Welcome to the forum!!
I completely agree with Snuggly's Mom...
Good for you for taking in this lovely boy! Things will come together, don't worry.
Any idea if he's neutered or not? If not, getting himneutered will help things out, too. If he is, it just takestime.
My Flower was in much the same state when I found her. Myneighbors had put her outside in her "cage" (only about six inches talland wide and about a foot long), which had a bottom full of urine,feces, and iceburg lettuce, but no food or water at all other than thelettuce they'd given her at one time. They were cleaningtheir house, and I guess didn't like how badly her cage WREAKED, sothey put her outside (instead of cleaning her cage, ofcourse). By the time we found her, she'd been attractingflies (though nothing became of that, thank goodness), had urinescalding on her hind legs, and was malnourished enough that the lady Ihad check her out said she wouldn't have lasted another week,especially because she was just six weeks old.
Needless to say, I NEVER thought she would be litter-trained, but I putthose litterboxes in her cage anyway! And sure enough, Ididn't have to teach her. She automatically started using theboxes within about a week! I think they prefer to use them,personally. I know at least in her case, she sure didn't wanta pee-filled floor again! Poor baby!
Check out this thread in the Rabbit 101 section about LitterTraining. I'm sure you'll find some gems of information inthere.
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12213&forum_id=17
Also, a good way to cut down on the ammonia smell in his urine (if younotice it much) is to put 1cc of vanilla extract (natural or imitation,doesn't matter) to 36oz of his water. It's also great topromote drinking.
Here's a good thread on toys:
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12433&forum_id=17
He might enjoy it if you bought some sisel rope, took that paper towelroll, cut it in eight pieces (like cut it in half, then half again,until you have eight), put two holes in each piece, threaded some siselthrough, and then tied them on his cage so that he can bat them aroundor chew up the sisel. I just did this for Flower, and she'shad fun having the activity of biting the pieces of cardboard off, andchewing up the sisel.
I also take a cardboard box (doesn't have to be huge, just a bit biggerthan your bun), put a small stack of newspaper in it, and some crumpledup newspaper balls (a few with a raisin in the middle, though you maywant to wait until his digestive system is functioning smoother afterthat lack of hay...just a couple weeks should be fine) and throw themin. He'll have a time shredding the newspaper, and throwingthe balls around!
I had the hardest time finding our Maisie toys that she would playwith, and then discovered that she was playing, just not in the way Ithought was "play", like sometimes I move her things to another levelin her cage, and she loves having the project of moving it allback. I used to think it bugged her having her things moved,but she really likes having projects like that. She alsoloves having a newspaper shreddy-based floor, so every couple weeksI'll sweep out all the current shreddies, and give her a new stack ofnewspaper, and she'll work for about two days straight restoring theshreddies on her floor. She has such a time at it!And the good thing is that newspaper is made nowadays with vegetabledye, so you don't have to worry about it poisoning them, or anything.
Both my buns also enjoy shredding cardboard boxes, and I give themdrink holders from fast food places (that don't have any writing onthem) and such, too. We even bought a new hard drive theother day, and it came with a couple cardboard fitted pieces (kind oflike you find some drink holders are, that soft, almost paper mechetype material), so I gave one to each bun. They love eatingthem, and it's good for them, too!
For chewing, you can get him some apple branches (try calling around tolocal bunny shelters to see if they know of a good place to getthem). My buns LOVE chewing off all the bark (though theyleave the rest), and it's good for their teeth.
The cardboard will also help with tooth health, and if you get him afew grass mats, that'll help as well.
Those are just a few ideas.
I think it's wonderful that you found it in your heart to rescue thissweet boy. In my eyes, that's exactly what you did,too...rescued him. He needed a more loving, attentive home.
If you need ANYTHING, tips on building a cage for cheap, ideas on toys, etc. let us know, ok? We're here for ya!
Welcome to the Rabbits Only family, Hun! We're happy to have a gem of a person like you here!
Rosie*
