Hay Box Behavior Q’s

[dewey]

I used to use a hay ball for my two bunnies.  One bunny destroyed his hay ball.  The other bunny did not use his hay ball.  I switched to a hay box (cardboard box with 3 inch sides) filled with hay.  The bunnies began eating a lot of hay.  After a month or two, I noticed bunny poop in the hay box.  O.k., so I clean it out and its no problem.  But in the last two weeks, we have noticed urinating, one time each by each bunny.  

I need to change up the hay box situation, but I am also wondering about the behavior.  I hate to use a plastic box.  I am guessing someone out there must have discussed this before and I haven’t seen the link.  One constraint is that one of the bunnies has to have a 10 lb weight in the bottom of his hay box b/c he throws the box and hay everywhere, every night without it.  

Saw lots of good discussions on bunny litter boxes and it makes me wonder if I should put litter in the bottom of the hay box with hay on top?  They really seem to like sitting in the hay box and munching away. Don’t want to have another litter box in the cage, but I want my bunnies to eat hay too. 

[LongEaredLions]

To your bunnies, this “hay box” is like a litterbox. Do your bunnies have a litterbox currently? The best set up for hay/litterbox is: plastic cat-sized or larger litterbox, bunny safe bedding (if your bunny tosses the litterbox around, you could use a heavy bedding like wood stove pellets) and then topped with lots of hay. Bunnies like to eat where they poo and pee.

[Deleted User]

Disgusting – wanting to eat where you poop (ha hah), but it’s true! I’m lucky and don’t have to do this, but I have heard others have the hay rack attached to side slightly above the litter box so they can eat the hay freely and poop to their hearts content in the litter tray. I too use a cat rectangle litter tray. Works perfectly with heaps of room. Cheers.

[Lexidavoulas]

Bunnies like to poop while they eat and probably are starting to think the hay box is a nice litter box. I have a litter box that has a clip on to the side of the cage so it can’t be moved or tossed around. It’s from petsmart. I suggest filling the box with some sort of bedding and fill a part of it with hay so the bunnies can snack while doing their business. I also have more clean hay around for them in a rack near the litter box.

[dewey]

So, I ordered two new litter boxes with the screens. I like the concept of the hay in the litter box (saw a picture of someone else’s litter box set up on the forums…very helpful) So, until the new boxes arrives, I put a bit of hay in the litter box. One bunny had no problem adapting. The other bunny sits outside of his litter box and eats the hay. Oh yeah, he also leaves a pile of poop in front of his litter box.

Really, I am laughing. Who knows how long I have with these cuties? Who knew bunnies liked to eat and poop in the same space? So, I learn and laugh at their antics.

[Peony]

Posted By dewey on 01/06/2014 06:10 PM

So, I ordered two new litter boxes with the screens. I like the concept of the hay in the litter box (saw a picture of someone else’s litter box set up on the forums…very helpful) So, until the new boxes arrives, I put a bit of hay in the litter box. One bunny had no problem adapting. The other bunny sits outside of his litter box and eats the hay. Oh yeah, he also leaves a pile of poop in front of his litter box.

Really, I am laughing. Who knows how long I have with these cuties? Who knew bunnies liked to eat and poop in the same space? So, I learn and laugh at their antics.

I am not sure if it will help with yours or not, but if I see Peony sitting outside the litterbox for long periods of time, eating hay out of it, and I see a “pellet” I would nuge her to get her to go in the box and put her pellet in it. She is litter trained so I only do this so she does not get into a bad rabbit.

[Starah]

My two have a plastic litter box and a huge hay box attached to the side of their hutch (I’ve found having it inside their hutch rather than in the play area has helped keep them from tossing it around)
They have no problems eating from the box and I have it made up so that they HAVE to sit in the litter box to get to the hay.
Often hay will be pulled into the box and peed on, but by having the bulk of the hay raised I know they always have access to clean, fresh hay.
This has worked well on improving litter habits too. Pascal is flawless (he’s neutered though which helps) and Patsy (currently in-spayed) is pretty good too, with only occasional accidents where her bum misses the edge of the box – haha!

[Author]

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