Large cage or xpen for indoors? How to litterbox train if she sleeps in it rather than using it?

[LittleDoll]

Me, my husband and our 12 y.o. daughter are new bunny owners, and we got the bunny last summer. She was sold at a local fair as a “senior” bunny. I dont know if she is spayed or not.

She lives indoor in a very large cage with wire mesh floor in our living room. When she is not socializing with one of us she just sits in one corner. I read that bunnies can get depressed and I am feeling bad for her. It is like we a keeping her in a prison cell. I am thinking to replace a cage with an x-pen with a special mat under it, although my husband is against keeping the bunny in the living room alltogether. But maybe she would be happier, I am not sure. In order to do that, I need to litter box train her. We have a corner litter box with a mesh in her cage. But she likes to sit in it sometimer and is not really using it as litterbox.

I went to a petstore and looked at different options. First of all, I dont know what size the box should be. Second, I think she maybe uses it as a nest and I would like to find a nest for her. She also has a hideway box, but she doesnt use it.

Any ideas?

[kinggoblin]

Walmart has big raised side litter boxes, that is what I use for my lop, she might not be using the litterbox because its too small. My bunny only sleeps in boxes but some like cuddle cup type pet beds. 

I keep my bunny in the kitchen with his cage + xpen attached to it. Here is his setup for ideas. He likes to lay on top of his cage which is why there is a rug up there. Its less cluttered now though because he doesn’t chew willow anymore because of his maloccluded front teeth. I also got more cat pop up cubes to connect them ( red cube ) and put them in the living room where he plays.  I got pretty much all his stuff at walmart for cheap, the rugs, the litterbox, the cubes, the tin plate for his food….

[Monkeybun]

The wire floor could be confusing her as well. If she is free to go wherever, thats what she will do, once used to it. Cover the wire, get a larger litter box, at least a regular cat box. Once she has a good box to go in, and no litter pan under the wire, she will get a ton better at it.

[Beka27]

We have a corner litter box with a mesh in her cage.

When you say this, do you mean that the litterbox has a wire cover over the litter? If so, I would remove the wire cover so she can feel the softer litter underneath. Buns like to pee on soft materials and knowing that she’s in litter may encourage her to use the box more often. I would also recommend covering all the wire in the cage with a solid material.

[Elrohwen]

Good suggestions – if you want to keep the cage, definitely get a bigger litter box with no wire cover, and cover all of the wire in her cage with cardboard or something.

With that said, I think getting an xpen would be a great idea. Even the biggest cage can’t be more than 4’x2′ or so which is the absolute minimum for a bun, so giving her an xpen would allow her so much more space.

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