Help with litter boxes-time consuming

[Laura]

I have 6 rabbits (and an occasional foster). I use wood pellet litter with straw (on the back 1/2 where they usually pee) and timothy hay on top. I have 6 litter boxes (2 bonded pairs with 2 boxes each, then 2 individual buns w/ 1 box each).  Problem is that I’m scooping the wet litter/straw twice a day. I’m getting tired of it. Should I be using something else so I’m not scooping so often? I guess I scoop because even though the boxes are big, they pee almost always in the same corner and it gets really wet, I don’t want them to get urine burn. Thanks.

[Monkeybun]

you really shouldn’t need to scoop that often with the wood pellet litter. I know that straw doesn’t really make a good litter, it wouldn’t soak up urine very well. You could try just using the wood pellets, they soak up stuff nicely. And maybe use a grid over the litter, so they won’t be in direct contact with it?

[Wembley]

Hi there. I have just switched to BOXO and I love it! It fluffs up quite a bit and I have found I can get away with scooping only the back corner every day and leaving the rest for another day or two even. I also sprinkle some baking soda in that same corner before I put in the fresh litter. The 4 bunnies in the house seem to like the litter – easy on their feet – and the girls don’t dig in it like other litters which can make a real mess.

[Monkeybun]

I would advise against using baking soda in litter unless it is covered with a grate. It isn’t good for bunny tummies

[Isabelle]

I don’t know if this will be helpful or not, but I don’t scoop at all. Dutchess has a triangle litterbox that I fill the bottom with Yesterdays’ News paper pellets litter. There is very little smell and it soaks up urine well. Every day or every other day when needed I grab a plastic bag and two paper towels, dump and bang on the bottom of her litterbox into the bag, then rinse out her litterbox in our laundry tub, wipe it dry, stick the paper towels in the plastic bag and put it in the dumpster, and refill the bottom layer with litter. I keep her hay right next to her litterbox, so she can still sit in it and munch. I didn’t want to deal with wasted hay, scoops and grates and such. Maybe I’m lazy, but this works for us. ^__^ If you didn’t want to make a major switch, would it be possible for you to just turn the litterboxes, so they think they’re going in the same corner, but really not?

[jerseygirl]

Straw can be a good medium to separate them from the wet litter but the soiled straw has to be tossed everyday and that can be a pain.

How much wood pellet do you put in the pans? I’m thinking you could keep it minimal and just add more on top instead of scooping out. OR go the other way and provide alot then just mix the wet around with the other pellets. I think Bunnnnnie mentioned this is they way it’s done for horse bedding.

Another option could be litterbox screen? See binkybunny store if you’re not familiar with it.

I’ve gone round and round with litterbox set ups. Currently I use newspaper with a grate over the top. I don’t notice odour as a bowl of vinegar in the room seems to be really good taking care of that. The grate thing can be a pain sometimes and I’m likely soon to go with just done plain old newspaper and straw & tossing the lot daily. Seems easier.

[Beka27]

I also “turn” the litterbox 180 degrees after the second day. I can get 3-4 days out of one box with very minimal smell and the surface of the litter is still “dry to the touch”. The back half of the box then becomes the front and they potty in the unused portion.

[Elrohwen]

I would just stop scooping. Every couple of days you can just dump the whole box out into the trash and refill. My two share two boxes and I only clean them once a week usually – they’re fine. I just add more hay to the top to keep it dry.

[longhairmike]

if you buy the unscented cat version of yesterday’s news, you get more litter for your dollar. its the same stuff, but just slightly larger pellets.

[Mr.Bill]

Having 4 buns, we have 7 litter pans we keep up with. I use to use a mixture of Carefresh and Aspen. With the recommendations from a few fellow members here we tried the Feline Pine wood pellets and I got to say, I’ve never been happier. The Carefresh/Aspen mix worked good on the pee odor as long as the mix was changed once a day.

But with the Feline Pine it’s only cleaned every 3 days. And that’s not even because of the smell. It’s only because it just looks ichy. Well, I should say that the litter is changes every few days, but a screen is used to catch poo’s and those are dumped daily.

Because all buns like to eat and poop at the same time (good little multitaskers ), their pan is right in front of their food and hay.

 

 

 

 

This is what a days worth looks like.

 

 

 

So all I do is lift out the screen and dump.

 

 

 

For when the Feline Pine needs cleaned, I use a bucket that I cut a hole in the bottom and put in some screen in.

 

 

 

All I do is hold the bucket over the garbage can, dump the litter in to the bucket, sift out all the soiled litter, and dump the clean litter back in to the litter pan. I should mention, for those who don’t know, that with the pellets, when pee’d on they break down into saw dust which then soaks up the pee. Sifting the litter lets me save the clean pellets and all the soiled litter passes right through. So no clean litter ever gets wasted. Only the saw dust gets thrown out.

 

 

 

Then all I do is add a fresh scoop and I’m done. Very little litter is needed in the pan. I only put in about an inch. Just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. That’s all that’s needed.

Cleaning pans this way, it literally only takes a minute to do a pan. It’s so easy.

Even with the 4 buns and 7 pans a 40 pound bag of Feline Pine still lasts over a month.

 

[Laura]

Some great ideas. Thanks so much.

FYI: I buy a 40 lb bag of wood pellets for $4.89. I think Feline Pine is more than that. But I don’t think it works well for the smell.

[Mr.Bill]

We burn wood pellets in the winter so we’ve got plenty on hand. I mixed a scoop in with FP once and the hardwood pellets didn’t work good at all. It’s easy to tell the difference because FP pellets are really light colored and the hardwood are dark.

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