Question! Well, two, actually...

[Wolpertinger]

[align=left]]Hello all! I'm a new bun owner (Feb. 2010), and I have a couple of questions.

FIRSTLY: I'm having trouble litter training my buns. I have litter boxes/cardboard box bottoms all over my bedroom, which they do use when they eat... but when they're running around its like they don't care. I don't really enjoy stepping on pellets, so how should I go about litter training them 100%? I put fresh hay/food bowls in the boxes and change the litter every couple of days; is there something I'm missing? What makes the best litter? (I'm currently using pine; is that safe?)

SECONDLY: I currently only have 1 XL cage for my mini lop and my dutch (they're still pretty young and small, but here in a couple of weeks I plan to get another one, or just a multi-level unit.) I read in another thread about having litter only in the litter pan, while having the rest a towel or rug. If I changed my cage setup from all litter with a cardboard house to a setup with a rug, the house, and a litter box, would that possibly help in litter training?

Any tips/advice would be GREATLY appreciated!!! Thanks!:biggrin:

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[Tweetiepy]

I'm a fairly new bunny owner but this worked for me, my 12 week old bunny will mostly go her litter box if I put her food and hay IN her litter box - from what I'm reading and it's true, bunnies poop while they,re eating - not sure about peeing. Now Peaches is only 12 weeks old and I'm not sure this counts as litter training, cuz I don't want to check if she's trained or not by moving her food elsewhere. I have found a stray poop here and there, but 99.9% is in her litter. It might work for you until they're fully trained.

 

[elrohwen]

For your first question, it's very difficult to train some bunnies to not poo as they run around - especially if they're young and unfixed. I would limit their area a bit, pick up all poos and put them in the litter box, and see if they get the idea. Too much space too soon can result in a bunny who feels the need to mark everything.

Two, your other idea is on target. No bedding in the cage except possibly a fleece blanket. At first you probably don't even want to use the blanket as it's still absorbant and nice to pee on. Remove all bedding so that the only absorbant area is the litter box and they should get the idea. Clean up any accidents well.

Also, I noticed in your profile that your bunnies are male and female, correct? If you've had them since February they are probably old enough to breed, so you should separate them very very soon. It would be unhealthy for Rosie to have a litter this young.

 

[Wolpertinger]

elrohwen wrote:

For your first question, it's very difficult to train some bunnies to not poo as they run around - especially if they're young and unfixed. I would limit their area a bit, pick up all poos and put them in the litter box, and see if they get the idea. Too much space too soon can result in a bunny who feels the need to mark everything.

Two, your other idea is on target. No bedding in the cage except possibly a fleece blanket. At first you probably don't even want to use the blanket as it's still absorbant and nice to pee on. Remove all bedding so that the only absorbant area is the litter box and they should get the idea. Clean up any accidents well.

Also, I noticed in your profile that your bunnies are male and female, correct? If you've had them since February they are probably old enough to breed, so you should separate them very very soon. It would be unhealthy for Rosie to have a litter this young.

Thanks! Yes, I have a male and female. I got Gimili (my male dutch) about 3 weeks ago, and he was just a few weeks old (too young to tell gender). I do plan on getting them fixed very soon, cause I definitely don't want to wake up to a litter of kits! Besides, they're pet store bunnies, so even if they were the same breed and everything I STILL wouldn't breed them: its against my beliefs.

So what should I use instead of fleece then? an old towel? newspaper? cardboard? I do put hay and food in the boxes, so I'm good on that part. I'm going today to get bedding, and I was thinking of switching from woodshavings to Carefresh. What would be best? my issue is that they track the litter everywhere when they jump out of the boxes outside of their cage.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

I personally would take all bedding besides the litter box out. My buns will still pee if I put something down in their cage out of there cages they are perfect.


Anything that would absorb urine do not put in there bunnies are clean so they won't want to sit in a standing puddle of pee.

 

[elrohwen]

I just wouldn't use any bedding for now. Once they have the hang of the litter box (may be a day, may be a few weeks) you can put down a fleece blanket.

I also wouldn't recommend shavings or Carefresh. In my personal experience, neither absorb odor that well and are expensive. I would pick up some Yesterday's News or, even better, wood stove pellets from the hardware store. They're extremely cheap and do an excellent job. And since both are pellets, they won't be tracked out of the litter box.

 

[Wolpertinger]

I ended up getting Sunseed Gazhette, or whatever its called. Its recycled newspaper stuff. I didn't get too much of it, just incase it didn't work out. I've realized that Rosie uses the litterbox, while Gimili kinda uses it... he'll need work.