Uh Oh!

[TamarizRabbit]

So….one week into being a bunny parents and we’re learning fast but it seems my perky little miss is determined to keep us on our toes! Any advice out there re litter training and bedtime discipline now she’s been given freedom would be grately received. Can’t tell you how relieved I am to have found this site and have somewhere to ask questions and check I’m not being a bad mum! Who knew you could get this neurotic over a rabbit?!?

Right…so the good news is that she seems to have easily and quickly got the hang of the litter tray in her hutch / home. Sadly I have had to buy three of the stupd things first! Litte tray 1 was a corner litter tray from pet store highly recommended but, of course, she wouldn’t go near it. Start again. Litter tray 2…cat litter box…much better, happy rabbit but too shallow and pee over the edge. Sigh. Litter box 3 and the most successful….a £1.50 washing up bowl from the convenience store. Wish I’d known that before!  Anyhow, having got the hang of it in her hutch / home we started leaving the door open and seeing if she’d come out to play. Two days of not being brave and then yesterday she ventured out and had a wail of time…binkies and bounces all over the shop. Hurrah! Until….she peed on the carpet!  Now all the web sites and manuals say that at this stage I should say ‘no’ in a firm voice and usher her back into her home and litter tray. Clearly these people have never owned a bunny like Tamariz. You just try ushering her anywhere! Reluctant to pick he rup (she hates that) and dump her back in the cage as punishment (the thing everyone says NEVER to do) I cleaned up the mess and tried to patiently wait for her to go home again. Eventually though I had to give up and catch her and cage her. I felt AWFUL! You should have seen the look she gave me. 

Ultimately we hope Tiz will have the run of the whole house but she’s only little and still learning so we are doing the slow release thing and she needs to be in her house at night. Any advice on how to do the return to house thing withough resorting to pick up and put? I tried banana, parsley and bok choi yesterday but bunny 500s under the sofa were still more exciting to our little minx!

In addition, a taste for freedom means she has now started chewing and pulling on the cage door (she is now in the home for 48 hours until litter training habits are back which was a website recommended tactic?!) whenever we’re in the room. I desparately do not want the cage to be hated. Any advice on top toys to put in there to keep her happy. She has straw balls, toilet rolls and keys at the moment.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Laura & Tamariz

 

P.S. The photo is from when we first got her. No wood shavings on the floor now and obviously hated corner litter box gone!

[Deleted User]

My sympathies, … I’m curious to see what responses you get about ushering reluctant bunnies back into cages after play time because that’s a concept mine haven’t gotten either. Early on I discovered accidentally that they didn’t like some music and there was one song I could play to get them back in, but apparently they’ve concluded its harmless since last time the “timid” one continued blissfully munching a phone book right by the speaker. Oddly enough I had to leave the room (why I was trying to get them back in) and when I came back they were both inside eating their salad, … maybe they missed the company?

I’ve heard some people use a water spray bottle if they can catch the rabbit in the act of peeing, and I’m sure you’ve read about washing with vinegar. I’m no expert but if her habits in the cage are good then I’d think forty-eight hours a little too long before letting her back out, but that’s just an opinion. But don’t let her out after she’s been biting the door, you don’t want to teach her that you’ll respond to that sort of behaviour.

Must admit the favourite toys in my home are the toilet paper rolls, and paper (take out) coffee cups. (Clean ones, we have a coffee shop here that puts one cup inside the other to make them easier to hold so clean unused cups are easy to come by.) A lot of people have had good results stuffing little paper bags with hay and/or treats, tying them closed and punching holes in it. Mine played with it, but weren’t thrilled, still worth a try. They like the toilet paper roll filled with hay, and love their phone books and willow and sea grass baskets. Ripping is more fun then chewing far as I can tell. Oh yes and the willow ball, I tend to forget it because it was eaten in about a day and a half, so I guess it was Best of all! Do you have access to apple trees that haven’t been sprayed? Apple twigs (and leaves) are safe and good for them to chew too and may make a nice change/addition.

[Elrohwen]

In my experience, the best way to get bunnies back to their cages is food. I time my bunnies’ meals to coincide with when I want them back in the cage. They are more than happy to run back in at night because they know dinner is coming.

