Hay / litterbox problems

[babybella]

My stubborn Bella is causing me a bit of trouble with her hay usage. 

The biggest problem is that she won’t eat it unless it’s fresh and clean – as soon as it goes in the litterbox she stamps it down and, well, uses it as litter. I can’t be constantly adding fresh hay (I work 10-12 hour days) so I just dump a whole bunch of it in there every morning/night and she picks through the pile to find the clean pieces. We’re going through half a bale of hay in a matter of weeks – for one rabbit – and it’s getting expensive, not to mention messy… the excess hay clogs up the mesh bottom so poop gets kicked out of the litterbox (and around the entire kitchen).

Attempted solutions: 
I did try feeding her outside the litterbox, but she just made the area next to the hay her new “litterbox” which didn’t help at all.
I tried hanging a hay feeder from the litterbox – within 10 minutes she managed to get the box down and open, making it worse than useless.
I tried hanging a hay feeder from her pen, and placing the litterbox under it. She immediately shoved the litterbox aside and proceeded to eat/poop right next to it. (I don’t really like the idea of using the pen, anyway, I’m trying to figure out a set-up where she has more freedom to roam the house.)

Any suggestions???

[Luna]

Has Bella always done this? I’m wondering if her behavior is because she does not like that particular litter box? I would try removing the mesh and just having litter in the box, and/or getting a larger litter box.

[babybella]

Sorry for the late reply, been an absolutely crazy weekend. I hadn’t thought of that, but yes this is a new litterbox! She was actually living outside for quite a while, but my husband and I recently moved and we decided to keep her inside rather than rabbit-proof the new yard, especially since we’re both so busy she’d probably feel a little neglected out there by herself. Anyway, I wonder if the reason she’s being so messy is that she resents being confined to a smaller area, as well as not having the ability to dig, forage for fresh grass, etc. She’s always been picky about her hay, but it seems to have gotten worse since we moved her inside. We’re working on a way to give her more space to play, but I will have to try a new litterbox as well and see if that helps. Thank you!

[ButterBuns]

My bun (Butter) is confined to a spacious cage (54in by 60in) and has no space to really play. I live in a garage w/ 5 other people so its kinda crazy. I tend to get a little creative with all the amazon delivery boxes I get and have built some play things for butter to chew up.

Butter used to take out hay from a feeder box, stomp it down, then ate some and poo on it too. I’m not sure what the dimensions on your litter box are, but could it be possible that its not spacious enough? Once I got Butter an “IRIS Open Top Cat Litter Box”, he seemed to like it better than what I had used before, which was a 2×2 plastic bucket. Since it was a cage, I attached a “Kaytee Hay n Food Bin Feeder w/ Quick Locks” to the cage and hung it partially in the litter box. It was low enough where he could reach for the hay to eat, but high enough where he couldn’t not grab everything out at once. I also use shredded newspaper as an alternative to the hay being on the ground of the litter box. Since newspaper is compost-able, I tend to dump everything out in our backyard planter. Great fertilizer!

Since I also work long hours (10-14 hours), I generally stuff the Food bin with like two days worth of hay where some of it popping out. So far so good. Hope that helps a bit!

[Boston's Mama]

I would try again with the hay rack above litter box but make it so she can’t move the litter box – maybe a heavy rabbit safe piece of wood pushed against it ? Would double as a chew log
Or drill two holes in the litter box near top and cable tie it to her pen corner under the hay rack

[Author]

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