pets,licks my nose and sometimes comes when I call for her. Loves the dogs and they love her,same for my son and they are NEVER EVER left unattended.My son knows only mama can pick the bunny up so he just sits and watches her or pets her back(she seems to like this).I think she is standard Rex, because she has the classic plush coat and kinky whiskers.
We are planning on bring her to a rabbit friendly vet to get spayed as soon as possible.
Thank you in advance for any advise you can give!

 

[iLuvMyLilBuns]

That behavior is hormonal and normal in rabbits that aren't spayed. Female rabbits instinctively need to create a home (burrow) for her offspring and when she comes into season, digging (even in her litter tray) will be foremost on her mind. Maybe keep her penned off from your furniture so she doesn't ruin it and ingest anything harmful. I would suggest contacting a vet and getting her spayed, until then there's not much you can do

 

[brennacolleen22]

Once again sorry the post is so confusing,there is just soo many things going on with my bun just kinda came out as word vomit. Any advice would be great!

 

[brennacolleen22]

The digging? I know the potty stuff was hormonal, like going on the couch. But the digging I figured was just fun for her. Or is the digging something she is doing because she is hormonal? From what I have read digging is just something they do for the fun of it. That is the way it seems to me because she gets so excited and playful while digging. Thank you for the advice though,Im calling the vet on monday.I have the number for a good vet from our Zoo.

 

[whiskylollipop]

You can give her a dig pad, like a carpet square or any old scrabbly piece of fabric similar to your couch material (make sure she doesn't eat it though - you'll have to remove it if she does). Untreated grass mats make good safe dig pads. Or make her a dig box, which is a covered cat litterbox with a deep layer of wood chips or cardboard pieces in it that she can dig through.

Most times we find that cutting out some holes in a cardboard box to make a chewable, scratchable, destroyable cardboard castle for our buns keeps them very entertained! It is noisy though.

 

[iLuvMyLilBuns]

Rabbits that are not fixed are more destructive and become extremely aggressive due to their hormones, getting her spayed will reduce the digging. Females will put great energy into digging as they prepare their "nests."

 

[brennacolleen22]

I will try that! I think carpet will be my best bet,and I have tons of boxes so I will build her a castle I do not mind the noise. My house is pretty noisy most of the time anyways! Thanks!
I love her so much,I just want her to get the most out of life.
I know everyone thinks their pets are special, but I swear this rabbit is magical and has had such a positive effect on our whole household I will probaly be hitting you guys up for advice often! You seem like a very supportive group.

 

[brennacolleen22]

Ahh I see,that does make sence!
She does not seem to have many aggressive behaviors,she has never bitten or boxed at us or anything.She seems very relaxed most of the time.
I did not know the digging was something that was hormone driven,thanks for filling me in.
I hope to get her to the vet within a couple weeks,I may need to wait a bit if the price is very high. But even then should not be more than a month or so.

 

[iLuvMyLilBuns]

It could be hormonal or maybe she just enjoys digging Good luck with her!!

 

[brennacolleen22]

If I set her up with a dig box,what could I do to encourage her to use it? I was thinking maybe hiding little treats in it for her to forage for?

 

[brennacolleen22]

Hey were both from MN!

 

[iLuvMyLilBuns]

That's a good idea! And yes we are what area are you from?

 

[brennacolleen22]

Northshore

 

[bellaterra214]

Spaying will help will all these issues. I have a couple of dig boxes that roam around the apartment. I fill it with shredded paper and I just randomly put handful of hay, oat kernals, dried fruit in between in the paper and Anya will be in their for hours. Digging, rearranging, foraging....and who knows what else. =) Even after they spay, she would run around the apartment looking for her dig box. It all depends on your rabbit. Bino loves his dig box and claims the box by sitting on top of it and chasing other bunnies away when they venture too close. He also likes to leave a trail a poop around the box which gets replaced as soon as I vacuum it up. It's a never ending battle.