I don’t really believe in punishing bunnies for peeing outside of the litter box by saying no and shooing them to a box (which many can find scary). I think the best method is to set her up for success. Don’t allow her on soft absorbent surfaces until she has proven that she can use her litter box consistently. I wouldn’t necessarily keep her locked in her cage all the time (since it looks quite small in your picture) but I would set up a pen on a hard surface for her exercise, and leave some litter boxes around to see if she gets the hang of it.

It may just take time – lots of bunnies will mark in a new home, but eventually figure out the litter box if peeing on the floor doesn’t become too much of a habit. Spaying will probably help her litter habits as well.

[BabyD]

Yup the best way to get your bunny back home is through bribery, with food.
I used to coax my bunny back to her cage with a treat, while gently repeating the words, “let’s go home”, which worked quite well.
Now I also time my bun’s night time meal to coincide with when I want her to go back in the cage, just like what Elrohwen is doing. And I don’t even need to bribe my bun with a treat anymore this way, she will happily jump back in to her home for her food. Rabbits are incredibly smart and will soon enough learn what you teach them to do.

[Stickerbunny]

Agree with Elroh, you can’t really punish a bun for accidents outside. They won’t get it, you’ll scare them and as you’ve noticed… you can’t really usher a rabbit anywhere.

When she uses her box in the cage, tell her how good she is. When she has accidents outside, soak it up with a paper towel and place it into the litter box, then clean the rest of the area with vinegar or natures miracle. You may need to add a litter box outside if the area she has to run around in is large, since some buns prefer not to run multiple rooms away to go potty. She is also young I assume and not spayed? Likely, her peeing was marking behavior, which is caused by hormones. Which is hard to stop until a bun is spayed/neutered. A slower approach to freedom is what I had to do with my girl, try attaching a X-pen to her cage (good idea anyways, the pet store cages are way too tiny for a rabbit, which is what it looks like she’s in?) that way she can run, you can put an easy to clean surface on it and she’s still confined so not messing up the whole house. Then start giving her run time in say, one room, then gradually open her area as she proves her good habits

And yes, food is the best way to get a bun to go back home. I give mine dinner when it’s time for them to go back to their room. They know their pellets are coming when I rattle the bag, so they go right to their plate.

[bpash89]

First of all – her giant ears are adorable.

Do you have multiple litter boxes around the room? When my little one was litter box training I had 4 (or maybe 5?) litter boxes that all had hay in them for her to use and that really seemed to help. Any time she went on the floor I would immediately clean it up and put it in the nearest box (thankfully I have wood floors so this was less of a headache than carpet – you have my sympathies). Whenever you clean up her messes be sure to put it in the box (paper towel you use to clean up the pee goes right in the box) and she will catch on soon and start using them since they will smell like her. My baby girl definitely got a raisin treat any time I caught her in the act of using her litter box too. As soon as she was done doing her business (and out of the box – privacy and whatnot) she had a treat shoved in her face. She got the picture really quick that the litter boxes meant only good things. Once she is using them consistently you can slowly start removing the extra boxes.
As far as ushering, I agree that food is the best and really only way (for me at least). When I feed pellets it is always fed in her cage so any time I want her in her cage for any reason I give her a few pellets and she comes running.

Also, I’ve found my girl really likes her routine. I am not allowed to sleep in on Saturdays or Sundays any more because she expects to be fed breakfast by 8 o clock sharp. If i’m not up mini Houdini over here finds a way past the blockade on the stairs and wakes me up personally >:|
But anyway, when she was still spending nights in her cage I found that having an established routine helped us both. When she got hungry she was more than willing to go into her cage for dinner (usually would go in a wait for me) even though she knew that meant bedtime.
Best of luck!

[TamarizRabbit]

So helpful! Thank you all so much! I couldn’t bear keeping her in so she’s currently running in and out of her new play tunnel which seems to be a big hit. I think it might be a case of two litter boxes for a little while. We have every intention of her having free run eventually so she should be happy as larry once she’s cracked the toilet training. Please don’t worry about the cage,it’s bigger than it looks and she can do a lot of hops across it. Of course, we may need to expand if she gets much bigger!

I like the idea of timing the meal times to coincide with bedtime. Will try that tonight.

Keep the posts coming. I’m learning all the time!
Laura and Tamariz x

[Jessie1990]

At the moment my work schedule is pretty random so I have trained Ashe to go back in her cage using a clicker (she gets one raisin, and this is the only time she gets a raisin). So now if I want her to go in she will just run in before I get the chance to click. She can hear the key chain moving against the clicker and comes zooming from whereever she is at. You might try clicker training.

