a few questions on bunnies!

[Jamm]

hello, i have a few questions on bunny-care.

1. how do you get your bunny to use the litterbox? my bunny poops in the litterbox AND around it (in 2 places). and it’s not 3 or 4 territorial markings.. it’s like 30 of them at each spot! i’m thinking of building an NIC condo thingy for him and using fabric as the bedding during the holidays, so i think getting him to fully use the litterbox would mean less cleaning when he lives in the NIC condo

2. i let my bunny run around this empty room for about 30 minutes to an hour everyday. however, he never likes to go back into his cage. i have to try to “catch” him and then put in in front of his cage and block any other path so he will go back in himself. so my question is, are there any ways to convince him to go back into his cage after 30 min – 1hour is up? i actually wouldn’t mind letting him run around the room the whole day.. but i have yet to fully bunny-proof the area, so i always have to supervise him while he’s out.

3. regarding the NIC condos, does anyone know where to buy the cubes thingy in perth, western australia? i wouldn’t mind buying online but the shipping would cost a bomb, and waste much more money!

4. another question on the NIC condos- i’ve seen many examples, and i notice that there are no ramps used to get to the higher levels. can bunnies just hop up? or do they need ramps? :/ my bunny is only a 9 week old netherland dwarf so i just want to know if he will be able to get up to the higher levels fine because he is still very little!

hope i gave enough detail so you all could help me

[Elrohwen]

Welcome! Do you have pics of your baby nethie? We love baby bunny pictures 🙂

1. Do you have other “bedding” down in his cage? This can confuse a bunny into thinking the entire cage is a litter box. I would put some towels or fleece down now as his bedding and see if that helps his litter box habits. If you don’t have extra bedding in his cage, I would suggest getting another litter box or two, or a bigger litter box. Also, if he’s going right next to the box, you could try blocking those areas with a box or somethign to discourage him. If he can’t get to his special areas to go, he may forget about it and use his litter box instead.

2. My bun is very food motivated, so I find feeding him at the end of the night is good motivation for him to return to his cage. He knows we go to bed around 10pm and will often head back to his cage on his own and wait for dinner. It can also work to lure him in with a treat that he finds especially yummy. Food and treats can make the end of playtime more fun for him, instead of it seeming like punishment. If none of that works, we just have to herd him back. We’ll walk behind him and gently push on his bum to get him going. He knows this means it’s time to go home and after a little resitance he usually scrambles back to his cage so we’ll stop goosing him in the butt! It just takes some time, but I think he’ll eventually figure out what you want. I would try to not do it by picking him up though, as this could make him afraid of you and of going back into his cage.

4. Bunnies can jump fairly high. My 4lb Holland Lop has no problems jumping up onto our couch, which is higher than he can even see while standing on his hind legs. Though it takes some buns longer than others to realize they can jump up on things, so ramps might be good to get him started. After a while, he probably won’t even use them and you can take them away. It took my bun 4 months to realize he could jump on to the top of his maze haven, so some buns just aren’t jumpers; but they all figure it out eventually if it’s an area they really want to visit.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Welcome!!!

 

1. how do you get your bunny to use the litterbox? my bunny poops in the litterbox AND around it (in 2 places). and it’s not 3 or 4 territorial markings.. it’s like 30 of them at each spot! i’m thinking of building an NIC condo thingy for him and using fabric as the bedding during the holidays, so i think getting him to fully use the litterbox would mean less cleaning when he lives in the NIC condo;

*By giving them less space and/or more litter boxes, that really cuts down on ‘marking’ and ‘accidents’ -Also spay/neutering is big for litter training. If your bunny isn’t fixed yet, you’ll likely have some trouble training, but keep it up until he gets fixed and then you’ll really be on track! https://www.binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/Litter…fault.aspx

2. i let my bunny run around this empty room for about 30 minutes to an hour everyday. however, he never likes to go back into his cage. i have to try to “catch” him and then put in in front of his cage and block any other path so he will go back in himself. so my question is, are there any ways to convince him to go back into his cage after 30 min – 1hour is up? i actually wouldn’t mind letting him run around the room the whole day.. but i have yet to fully bunny-proof the area, so i always have to supervise him while he’s out.

