Baby bunny training

[Snowball]

Hi,

My 8 week old Holland Lop bunny, Snowball is still getting used to his new home. After playtime however, he doesn’t want to go back into his cage. We are also trying to potty train him- and he is being a little stubborn at the moment.

Any suggestions will be gladly appreciated. Thanks! -Ana

[Jbunny]

Maybe try luring him back into his cage with treats.

What kind of litter and litter box are you using?

[LittlePuffyTail]

Hi, Ana.

I noticed you have 2 Threads on this topic so I deleted the other one and am copying and pasting your post from that thread here since it has a bit more info.

Hi!
My 8 Week old bunny is still learning how to go about adjusting to his new home. Snowball is an 8 week old Holland Lop and my family is still learning to potty train him to go on one side of his cage. One of the biggest problems is that he gets fussy when let out to hop around the family room and won’t go back into his cage unless we corner him when he is pooped out (literally and figuratively).
Any help will be gladly appreciated.
-Ana

[Snowball]

We are only feeding him hay and food for the moment. He is too young for us to potty train right away bc he is marking his territory I assume.

[Deleted User]

You could give him a few kernels of old fashioned oats. My buns love them and they’ve been eating them since they were babies. Feed him a few kernels and if he likes it you can start luring him in with that.

[Snowball]

Hmm. He is still a baby so we are sticking to what the owners before us told us to feed him. We’re scared about what his digestive track would do since he is a purebred.

[joea64]

Posted By Snowball on 11/05/2017 6:44 PM

We are only feeding him hay and food for the moment. He is too young for us to potty train right away bc he is marking his territory I assume.

Can you specify what sort of hay and food you’re feeding him? Young rabbits should be fed alfalfa-based rabbit food/pellets until they’re 6 months old or thereabouts, then change over gradually to timothy-based pellets; they should get started on grass hay as soon as they’re up to eating solid food (previously, I thought they should be fed alfalfa hay until 6 months and then transition to timothy, but I now lean, after reading other recent threads here, to starting them on timothy right away when they start eating solids).

I understand your worries about his digestive tract; proper flora growth in the GI tract for digestion of food needs to be promoted, especially since (I gather) he’s been separated from his mother – normally he’d be eating his mother’s cecotropes/cecals to get the bacteria needed.

[Deleted User]

Being a purebred has nothing to do with the digestive system. My Hollands are purebreds. I have one with a phenomenal digestive tract and one that has GI problems. It’s all in what you feed them and the quantity. You can introduce small amounts of food. That’s how they adjust. No, not all at once, but a little here and there and monitor the bun.

[Author]

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