Litter and Dig Box!

[kitcat]

 Hi, I have had my bunny for 4.5 years (she’s 5) and I consider myself very knowledgeable in regards to bunny behaviour and psychology.  Lately my bunny has been digging her litter out like crazy, she has a large size corner (attached) litter box, and the worst part is that she pulls up the front of the litter box so it snaps against the floor and is very noisy.  I have browsed these forums and I see that I should also provide her a dig box.  I am looking at the rectangular litter pans and screens sold here as well.  Her current litter box has a wire grate that she always pulls off and throws on the floor – would she do the same with the screen or can I attach it somehow?  Also is the box not too low in the back that she will pee over the edge?  Thanks! 

 

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Since she’s only been doing it lately, maybe shes bored. Can you tell us more about her setup? What is her litter box attached to??

[kitcat]

Thanks that’s kind of what I thought too although this has been going on for maybe six weeks now and I have been taking her out in the yard more and interacting with her more during floor time but to no avail. Her cage is 2’x4′ with two levels and I’d say she has enough space considering she is free roam for about an hour and a half each morning and about three hours each evening at least. I know while I’m gone during the day she just sleeps. The digging and flipping of the litter box seems to occur early morning and late evening, which is the most annoying and frustrating time. I am looking forward to setting up a dig box for her but I think it would be beneficial to come up with a better litter box as well and hopefully between the two I can solve this.

[Pandorachik]

Early morning, and late evening are a rabbit’s most “active” times. You should get her some toys. Have you considered a large pen? That way there is no way she will be bored. You could get her a tunnel! And some cat balls. She doesn’t absolutely HAVE to have a pen , but if you have the money and space tthen why not!?

[Stickerbunny]

The cat boxes if you get the high edge ones (not the low to the floor ones) are perfectly fine they don’t pee out of them, unless you pile the litter up too high to give them a step. As for dumping her litter out, sounds like she may be getting hyper since those are the times buns like to run around doing crazy zoomies and binkies the most (dawn/dusk are rabbits most active times). Could you give her an x-pen attached to the cage at night and take it up in the day time if space is an issue?

For dig boxes you can just put a cardboard box in there with shredded paper and throw a couple of treats into it.

[Silly Sungura]

The Binky Bunny screen lays on top of the litter. A determined bunny could probably destroy/ remove it because it has enough space on each side for a rabbit to get its paws under there. I don’t think it happens often, though, that a bunny bothers the screen. At least I haven’t read many anecdotes on here about that happening. My bun has used her screen without incident for almost a year. The Busy Bunny sells a box that has a screen attached, but it is $30, which is a bit pricey, imo.

As far as the sides being too low on the box sold here, I guess it depends on your bunny’s habits. It’s a standard sized cat litter box, which is about four inches high. Once in a while a bunny will scoot back too far in it and pee over the edge unintentionally. Just be mindful of not piling the litter too high, as Stickerbunny said, and you should be fine. Or just get one with a higher back to begin with.

I’m thinking a bigger box would be much less attractive as a tossing toy, though. Plus, most rabbits just like them better for being roomier. If you’re not already providing her with lots of toys in her cage to toss and shred, you might also try that in addition to the diggy box. It sounds like your bunny has just gotten into the habit of playing with her current box; she likes that she can make a nice banging noise that gets your attention, and that the box comes apart nicely to make a wonderful mess. Lol.

[kitcat]

Thanks guys. I got my head full of ideas and put some items in a shopping cart here and it said $45 shipping (I’m in Manitoba) so I think I may have to build my own litter cover but first off I think I’m going to take one step at a time and tonight give her some fleece to play in (she does have lots of toys and bird toys wood blocks and stuff which are frequently rotated) and then see if that makes a difference and go from there.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

If that doesn’t work, you might want to look into a larger living space. Even with out of cage time, 2×4 is pretty small.

[Rachel D.]

My mini rex was doing the same thing to her litter box. So, I drilled two holes on each side of the corner-style littler box. Then I looped a twist tie through the holes to secure the wire cover to the litter box on each side. This has thwarted her efforts to remove the wire cover from the litter box. She still sometimes pushes the litter box around a bit, but she hasn’t been able to remove the wire cover so there isn’t a big mess.

[Author]

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