*That’s pretty normal. Until you can bunny proof the room, see if you can give him some more time out (supervised of course! If it’s not proofed)-Rabbits generally need about four hours out of their cage-he’s just telling you he’s not done playing yet. If you do have to cut it short, you could try luring him with a treat.

3. regarding the NIC condos, does anyone know where to buy the cubes thingy in perth, western australia? i wouldn’t mind buying online but the shipping would cost a bomb, and waste much more money!

*I definitely wouldn’t order online!! Jersey is from Australia-she’ll be able to tell you where to buy and how much they cost! The other thing you could use, though not as versatile, is shelving-they sell it in home reno’ stores and it’s wire shelving, similar to the cubes, and you can cut it and secure it in much the same way.

4. another question on the NIC condos- i’ve seen many examples, and i notice that there are no ramps used to get to the higher levels. can bunnies just hop up? or do they need ramps? :/ my bunny is only a 9 week old netherland dwarf so i just want to know if he will be able to get up to the higher levels fine because he is still very little!

*I put ramps in mine, and after a few days they were uselss! They prefer to hop from level to level and will hop even if a ramp is in the way  

 

hope i gave enough detail so you all could help me

 

[Jamm]

Elrohwen:  for his bedding, i put newspaper down, then put a lot of hay down- he’s used to having the hay and bedding and food :/ but i’ll try the towel-method! i’ll also try to use some treats to lure him back into his cage it’s pretty hard though because he’s always running around!

Kokaneeandkahlua: i put this “super pet igloo” thing inside, for him to sleep in, which really cramps his cage :/ so i don’t think i can put a bigger litterbox in. i’ll try something out though. and thanks for reassuring me about ordering online for the cubes!

oh, here is a picture of him

[Monkeybun]

What a cutie! My bun ahted being put back in her cage too, so I went out and bought her a play pen from Petsmart, one that can hook onto her cage so she has a little more space to run and play all day. She just goes back into her cage at night now She’s much better about going back to bed thats for sure! So thats an idea to try, cuz really, 30 minutes to an hour just isn’t enough exercise time for a bunny.

[luvmybunny]

Cute bunny! I have a playpen attached to Bellla’s cage until I make her a NIC cage. (The cubes came today…YAY!) As for litter box training, I kept putting Bella’s poop in her litter box and kept it filled with lots of hay so she would munch and do her deed She is doing much better and having less accidents.

Good luck with your little cutie!

[jerseygirl]

Hi Jamm. Maybe look into a pen for his home. You cant put the levels in it like the condos but can add cardboard boxes to hide under or jump ontop of. Plus they’re really easy to clean. Also, you can pack it up and set up his home elsewhere if you are staying somewhere and taking Donut with you.

The grid cubes are pretty hard to find in Australia. In SA I have seen them in Bunnings but they’re costly and it’s just one cube per pack. Apparently places like Big W and The Reject Shop use to sell them but that was a few years ago now. We do have other Perth members on the board who might be able to point you towards them.

I wonder if it’s the hay covering the floor that has him pooping about the place. Rabbits seem to munch on hay and poop at same time. I try combat this by putting the hay only in the litterbox for them to munch on. They do there business in one end and I put the hay down the clean end. WOrks to some degree.
He’s cute btw, glad to see more of him than just his nose!

[Elrohwen]

I agree with Jersey that having hay on the floor may be encouraging him to go outside of the litterbox. My bun has a hay rack sitting on the floor and, for a while, he would move the rack out of the way and pee in the corner on top of the remaining hay. I think he was just used to thinking of hay as being part of his litterbox, so he didn’t see a problem with peeing where there was hay. As soon as I took the hay rack away, he resumed going in his litterbox 100%.

[Jamm]

thanks for the replies!
i think the playpen idea is great! however, i am just wondering how big you suppose it should be? :/ i know it’s good for them to get a fairly big amount of space to exercise in.. but if it’s really big i dunno where to get such a big playpen lol!
yeah i think i will not be having hay as his bedding any longer. is it alright to have hay in a tray-sort of thing for him to eat? or will he mistake that as his litter tray? :/

[DeVaStAt0r]