As far as potty training… I’m probably not much help because Ashe trained herself at 8 weeks. She is incredibly smart and all I did was throw stray poops in her corner tray if she missed. I only had to to this one day. She did have the missing the litter tray problem as she grew larger so I switched to a cat tray, which also didn’t work. After I built her condo she got a GIGANTIC high back litter box. Never had a problem since then.

I think you may be having trouble because there were litter shavings outside the litter box making her think she can go there. Or there may be a smell on that rug. Like I said… Not much help with the potty training issue lol, BUT you should definitely try clicker training. It’s fun and convenient!

[TamarizRabbit]

 This is intriguing. Can you describe to me exactly the process? Thank you. Lucky you with the potty training genius!

[Jessie1990]

I started by luring her in with a raisin when I wanted her to go home and right before I let her have it I would click. So she associates the clicker with getting treats. I would suggest craisins because I heard raisins can be harmful if overfed. I can’t find any craisins without sugar added so we use raisins VERY sparingly. When training I chop up one raisin into tiny bits. Anyway, I just had her hop into her cage several times for a few days and she got the hang of it. I also say, “Go home” as she goes in and now I say “Go home” and she will sometimes go in LOL. I have been lazy with the clicker training lately so I have just been saying go home and shaking her raisin box. It is very nice to not have to chase her around

[TamarizRabbit]

Will def try this. The problem is that there seem to be very few foods she’s mad about. She adores banana but apparently they should only have one tiny slice a day and so this isn’t much use for training. So far she’s turned her nose up at raisins, orange, mango and cheerios! Fussy woman! Will look out for craisins. Wonder if we can get them here in the UK?

[Elrohwen]

One thing about clicker training to note – the click is not the cue. The click just tells them when they have done the right thing. You could use it as a cue to go back to the cage I suppose, but then it becomes only the cue for that and you can’t use it for training other behaviors. In the case of going back to a cage, getting a treat in the cage does a pretty good job of letting them know they’re right, but you could also click the second they jump in, then offer a treat. Clicker training is really fun for teaching behaviors though and is definitely something to look into.

I like to use pellets as treats. They are small and can be chewed easily, plus you can give a lot (20 pellets is a pretty small amount of their daily diet, but 20 raisins would be a ton). For really high value stuff, like going back to the cage a couple times a day, banana would be just fine. When I want mine to go to their cage and it’s not meal time, I grab a bag of treats (they’re not too picky) and shake it and they come running.

Craisins are just dried cranberries, but not sure if they are popular in the UK since they are usually a US crop. Other dried fruits are good though so you could try those. Look for ones without sugar, but if you can’t find them it’s ok to feed small amounts that contain sugar. Dried papaya is a favorite with mine.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Just want to chime in on how ridiculously cute your bunny is!

[Deleted User]

I’m pretty sure craisins are dried cranberries. I haven’t seen them as craisins here in Canada either, but dried cranberries are pretty common.

[Stickerbunny]

Craisins are dried cranberries. And for treats for training what I use is I break up something into tiny pieces – like say one baby carrot cut up into little tiny bits, or a slice of banana cut up or craisins torn into bits. That way you can give them “more” but it’s still the same amount.

[hannaroo]

Oh my gosh she has the CUTEST LITTLE EARS!!!! I get my bunnies in with routine. They run around in the morning for 2 hours, come home get their food then I let them out after work until I go to bed and get them in saying ‘bunnies in’ and they both hop to their food bowl! I try and keep to a schedule as they can be a little stubborn when they’re out of sync.
Litter habits will come with age and spaying! Babies have accidents and teens may mark but they calm down eventually!

[JustineT]

 First of all, welcome to bunny parenthood!

When my husband and I got Willow, we got some gates from the pet store for the house. We kept her cage in our living room/kitchen area and put the gates around it, only giving her a little extra space to run around. Compared to the small cage she had from the pound, she found this space incredibly big. We put a mat ontop of her cage because she liked to hop up there and lounge. We never gave her a litter box but after keeping her in such a small area, she learned her cage was the only place to go and we’ve never had an issue. After about two weeks, we got a second gate so we could expand the perimiter and let her in the kitchen; a week later, we gave her the hallway as well. Soon enough, my husband and I were the ones caged in while watching TV! So after about another week or two, we bunny-proofed the wires and outlets, took down the gates, and let her run around. She has had the whole house since and we haven’t had a problem! She doesn’t chew the furniture or use the bathroom anywhere else.