 

[brennacolleen22]

Lol that is is a funny mental image.
I called the vet today,it is going to be about 270 with the exam included.
Should take me about 2 and a half months to save it up.Not unreasonble at all. I did contact our local spay clinic to see if they see rabbits but Im thinking it is just cats and dogs.
We do not seem to have a big rabbit over population problem around here so the local humane centers ignore rabbit needs for the most part.
The vet office said rabbits do not need to be vaxed? I thought they did for some reason,guess I was confused :/

 

[whiskylollipop]

Depends on where you live, but if you're in an area where rabbit diseases like myxomatosis is rare then an indoor bunny should not need to be vaxxed.

 

[Azerane]

Hello there and welcome

In the united states rabbits do not need to be vaccinated. The wild rabbits in the USA are cottontails which don't transfer the diseases onto the european rabbits (domestic rabbit origin). However obviously these diseases can still occur in domestic populations, it's just far less likely than in other countries where the wild rabbits are also european rabbits.

In regards to the digging behaviour, females in general are more inclined to dig than males. Yes spaying might help, but it also might not. She will still likely want to dig, but she may not be quite as driven to do it. Dig boxes are good, you can fill them with shredded paper, or layers or cardboard etc for them to destroy. However, keep in mind that they also often turn them into litter trays, so you'll need to keep an eye on it.

Otherwise, the best toy you can have is a simple cardboard box with two small openings cut in them (don't worry, she'll renovate the openings to be just the right size and shape, you'll also end up with cardboard everywhere ).

As for the cost of spaying, $270 seems fairly reasonable. I think at my vet females cost $200, but there's other vets where the prices are much higher too.

 

[brennacolleen22]

See the thing is I do not want her to stop digging because it makes her happy,just want to find a way for her dig without worring about hurting herself by eating stuff that should not be eaten or turning my couch into swiss cheese.
The actual cost of the spay is 220 and then 45 for an exam. Im 100 percent okay with that price,my partner not so much because he thinks it is not needed
. I do not really care what he thinks about it.He knows me and he should have known that if he was going to surprise me with a pet Im going to give it the best care I can.
He was under the impression that rabbits are a pet that need less time and energy put into them as say,a dog.
Boy was he wrong Lol.
Im going to hook her up with a dig box later this week and she is getting a new cage for night because the current one is too small in my opinion. But today I gave her a bunch of old baby blankets and she had a time bunching them up,digging in them,and laying on them of course.
I also made her a little playground in my sun room out of old dresser drawers and a tv stand(she likes to climb).So she had a nice time looking out the window and getting some sun and a fresh breeze.And I gave her a big box with some holes in it but she is not interested yet.
Thanks for the helpful advice guys!

 

[bellaterra214]

For your partner, try explaining that if you are not planning on breeding, spaying will increase her overall health and can decrease different kinds of cancer she can possibility get when she gets older. The spay for $200 is nothing compared to an emergency vet visit bill, that I can guarantee, will be larger than $200 and that's not including surgery cost, medication and time if needed. Spaying will overall help with a lot of temperament issues they develop as she gets more sexual mature. They can turn into little cute hormonal monsters when she reaches the 5-8 month mark. When she reaches a certain point, she can start grunting, lunging, nipping and digging even more. Her main concern will shift from being a house pet to finding territory and a mate.

 

[bellaterra214]

I also thought, how hard could a rabbit be compared to having a dog or a cat? Boy was I wrong....and it's not even the maintenance that is expensive, its the emergency vets costs and initially setup. They go from ok to sick in a very short amount of time. If you are saving for a spay, I would also put a little away every month for emergency purposes. It's crazy how much it costs because they are categorized under "exotic pets" and not every vet will know how to treat a rabbit. Here's a survey I did on RO for monthly maintenance costs.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f14/whats-your-monthly-bunny-budget-80037/


Hope this helps.