Gizmo is about 14 weeks old but he still goes outside of his litter too, every day i will move any messes to the litter box, i try to keep his cage tidy as well (he doesn’t agree it should be) I also use a towel as a comfy spot on the other side of his cage and he has a small log cabin to hide in or hop on so the towel is inside his house. i kept the side with the litter with bare floor, he’s more apt to notice his mess when its not being soaked up! then i wipe it with a papertowel and put that in the litter too. don’t forget to put some hay in the litter, they tend to use the same corner of the litter so i put hay in the oppsite end! sometimes they also change their mind on where they wanna go and you have to remodel!

and the easiest way to get him back in his cage after playtime is to lure him with something tasty!

gizmo can smell an orange from miles away and will actually chase me around the house up and down the stairs just to get a tiny tiny sliver of some. (he also resorts to nibbling on anything the orange has touched! hands..mommy’s lips!) but once he’s chewing you can move him anywhere.

I also have a shelf in his cage (although i still will upgrade him to a condo that i can build around his current cage) and that’s where i put his water dish (ceramic!) it doesn’t get litter or hay kicked into it up there so he always has clean water.

his cage came with a ramp to that shelf and he hated it and was much more content after it was gone.

your bunny would hop up, i started it lower with gizmo and then as he got bigger i moved it to where it is now. giving him more room to move around.

the only other thing you can do is show us more pictures of your bunny!

[Kafrn]

Ohhhhhh your rabbit is so sweet!

They have the NIC cube things at Bunnings. They are really expensive though. 5 squares are $14 so a big condo will cost a fortune!

We have the pet one hutches. The massive ones. And the buns love them. They are available Australia wide now.

[Jamm]

DeVaStAt0r: i think i’ll try that method with the towels.. however my bun loves to chew and dig on carpets :/ everything i have to stop him and from eating the carpet! what type of blankets/towels would be good for my bun’s cage so that even if he chews it, no pieces of strings comes out easily? (i.e. carpet fibres tend to be pulled out easily) oh i will add more pictures tmr or sunday haha

Kafrn: now that you said that, i don’t think i’ll be getting the NIC cubes anymore :/ thanks though!

edit/ i tried the luring method- it worked great! but instead of food i used a cloth! i was just testing to see if he would chew until pieces of string came out (which he didn’t!). anyways, it workeddd well!  i just had to nudge him a little when he was standing outside the cage door. i think that was his give up point haha.

[Elrohwen]

I went to the fabric store and bought fleece for my bun. I bought two yards of fleece and cut up each yard into 3 pieces. Each piece is perfect for lining the bottom of his 2’x4′ cage (I don’t use fleece in the attached pen area). I just throw them in the wash every week and put in a new one. They’re also great for lining the bottom of his carrier, putting down on the wood floor so he’s not scared (it scares him to go from rug to wood, so a piece of fleece connecting them makes it not scary for some reason). They also work to throw over top of him and pick him up 😉 He’s not a chewer though and has only put the tiniest of holes in his fleece blankets. But even if your bun chews, the fleece comes out in little pieces instead of dangerous strings.

[Jamm]

okay thanks. i’ll try using fleece as his bedding, and i’ll watch if he chews and trys to eat it

[Jamm]

thanks to all again! , i’ve re-modelled donut’s cage! i got a new, bigger litter pan, and i put some hay there for him to munch on while pooping so far, it’s working great. only seen a few poops outside the litter box. on the other side of the cage, i used another tray/pan to put hay in. and also put his water bottle and food bowl there. i used this pink cloth (i think it’s fleece? it’s a really soft material) for half of his cage (the hay and food side). i put newspaper at where his litterbox is for now.. incase he pees outside the box.. i also added a 2nd layer and put his little “castle” there! 

thanks all for the different methods ), oh as for getting him back into the cage, i might not have to anymore! since donut doesn’t chew on the pink cloth, i might put lots of that material over the carpet areas .. or i might just get a playpen for now

lastly, some pictures

donut sleeping after he came home from the vet’s!  (the pink cloth in this picture is not the one i was talking about earlier..)

donut observing

[BinkyBunny]

You had asked where to get a playpen – I’m not sure where you are located, but “xpens” you can find at Petco, Petsmart or any of those. They can be expensive, but you can also check out Craigslist.org and see if anyone is selling them there in your area. I know a few members got some cheap that way.

EDIT: Ooops – I was speed reading and originally missed that you are in Perth, Australia!  Though Craigslist.org does cover Perth, Australia, there wasn’t any pet stuff there when I checked.

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