Potty Training

[buffyindahouse]

Hi all! My 8 yr old daughter just gotchosen to be the lucky winner of 1 of 3 little bunnies."Silly Billy" is the newest addition to our home. He/shecomes fromone entirely white parent and oneentirely black and looks like he/she was splashed with blackpaint. Needless to say we love him/her already.We've decided -for now- that it is a he. So ...movingon. We would like to let him out to enjoy some freedom so hecan kick up his back legs (which is hilarious) and get a little nuttyafter being cooped up during the day. How do I go about pottytraining him? Last nite~1st nite home~we let himplay and we werewatching him run around and then he found acorner and backed his little bunny bottom into it andtinkled. We immediately picked him up and put him back in hiscage. Any help would be greatly appreciated ...and any othertips to a new bunny owner would be great too!

 

[Fergi]

Hi and Welcome to the forum. Congratulations on your new addition to your family, the baby sounds adorable.

A great place to start out here is by reading A Cheat Sheet for RabbitsCare. It is a post at the top and has about all the info you need toknow to start off with. There are also some great links on there.

Potty training a bun is usually relatively simple. Since you now knowwhere your little guy likes to go potty you should place a litter boxin that area. If he goes outside of the box you can put thepoop/Kleenex with pee into the box and he should get the idea.

Good luck with your new bun!

Fergi's mom

 

[BunnyMom]

I'd also recommend getting a Bissel spot cleaner if you don't already have one.

 

[JimD]

Greetings and welcome to the forum!

I kept putting of litter training my buns for about a year. I now wish I hadn't waited because it was soooo easy.

All of my buns are in cages unless they are out for runtime. They haveall "selected" a corner of their cages to poop/pee in. I simply tooksome of the soiled litter from the drop pan under the cage and put itin with the litter in their litter pans. I then put the pan in theirdesignated corner and the buns just started to use them as if they hadbeen doing it all along.

We have a community litter pan for runtime. When we let a bun out wemake sure they know where the pan is and they seem to know that's wherethey should go if they have to.

The only one that has had an accident is our new bunnie Binkie. She'sstill young and I figure she will improve her habits with time.

White vinegar can be used to clean any area that the bun has anaccident. It will deodorize and disinfect the area so the bun won't beattracted to it again (hopefully).

Choose the proper litter. Do not use clay kitty litter asit could make the bun sick!! My preference is Woody Pet (surpriseeveryone!).

:~) Jim

 

[bunnysgalore]

I agree with JimD - most effective way seems to be to use some soiled litter in litter tray and he may go for that.

 

[buffyindahouse]

This reply is actually to all of you!THANKS!!! I am relieved to have such earnest helpers at myfingertips

So we should keep two litter boxes? One for runtime and onein his cage...or do we pull his cage box out and place it in a cornerwhen he is mingling with the family?

 

[JimD]

buffyindahouse wrote:

This reply is actually to all of you! THANKS!!! Iam relieved to have such earnest helpers at my fingertips

So we should keep two litter boxes? One for runtime and onein his cage...or do we pull his cage box out and place it in a cornerwhen he is mingling with the family?

Either would work.

I'm actually thinking of picking up some extra litter pans so I can just switch them out when it's cleaning time.

:~) Jim

 

[Pet_Bunny]

Welcome to the forum buffyindahouse,

If you have extra litter boxes, I would put them in any corner that hewould go. I made temporary ones out of shoe boxes or anysmall box. Cut down the edges so it isn't so high and ducttape the inside bottom so it won't leak.

I also confined our rabbit to a smaller space until she was used to thelitter box. I always rewarded her when she goes in thebox. This was done in five days!

Rainbows!