It’s Yesterday’s news cat litter so it’s pellets. I’ll be switching to equine pellets when I’m out- I didn’t know they were also suitable for rabbits and they are MUCH cheaper.

That makes sense! Paper litter is such a pain… the yesterdays news is compressed paper so once she gets a wiz or two in they blow up and get a bit softer. I may just take it out, because it isn’t solving the problem lol she has still peed on the hay she got last night!

So I didn’t intend on making this litter screen, but I always find some kind of project to do lol. I bought the hardware cloth because I cut out the plastic “diamond” design on my baby gates (the openings were too big) and stapled the hardware cloth on. So I had some left over after that and I thought, why not try a litter screen? They keep just digging through their hay or standing on it and peeing in it lol… it’s been wasting a lot of hay for me, as I obviously give them fresh hay several times a day because I wouldn’t want to eat food I had peed on, so I can’t blame them XD Turns out this morning that Ophelia had still peed on her hay through the night -.- And I would go with equine pellets if you can! I have been using the Yesterday’s News recycled compressed paper pellets (it’s marketed for cats) and its like $16-$20 for a 30lb bag, but I’ve seen at tractor supply that a 40lb bag of equine pellets is like $6!!

Here is the link to the hardware cloth..I have a lowe’s near me, but I’m sure they have it at Home Depot or other hardware stores. You’ll just need wire cutters to cut through it, and I used several layers of electrical tape folded around all the edges because it was a little sharp after being cut. It was 2 ft x 10 ft and it was about $12
  
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Blue-Hawk-Rolled-Wire-Galvanized-Steel-Hardware-Cloth-Common-10-ft-x-2-ft-Actual-10-ft-x-2-ft/4780947

Posted By joea64 on 8/09/2017 8:04 AM

 Outstanding. Both Lowes and Home Depot are right up the road from my apartment, literally. Walmart is Walmart but they have some nice big litterboxes that should neatly fit both my buns and (I hope!) will fit into the bunny condo, for, oh, about $5 or so. I’ll look at the equine-pellet prices at Tractor Supply Co. this weekend.

EDIT: Is this the equine pellets you were referring to?

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p…ding-40-lb

40 pounds is a LOT!  Also, I see they’re pine – I know pine shavings are unsafe but if they’re pellets, are they OK?

Yep, those are the exact ones I was talking about! I just got a Rubbermaid storage bin from Walmart that I empty the bags out in. The bin was pretty inexpensive, and it fits the 30lbs of what I am currently using, so I will have to use another bin to store the remainder. As far as I know, the shavings are unsafe because they can cause respiratory issues, but I have been told that pine pellets are fine, though I will ask again just to be sure. Not worth the savings if it will be harmful!  Some people also use wood stove pellets.

Posted By ThorBunny on 8/09/2017 8:37 AM

Looks great to me! I have a similar litter screen over wood stove pellets and my buns don’t seem to have any problems with comfort. The screen is seriously a life-saver, Thor loves to make a huge mess out of hers if given the chance

Good to know! Of course if she seems to be spending less time in it (therefore eating less) I will take it out, but so far I guess she seems fine with it. I tried to use one for my mini lop but he literally eats everything  as soon as I put his box back with the screen he started chewing the electrical tape on the side… Oh my little muncher!

Do you know about the safety of using pine pellets? I have heard of people using them, saying they are safe even though the shavings are not. I suppose I’ll just use the stove pellets, since I know for a fact those are fine and they are about the same price.

Posted By Wick on 8/09/2017 9:04 AM

Wick has a plastic knit mesh as a litter screen. It’s pliable so pretty comfy. His litter is small paper granules, so it’s solid but gives way to weight and pressure if necessary. I think it works really well!

Unfortunately my bunnies are super attracted to chewing plastic! Anything plastic! The baby gates I had were plastic, and I had to replace the plastic with metal anyway because the gaps were too big, but also because they were shredding through it!! I honestly did not think they were capable of chewing through that hard, tough plastic and making the gaps even bigger, but of course they showed me they were perfectly capable of that task in under 5 minutes

Posted By joea64 on 8/09/2017 9:25 AM

Plastic, or more accurately, fiberglass, screen mesh is available at Home Depot, but it’s fairly expensive. I don’t know whether Panda and Fernando are particularly apt to plastic-chewing; I will have to ask, and possibly have to be extra meticulous about applying the tape to the screen edges if I go with metal.

Yeah I am not completely sure if the electrical tape on the side will prove to work out for us. It didn’t work with my other bun, who eats everything. But Ophelia is very good about not chewing stuff up (unless it’s plastic and it’s in between her and my bedroom &nbsp So hopefully she won’t mess with the tape. I don’t think she will though, she’s pretty good  *knock on wood*

The screen isn’t really intended as much for keeping them clean as it is for not wasting their hay! I clean their boxes every other day, but usually after a few hours, hey have dug through the box, covering their hay with soiled litter!!