Alternative bedding

[SirThumpsey]

Hey everyone. I told my hubby I’d ask this question…We are looking into alternative bedding (especially for Halo) She is an unspayed female who isn’t litter trained yet and seems very territorial with her droppings…I mean they are everywhere. She will pee in one corner but poops everywhere…even in her water dish. (her water bottle leaks even though its new and gaurenteed not to leak so I put a bowl under it so it wouldn’t soak the bedding)  Anyway, I feel I’m pretty educated about Buns but he’d like to know if there is something else we can use. We have been buying paperbased bedding but that doesn’t last very long…doesn’t absorb much liquid or smell.. We live in a small town with no pet stores close by…our only resource is a tractor supply like store (and I’m not even sure if they are selling the rabbit stuff thinking its for house buns) 

He works for a landscaping Company that his dad owns and he thought we could use grass clippings (not  sure those would absorb much but they are pretty abundant since we have a large lawn) or mulch. My first thought with the mulch was the wood in it..He said it was pine >.< he is looking into whether its dried or not...but I was thinking that would be rather uncomfy  We really need to get her spayed cause she'll dump her litterbox and make a mess. ( i think she likes to watch me clean)....not to mention shes pretty destructive all around which wouldn't bother me but we are renting and originally the lease said no pets but I talked the landlords into it (she works at a vets office so she likes buns yay!)

 

So any thoughts you have on a natural bedding that we don’t have to purchase each week would be greatly appreciated.

[Deleted User]

Hi Lil,

–grass clipppings can contain chemicals such as herbicides and fertilizers. Even if they are free from chemicals, they don’t absorb anything. A rabbit may eat them and get sick if she is not used to fresh grass. I use dried clippings from my untreated yard for my rabbits sometimes in a diggy box just for fun, though, but I can’t recommend them as litter material.
I have no experience with mulch, but my first concern would be that it can contain bugs or oak leaves and other toxic plant matter.
If your rabbit pees in one corner, put a litterbox there with wood pellets and hay as material in it. As far as the droppings are concerned, I would just clean them up often and just line her enclosure with a sheet of newspaper, cardboard or a grass mat.

[Elrohwen]

If she’s using the cage floor like a little box, it could actually be because of the bedding you’ve put down. Take out all bedding for now, and only put litter in her litter box. Putting bedding down on the floor can be like giving a human 15 toilets, but only one that they’re supposed to use. How would you know which was the right one? Bunnies tend to think that anything absorbent is a good toilet, so making her environment less absorbent will help her figure out where to go.

After her litter training improves, you can use fleece blankets as bedding. I like to go to the fabric store and get a yard or two, then cut each yard into 3 pieces. They can be washed so are much more environmentally friendly than buying litter and throwing it away. Plus, a blanket is different enough from litter that most bunnies can figure out the difference (once they’re litter trained, that is – if you put blankets in right away, she may still use them as a bathroom)

[Beka27]

Welcome! Tractor Supply stores usually have either woodstove pellets or pelleted horse bedding. Both are safe for litterboxes, control odor, and are very absorbent.

A few things you might try… use a larger litterbox. Drill a couple holes in the corner and attach it with zipties to the pen bars. Make sure bedding is only in the litterbox, not in the rest of the cage.

[SirThumpsey]

Those are all very good ideas. Thank you.

At this point I think we want to try something other than paper based. It doesn’t absorb much odor. I’ve heard pine bedding works well as long as it’s kilned dried. Any suggestions on other kinds of bedding? I once got pelleted pine that was kiln dried that was amazing but I cant remember what brand it was. My memory hasn’t been too good lately.

[RabbitPam]

I like the Feline Pine pellets for cats the best if going with pine, since it needs to be untreated and the cat kind is the same as the bunny kind they make, only you can get it for less $ and in much larger bags. Do NOT use Pine shavings.

I use Aspen pellets and shavings, which is the safest wood. The pellets absorb more, control odor and last longer, but she seems to like the shavings so I sprinkle those on top of the pellets just for softness in the litter box. Keeping the litter strictly in a larger litter pan and putting her poos back into it as you find them will teach her to go there. You can also put a litter pan or two outside her cage, in case she wants a pit stop without going all the way back into her house.

Getting her spayed will do the most for you both.

[Elrohwen]

I just purchase wood stove pellets (or pelleted pine horse stall bedding) from the feed store and it works pretty well. I prefer Yesterday’s News for odor control, but it’s more expensive so I stick with the wood stove pellets.

[Beka27]

Posted By Elrohwen on 06/06/2010 06:48 AM
I just purchase wood stove pellets (or pelleted pine horse stall bedding) from the feed store and it works pretty well. I prefer Yesterday’s News for odor control, but it’s more expensive so I stick with the wood stove pellets.

I think this is the key when weighing the pros and cons of litter.  Even if you feel the WSP aren’t as good w/ odor control (altho I think they are), they’re so darn cheap, that you can easily change the box more frequently, and not feel like you have to get “just one more day!” out of your litter b/c it’s so expensive.  I’d rather change the box an extra time during the week and know that 1) the buns are not in a dirty box and 2) we’re still saving money changing the box more often.

[Elrohwen]

I should’ve said that the smell from the wood stove pellets that I get is the woody smell – not the bunny pee. I think it soaks up pee just as well, but I can definitely smell the wood smell. It bothers me in a small space (if they’re in my bedroom) but doesn’t bother me in a larger space where I’m not so close to it.

[Lunar~Atticus]

im curious to know why you cant use pine shavings? i know cedar shvings will slowly kill a guinea pig and its reccommended to use pine for them!?

[Beka27]

Both cedar and pine shavings release phenols that can irritate the animal when used long-term. Kiln-baked pine does not pose this risk.

 

Edited to add a link for a more thorough explanation:    http://www.rabbit.org/care/shavings.html

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