Best cage for a rabbit who’s not litter trained? Also general questions.

[Ibbet]

Hello, I am new here and to bunny ownership. I recently (last Saturday on the 8th of this month actually) rescued a bunny who I was told is around 2 years old. He was an outdoor bunny kept in a wire floored cage not even big enough to turn around in. Long story short I paid $5 and took him home. I’ve named him Sir Hopsworth and he is a pretty big bunny (I’ll get a picture as soon as my husband gets home with his phone as I’ve broken mine).

Anyway, I took him home and put him in an extra large dog crate with a litter box with bedding and hay in it, a food bowl, a water bottle and three rabbit toys I bought at Orscheln’s. I lined the whole thing with a blanket as well so he’d have somewhere soft to lay down…well he didn’t use the litter box at ALL (which I expected). He pooped all over the blanket and through the bars onto the floor so now I have him in a giant storage tote full of bedding, a hidey house, a food bowl, water bowl, hay and a couple more toys. I have a baby gate weighed down over his tote so he can’t escape as well. I was wondering what the best cage for him would be that has a solid bottom? I also am curious on how to litter box train him so I can put him in an xpen and let him out for floor time (when he’s more used to our house) and not have to worry about shampooing immediately afterwards? I’m pretty sure he’s overweight too (which seeing his tiny cage I’m not surprised).

Any advice is appreciated. He seems pretty healthy and also seems to be adjusting well. His poop and pee look good and he eats well. I am gonna try introducing vegetables this friday now that he is getting used to everything (I have a guinea pig who eats a similar vegetable diet) but he’s never eaten vegetables before so how slow and with what should I start so I don’t hurt his stomach?

Thank you in advance for all of the help and sorry for the 20 questions!

[jerseygirl]

Welcome!

Thank you for taking this rabbit it. Such a pity he had been kept that way at the previous home.

Just to clarify, you now have him in the crate with nothing else on the floor and then the large tote as his litterbox with litter and hay in it? It is better to keep the floor bare initially.
With the blanket, he only pooped on it or pee also?

[Ibbet]

No, I moved him from the crate into a GIANT storage tote (biggest one I’ve found in any store) because of the poop getting everywhere. I have a baby gate weighed down as a lid. He both peed and pooped on the blanket. It was so bad I ended up throwing it out. I am thinking about buying this cage in XL size: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007BNE1YA/ref=twister_B005BPQA44?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 Would that be okay as his cage?

I want to litterbox train him so I can have an x-pen attached to it permanently but until then I need to keep the poop/pee off the floor if possible. I have a shampooer but I don’t wanna have to run it constantly. I haven’t given him floor time yet (he was terrified the first couple of days and is just now getting used to everything) but when I do I’m gonna do it on our kitchen floor for easy cleanup. I have my own animal room (houses reptiles mainly plus the mice, guinea pig and now him) that I want to bunny proof for floor time once he’s potty trained as well. How do I go about potty training him for that though? He’s a sweet bunny, I just wanna make him happy.

[jerseygirl]

The cage looks a decent size. How big do you think he is?  I’d probably not put that shelf in as it takes up too much room. 

If you want to use what you already have, you could put some “cage guards” around all sides of the dog crate. You can buy these or make them out of something like coroplast or vinyl siding. 

What size litter box did you have in the crate when you had him in there? They tend to like enough room to turn around and even flop out in there. 

There are the basic litter training tips under the BUNNY INFO tab at top of the page. If he tends to go in a particular spot, place the litter box there. Keep the rest of the floor bare. No newspaper, towels or anything absorbent. Hay in or above the litterbox. If he can reach the hay while he is out of the box, he may poop where he is eating it. 

Because he’s been living in a wire bottom cage for so long, he may be trickier to train. Did he have a solid rest area in the wire based cage at all? What are the bottom of his feet like?

[MrBun&Daisy]

We litter trained both our buns by picking up all the stray pellets and putting them in the litter box. I think it showed that what it was for. and clean up pee as fast as you can so they don’t get used to that being a pee spot. however, like jersey said-if they do pick that spot putting their litter box their should work.
She only peed 2 or 3 times on the bed when we first brought her home (which was our fault because she wasn’t big enough to jump down so she had no way to get to her litter box) but when she did we would pick her up and quickly set her in her litter box.

it can take work and patience but they will usually catch on pretty quickly. and if they pick a spot and are determined to go there all you have to do is rearrange and put the litter box in that spot.

