House-training my bunnies

[vanessa]

I want to journal about house training my bunnies to keep my own record, and to help anyone who has, or knows someone who has outdoor bunnies, and is considering bringing them in. And – I like writing about my bunnies 🙂 I hadn’t planned on it this soon – but the flystrike in Morgana has brought it about. I don’t quite have the room I want, but I’ll have to make it work.

So – bringing them home from the vet – Morgana and Avalon are bonded and were in separate carriers for 24 hours, then Morgana was in a travel cage in Avalon’s x-pen for 12 hours. I wanted her open wounds to dry up before letting her out with him, and I didn’t want to keep them separate for too long. He has the tendency of chasing when something is “new” to him. Sure enough – 36 hours did it. He chased her, mounted her, she nipped him, but I got them calmed down. 

They are now in the tiled utility room in an x-pen. He is energetic and wants to play and destroy. He is a little destructo-monster. He tipped over the litter boxes, chewed up the puppy pee pads, tossed over the food bowl, and put the pee pad pieces in the water bowl. She gets very stressed very quickly – in small spaces. So she was glad to be out of the travel cage – where she started chewing the towels on the floor, once the chasing had calmed down. So I took the chewed towel away. I don’t want to teach her that it is an acceptable chew toy. I gave them a cardboard box to play in, and their favorite tree leaves to eat, tree branches to chew, and they were happy. 

While they were in the travel cages, they held their business waiting for their regular litter boxes. Eventually they each peed, but no poop. Day 2 – in the x-pen, still no poop. Without a smell check, it’s hard to tell a watered pee pad from their pee, because they eat a steady diet of grass, leaves, hay and only a small amount of pellets. Where my other pair of buns eat greens, hay, and pellets, and the greens make their pee dark. Eventually today they are pooping.

Avalon likes to be petted, and so does Morgana but she is skittish. When I got her, she was as wild as they get. Didn’t like people, turned her back to me, nipped me, wild little girl. Only when I figured out just how much space she needs, did she start to let me pet her on the head. Watching Avalon run up to me for petting, made her open up some more. But really – still skittish. 

Giving her antibiotics by mouth is difficult. She fights it all the way,. 

I need to charge my camera and get pictures of them 🙂

[vanessa]

They need to learn the new litter box setup… their outdoor box was a large plastic storage container with holes drilled in it, and a home-fashioned grate to keep them off their poops. They didn’t use the litterbox inside their house, they woudl only use it if I placed it outside their house. Not upstairs, not downstairs, had to be outside, on the ground, under the sky. So I drilled the holes to let rainwater drain. So now they are tossing the box upside down, shredding the puppy pee pad, tossing the hay around, and then using the empty litter box.

I need to get Morgana to be easier to handle. Giving her antibiotics is a real pain. Yesterday she was decent about it. Today she feels a lot better, and she fought me every step. Had her teeth clenched down, shook her head like she was shaking off water. So I wrapped her in a town, and she kept pulling her head down into the towel like she was a turtle pulling into it’s shell. Once I got the syringe in her mouth, she liked the flavor. So perhaps she just needs time to get use to this new handling. It sure makes for an early work morning.

She chews when she is frustrated or stressed. So once I put her down, she started chewing the cardboard box ferociously. I’ve seen her chew through chicken wire. That was while I was figuring out how much space she needed. I think she woudl enjoy the junglegym setup I have for Guin and Lancelot. I can see her getting very frustrated in the x-pen. Avalon is happy in the x-pen.

[vanessa]

They chewed the remaining towel – so I gave them shredded newspaper. I’m going to make them a scratch square like Guin has. Its a NIC cube panel that I weaved with sisal rope. So it’s like a sturdy little sisal carpet square almost. Guin loves it. After I weaved it, I took little pieces of sisal and tied them through, with the knot underneath, and about 1-2 inches of sisal sticking up on the rabbit-side. She works those little pieces trying to get them out.

I changed their litter box for a larger one. I have about 9 different boxes. They are use to eating far from their box – both hay and pellets. But its easiest to keep the hay contained in the 9-gallon mixing tub. The sides are tall. It’s my favorite litterbox for them. I brought their favorite wooden food/hay rack in, and propped it up behind the larger litterbox. I’ll see tomorrow if they have overturned the box, removed the plastic grate, and emptied the contents… The mixing tubs are easiest to clean coz they are large enough that I can lift the pee pad by the corners and remove the mess. Instead of having to grab it in the squishy part in the smaller boxes, and scoop out the mess.

Morgana looked happier today. But she was as feisty as ever with the meds… The bunny burrito is the only way to go. I’m afraid of hurting her, she wriggles and fights so hard. And I don’t want to waste the antibiotics trying to insert the meds into treats – to find out that she won’t eat it.

[vanessa]

They are doing so well I have very little to write! They are not in the large 9 gallon mixing tubs that I like to use for litter boxes, and they have stopped chewing the towel, although they do like to rearrange it. They take their chewing out on the cardboard box (floor is tile), and Morgana is better about taking medicine. I drape a towel over her as her cue to sit still, they gently put the syringe into her mouth. Don’t even need to hold her head. She is doign god. HEr wounds from the flystrike are healing, and the hair is growing back from being shaved around the wounds. I’ll write again once I put all 4 bunnies in the same room – that will be in late October 🙂

[vanessa]

So… I got back from 2 weeks of travel, and left them in the “small animal room”. They are in half of the room, in Guin’s half. She and Lancelot are in his half. Morgana and Avalon chewed a nice portion of the carpet, all the way down to the wood and the carpet tacks. So I covered it up and rearranged their toys. I expected some sort of mischief while I was away… They moved a 10lb tray of cat food – to get to the corner. No more mischief since then. I keep their area free of obstacles so they have binky space, and rearrange their toys. They have half a bedroom – where they use to have a 48ft perimiter run. Their litter habits are impeccable. Morgana only poops while she is eating – so she leaves one only pile of poop. Avalon poops only in the opposite corner of the litterbox. Perfect. Except that he occasionally rips up the puppy pee pad, so I have to add lots and lots of hay so he doesn’t see any part of the pee pad.
I think as long as I keep the floor space open with a different setup of toys and plenty of wood to chew, they will be fine in there. I’m going to end this journal, and start one of getting the bunnies to trust me, since they are more aloof than my other pair, and I have seen this question a few times.

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