The only room she wasn’t (and is still mostly) not allowed in is our master bedroom, we have a sleep number so it took us forever to cover up the wires!! Anyways, every time she went in there, our method to get her out was to blow in her direction. She hates the sound and she hates feeling a gust of wind on her fur. It doesn’t hurt her and she isn’t scared afterwards, but she knows that she’s in trouble. We did this a lot because she would chase us down the hall to our bedroom door just to get in before we had a chance to close it. Now, it’s about a year later and when we leave the bedroom door opened to let her say hi once in a while, she sits outside the room and cautiously looks in. She waits a few minutes before even entering because she’s worried she’ll get in trouble. If my husband and I so much as flinch in the room, she darts out! Please note that she isn’t afraid of us at all anywhere else in the house. She’s constantly relaxing and licking us in the rooms she knows she’s okay in.

Now, getting her into her cage has been a bit more of a challenge. She loves chasing me and being chased by my husband – if he runs behind her, she runs, stops, and looks at him waiting to see if he’ll keep playing. Anyways, this has become a bit of a game for her. When my husband tries to lead her to her cage, she will do crazy hops and laps around the house until she’s finally cornered near her cage and decides she needs a drink/food and goes in. We tried giving her treats in the cage originally but that never worked. Playing this game with her is the only thing that we’ve found workable. Now, anytime after 10pm, if we walk behind her, she darts off trying to avoid bed time OR runs straight to her cage because she knows what time it is.

Willow is incredibly playful, sweet, and energetic, but she enjoys having a bad girl side. Basically, just keep observing your bunny’s personality and you’ll figure out what works for her. Willow never listens to a stern “no”, she hates being picked up so we never do that, and I can’t imagine squirting her with water like some sites have suggested! Making it a game with her might not get her in the cage the minute we want her in, but it does work if we plan to have her in within 10 minutes.

So to sum up, give her access to the house little by little until she’s adjusted to each room. When she does something wrong, blow towards her and the “gust of wind” may do the trick to get her to stop (sometimes even the sound makes Willow stop), and a friendly game of chase where your rabbit thinks she’s winning and outsmarting you is the best way I’ve found to get my bunny in the cage.

[TamarizRabbit]

Fabulous stuff. Thank you so much everyone. Dried cranberries I’ll definitely get. Would be handy to have something like that I can keep in a tub upstairs for treats rather than darting up and down to cut up fruit the whole time. She is on unlimited pellets at the moment as she is still a baby so they currently have no appeal as a treat but I’m guessing this will change once they’re more limited.

Last night was pretty successful. She hopped around for hours (kept trying to chew my gluffy slipper socks…!?!?) and a few times voluntarily hopped back into her house and sat in the litter tray. Hurrah! Every time she did that I rewarded her. It seems parsley might be our bunnies drug of choice for now! I’m off to the garden centre today to buy an enormous plant of the stuff so we don’t have to keep buying the pricy little bags of fresh cut stuff! Also moved fresh vegi dinner to later and after a few minutes she went inside to munch and that was bedtime and door shut. Perfect. Fingers crossed all this keeps working but so far…no more wee on the carpet. I’m happy!

Will definitely try the blowing and keep being inventive with toys and games. Chasing is stil quite scary at the moment but we made her a card board house last night but just exploring the new room seems exciting enough for now. Still, we had fun. She’s still a bit scared of my other half who must seem like a 6ft 3 predator to a small baby bunny but hoping with time she’ll be as curious about him as she is about me. I’m loving nose bumps and whisker tickles! So much better than a slobbery dog!

I know…aren’t her ears the best thing ever!

Honestly, I can’t thank you all enough for your posts. It’s so reassuring and helpful. Right, breakfast time for bunnies in England so must go.

Laura and Tamariz x

[Deleted User]

Hope you may get a chance to read this article before you hit the garden centre. http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/ I found it invaluable in planning my rabbits’ vegetable portions, and choosing which herbs to grow. Think you may find it handy.

Re getting her used to you, and your better half, have either of you tried stretching out on the floor? (Only place I can imagine asking this!) I did and was amazed at the difference it made. The first time was too soon, everything was just too strange, so for quite some time I sat with them on the floor, and they liked that but were Very Cautious about coming near to me. Then I started lying down flat, and making sure not to move when they came to investigate me. I’ve been hopped and walked on repeatedly, and its made handling them at other times easier, … so thought I’d share.

