Hi folks! I can’t tell you how pleased I am to be here. We have been planning our entrance into bunny ownership for over 4 months now and I’m pleased to say we recently brought home two of the sweetest buns you ever saw. I have always been an animal person and my son follows in my footsteps, but in a twist of cruel irony he is allergic to both dogs and some varieties of cats. We researched for a long time (and did a lot of allergy and exposure testing) before deciding to bring rabbits into our home. I feel like I have a weight off my shoulders now that I finally have some furry friends back in my house and thus far everyone is doing fantastic.
Ok so, gushing introductions aside, here is the meat of my question…
Preparing for bunny ownership, I read about the importance of not bodily removing them from their cage. I thought that made absolutely perfect sense and resolved never to do so. HOWEVER, once I got them home and placed them into the palatial 1.60 meter long cage, there was an explosion of pee and poop that I was unprepared for. In addition to that because of my son’s allergies I really need to be diligent about getting up stray hay and that sort of thing.
I realize that the first night was largely marking. I had to clean it so I got them out and put them in their carrier to do a thorough cleaning. The next day was much the same. On the third day I made a few adjustments (bigger pan and a base of yesterday’s news) and since then we’ve had some great success in litter training. Peepee is nearing 100% with a few accidents on their blanket which is the far end of the cage under their house. Poops are also more than half in box now. I’m totally happy.
The second time I HAD to remove them to clean I put them on the floor, and as soon as I did so they started exploring the bunny room. Already on that first night they seemed to master getting in and out again and I thought OK great I’ll never have to bodily get them out again. This has not proved to be the case. Since then I think we have had a little bit of a setback in their comfort level while out and I have no doubt this is because I have had to reach into their cage. I have tried removing them then cleaning, and tried doing touchups while they were already inside their house. If the good litterbox trend continues I will hopefully be able to extend the time between having to mess with their environment, but I at least have to get their fresh hay on their box.
So my question is, does anyone have any tips to soften my “invasions” until they finally start hopping out on their own and letting me get down to some serious bunny cleaning? Is taking them out better or reaching in while they are already in house better? All pearls of bunny wisdom are welcome.