Advice on cage set-up – please!

[Onion_&_Shallot]

 

Could anyone advise on best cage set-up?  We have had our two rescued house rabbits for just over a year; they used to be children’s hutch bunnies, so they’re mostly litter trained but do have the occasional confused “where’s the loo” moment within their cage…

They now are in a typical indoor rabbit cage, the ferplast 120 or something, which we line with lining paper (the stuff for going under wallpaper – works much better than newspaper!) and then put woodshavings on top.  We find the woodshavings a nightmare, they get everywhere, I even find them at work! They’re cute fluffy paws drag them out of the cage and voila, a hoovering, sock tredding nightmare.

We have tried just the lining paper, but found this got messy very quickly with their occasional in-cage accidents, so always resort back to woodshavings.

Does anyone know of a better alternative to woodshavings that won’t reduce my hoovers lifetime, and create a house maintenance chore for me?!

Thanks a lot 

[Elrohwen]

Honestly, it seems counterintuitive, but I would try taking out both the woodshavings and the lining paper and see how it goes. They could be peeing outside of the litter box because there’s something absorbent to pee on. If you take away everything absorbant and just leave a plastic cage floor, they may be less likely to pee there.

[MooBunnay]

Hi Onion_&_Shallot! Welcome to Binky bunny

All of my bunnies have exercise pens with rugs as their flooring, and we use a pelleted litter (wood stove pellets) just in their litterbox.  I find this is very easy to clean because we just use the vacuum or the shop vac. to clean up their cage, and then change the litter box once a week. How much time do they get to be outside the cage? If it is not very much, I would recommend getting an exercise pen that they can stay in during the day so that they have some more room.

If you are hesitant about a larger area due to the litter training, I would recommend just laying our a large towel or blanket in their exercise area, to catch any accidents, and include a second litter box in their exercise are.

There are some great pictures of cool rabbit cages here in our Cool Habitats section: Cool Habitats

[Karla]

It is quite a small cage you have there. The guideline is that both bunnies should be able to do two quite big hops within the cage, but it does depend on how much time they spend in the cage of course. I use the commercial cages for my bunnies as well, but they are free roaming so it is only for keeping their food and toilet.

Other than that, why don’t you remove all the bedding and just use the toilet box? You won’t have to deal with the wood shavings and cleaning is much easier. I used to have newspapers on the bottom, but not anymore…it doesn’t seem to make a difference to the bunnies, and it is a whole lot easier with just the plastic bottom if there is the occassional accident.

[hooty22]

Wood Stove Pellets are a god send! Felony is a fluffy little bugger, and EVERYTHING stuck to him. Wood chips, CareFresh… I’d try the wood stove pellets in just the litter box and see if that helps at all.

[KatnipCrzy]

I use fleece blankets as a lining for my bunnies cages/pens.  I buy the cheap ones- they tend to go on sale this time of year.  And I just wash them every week or so.  They do nibble on them sometimes- so they can end up looking “moth eaten” but when I bought the blankets for them I never intended to use them for anything else.  You can also buy fleece from the fabric store- the fleece from the fabric store is usually nicer and thicker than the cheap fleece blankets that I buy for about $4 each.

I use woodstove pellets for their litter pans.  We have a Dyson vacuum and I was really worried about wrecking it when I got my first bunny about 2 years ago- I was afraid the hay and other rabbit mess- litter, etc would be too hard on it- but I have had no issues.  I usually shake the fleece blankets outside before I put them in the washer- so that helps keep the washer in better working condition and the vacuum in better working condition.

[Onion_&_Shallot]

Thanks to everyone for your posts – much appreciated!

Onion & Shallot have now been on a wood-shavings free cage for just over a week, and have adjusted to it very well! They now have their 100% flax beds on their ‘shelf’ – the second storey section of their cage, and just wood pellets covered with a thin layer of woodshavings and lots of hay in their litter tray. I’m loving having little mess dragged out when they come out – as like Felony, our two are fluffy ones and things do stick to them!

We have tried towels but were scared of them chewing them, so stick to the Flax beds which are safe if munched upon, and can be thrown away once they get too old.

The cage is bigger than it looks, our two both run around and play in it, they are very small buns and can easily do three or four hops to get from one side to the other! We let them out every day for a good run-round too, which they enjoy, especially when we get out their bunny tunnels!

Again, thanks for the advice, it’s been a much better week in terms of hoovering! :o)

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