Best of luck!

[jerseygirl]

Posted By Jessie1990 on 05/23/2013 01:13 PM

I think you may be having trouble because there were litter shavings outside the litter box making her think she can go there.

I just want to emphasize this. Bedding or litter material lining the cage isn’t necessary. It’s messy and a waste of money for you. Plus it doesn’t help with litter training as mentioned. If you haven’t already done so, I recommend taking out anything lining her cage and only having litter only in the litterbox with some hay on top.
Litter habits out of her cage should improve…A lot of that is to do with new territory and her age.

She is completely lovely! Pretty girl!

[TamarizRabbit]

Loving the herb article. Thank you! I’m a teacher and on half term holiday this week so if we EVER get some unshine here in England I’ll give it a go.

The chippings came off the cage floor on day one when I realised this was a mistake. I think the plastic floor is a bit bare though so was wondering about putting sea grass mats down but worried she might be too tempted to pee on them. Any thoughts?

She is lovely. We’re in love! Boyfriend currently stretched out on floor with Tizzy sniffing and pawing him. Success!

x

[Deleted User]

So glad stretching out was a success!

And happy you found the article interesting. That site is a fabulous resource for lots of information, … and its search feature works beautifully.

I’d think the sea grass mats worth trying. I gave mine some when I brought them home, and I must admit it was a bit of a mess at first, … my fault, I offered hay outside the litter box, (apparently the mats were the perfect place to munch and more), and for reasons all their own they also decided a seagrass and willow baskets I’d provided were alternate litter boxes. (Please remember I’m describing their first days at home with me, your situation is different.) However, I removed all of the above when I saw they were a problem, gave the mats and willow basket a quick rinse (the sea grass basket needed a soak) in warm water mixed with a little vinegar, waited until they were using their box consistently and put back first the mats, then the willow basket. The other basket was the biggest problem, and in the mean time I found that up ended it was a help in preventing Silver from climbing in my book shelf (he apparently has a passion for books, I pointed out recipe books probably weren’t the best for him to be eating but I was ignored), so it ended up being torn to shreds outside the cage. An oddly they’ve never really eaten the mats. So I think its worth trying, though you may need to give it a couple of gos. You can try other things (like rugs and blankets) but seeing that they aren’t eaten is so important. I tried offering a cotton towel and removed it when it began to resemble cheese cloth. I think it was just being ripped, but I’m happier not risking it.

[TamarizRabbit]

Well the house looks a lot more homely with seagrass mats and a fleece in her hidey burrow section. We’ll see how they go. Raisins seem in favour today so treating when going back home to use litter box. Think we might be winning. She also seems to like the tapping of the Macbook keyboard as she keeps coming to help when I’m posting!
Thank you again everyone, so much. xx

[Snowytoshi]

When our rabbits were caged we would put hay on the floor, that way they can dig, eat, and have a cushy place to sleep. When you let her out watch the areas where she pees, wherever she pees put newspaper down, and remind yourself to get a litter ‘pan’ to put there, this is what we did and in the beginning there was paper everywhere. Now we only have two litterboxes in their playroom, three in their pen, and none anywhere else. They have free range of the house when we are home and awake. Also I am sorry if I missed this, but is she spayed? Spaying will help her litter training momentually and prevent uterine cancer.

I hope this helps, best of luck with your beautiful bunny!

[TamarizRabbit]

 Thanks. She’s being spayed on Tuesday. Fingers crossed she seems to have got the hang of the litter tray and we have only had that one oopsie on the carpet. She is now happily hopping about the room whenever we’re home and awake, which is most of the time at the moment and she’s hopping back in when she needs the loo. Rewarding that is working well. She loves munching and lying on the seagrass matting (it’s not going to last long though) so she seems happy. 

After spaying we are hoping to introduce her to the landing and then eventually we’d like her to have the run of downstairs too but I’m guessing that will need more litter boxes as the whole house will be a very big space for her!

 

Thanks for posting. x

[Deleted User]

So happy all is going well!

Now I’d happily imagined my mats being munched on, and am still disappointed that nobody so much as sampled one. They make straw and hay mats too, … in case you want to offer a variety.

Believe you are thinking along the right lines when it comes to expanding her territory, … best of luck with all of it!

[TamarizRabbit]

Thank you and for all your help. x

[TamarizRabbit]

Thank you and for all your help. x

[Author]

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