[tobyluv]

I assume that Sir Hopsworth isn’t neutered. It can be difficult to fully litter box train a rabbit that isn’t spayed or neutered, so you may not have complete success until he has had the surgery, if you are planning to have him neutered.

Regarding the veggies, start with one new veggie a week, then add a second veggie the second week, and so on. Romaine lettuce is a good one to start with. Most rabbits love kale, cilantro and parsley, so those are good basic veggies to try subsequently. Carrot tops are great if you can find fresh ones. The ones in the stores around here are usually not so fresh. I grow my own, from seeds or from the cut carrot tops themselves. Red or green leaf lettuce, dandelion greens, radicchio, and mint are some others you can try.

For complete lists of veggies, and to see which ones can be given more often and which should be limited, go to these links:

http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/

https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/VeggieList/tabid/144/Default.aspx

[Ibbet]

Thank you all so much for your help! I moved him into a ferret cage we aren’t using (it came with our senior rescue ferret and he was falling off of the shelves so we put him in a critter nation) and it isn’t great but it’ll do until the other one comes in. To answer some questions: he did not have a soft spot to lay down on but luckily doesn’t seem to have bumblefoot. His nails were really long but I’ve clipped them and he moves around great now. I’m not sure how big he is. I will post a picture to give you an idea. The litter box I have in with him is a plain gray box from petsmart meant for cats. It’s pretty decent size. I only have his hay in the litterbox but he doesn’t seem to even want to get in it. I put newspaper down on the exposed part of the cage, should I take it out? I will definitely read the article and do what MrBun&Daisy suggested and pick stray poops up to put in it as well! No, he is not neutered. Thank you for the list of veggies, I really appreciate it! I am going to the store tomorrow so I will write them down. I think I am gonna start him on romaine, kale and green bell pepper, would that be okay? Thank you all so much for your help!

[Ibbet]

Can anyone tell me what breed(s) he might be?

You can see where he messed up the newspaper right after he was put in the cage, lol. The gray box is his litter box. The hay was mostly hidden by the shelf but there was a lot in there. I make sure he always has some (used to it with my guinea pig) and I check several times a day.

[caudex]

That ferret cage could actually be the base for an awesome set up. If you aren’t going to use it again for anyone else, I would take the wheels off, put an x pen around it, and leave the door open all the time. Are there more platforms that go with the cage? Lots of bunnies enjoy being high up and surveying their kingdom. It’s also an outlet for jumping. Stagger them, 8-10 inches apart, and he can go from spot to spot. Falling is rare, so don’t be worried about that. This was my old set up. 

See how big my litter box was? If you did a pen, you could put a larger box in, which limits the available area for messes and also cuts down on smell. This is an under-the-bed storage tote. If you like the size you have, I would ditch your grain bowl, as cute as it is, and put one of those half moon, cage mountable ones OVER your box. All grain and hay in the potty, so he can multitask.

Also, don’t worry too much about having soft things for him to lie on if he messes them. All of mine would pee on blankets, never had more than a carpet. They flopped out and were perfectly happy.

[VivaLaBunz]

It’s great to hear he was rescued from those other despicable conditions. I recommend having him neutered as rabbits with hormones tend to be territorial and they mark territory with pee and poop. Also unneutered rabbits can spray (much like a male cat). It’s a good idea to set up hay in or right next to the litter box because rabbits like to use the litter box while they’re eating. If you notice they are going to the bathroom in specific locations put a litter box there. Also sweep up the poop he leaves on the floor and put it in the litter box so he associates the two. Territorial poops will pretty much be everywhere though.

As for a cage there are many options, yours looks good. You can also build them, but if you’re not a strong builder (like me) you can buy whatever as long as it’s big enough for them to hop around.

For veggies it’s good to introduce one type at a time just in case he has any bad reactions or diarrhea, then you’ll know exactly what caused it. There’s a lot more than just this small list but I’m listing what MY rabbit has tried/eaten:

-cilantro
-dandelion greens
-any type of lettuce (besides iceburg b/c its basically just water)
-bok choy
-mint
-parsley

Neither of my rabbits would eat zucchini squash, yellow zucchini squash, or any type of bell pepper – but they CAN eat these if they like it.

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