litter training vs. night time cuddling

[Catniprabbit]

I just got my 8 week old female bunny 2 weeks ago. We adore each other already, and have been having so much fun bicycling together (I have a baby sling i put her in on my chest), gardening together in my yard, playing with the cat, eating salad out of the same bowl together, and all those silly things.

I live in a house that I rent with a bunch of friends of mine. During playtime, she has the whole house to run around in, and loves it. During non play time, she has full run of my room, which brings us to POOP WAR! Bunny bombs ALL over my room. I have a litter box for her, of which she pees in all the time, and poops some of the times. The rest is all over my room. 

I know what I probably should do, which is get her a cage/hutch thing, establish that as her home, keep her in there most of the time, slowly start letting her out while keeping an eye on her, and shoe her back in her cage whenever she does start bombing my room again. I feel like I’ve read enough to know what Im SUPPOSED to do.

The only thing is that we cuddle, all night and every night. It woud break my heart to have to put her in her cage every night. Instead of her under my arm, with her licking my face all night.

Is there a way I could establish her cage as her home, while still stleeping with me at night? Is it bad that we sleep together at night? My bed is off limits to her during the day, and then I take away her food and water an hour before sleep time, so my bed as a war zone in this dreadful battle, is not an issue.

[usagi]

Wow, she likes hanging out in the baby sling while you bike? My bun would flip. Is she a small breed? I can’t believe you guys cuddle all night **jealous** But anyways, what do you do with her when you go out? Do you have an xpen area for her for a “homebase,” or does she have the run of the room? And is the room totally bunny proofed? My advice, because if i had a bunny that snuggled with me at night, would be to get an xpen for her and her litterbox, food, hay, and water. She can still have room to hang out when you are not home, but the area is still restricted, and can “belong” to her totally.  And then I would try and keep the bed part.  That’s awesome.  *Does anyone know if it bunny sleeping is safe for both human and bun?* 

Also, when we first got Lemony, he pretty much pooed everywhere too, but overtime just limited it to his cage. We have an xpen around the cage, so we never lock him up in the cage unless he is sick, and he always pees in the litterbox. Maybe as your bun gets used to her surroundings she will stop leaving little raisins everywhere.

Maybe someone with more experience can give some better advice?

[usagi]

Ps. every bun is different, there are no “shoulds,” just guidelines. I would think that she too would suffer not being able to snuggle at night. So maybe just go with it?

[Beka27]

Chances are, you won’t be able to continue sleeping with her at night as she gets older and reaches sexual maturity. It’s important for rabbits to have a “homebase” as lemonbun said. Their personal area with food, litter, maybe a hidey box, and some toys. It’s not about punishment or reduction of freedom, but rather a safe area that is just theirs. If those bad litter habits are allowed to persist, it will be harder and harder to retrain her as she gets older. I am not a fan of traditional cages. Xpens are my favorite, but NIC grid condos are great too. Since she is so young, her destructive side hasn’t come out yet, but that is also probably right around the corner.

[Karla]

Oh, bless – it sounds like you two are establishing a great bond! I had a baby bunny when I was about 13 that used to sleep near my head a night as well. Unfortunately, she reached maturity, and back then we knew nothing about rabbits, so my parents had her move out in the yard instead to live on her own, but at least as free roaming…

I find it so hard to confine bunnies as well, but I would suggest that you do gather all your strength and actually do buy her a cage/x-pen and confine her for 3 days. Just to make her know that this is her own place. You can definitely do it for 3 days. As my bunnies live like yours, I once tried removing their cage, and the result was a massive amount of poo and pee spread all over the place. They clearly needed a place of their own.

I have also found that confining for 3 days seems to be enough for them to know that this is their place. And when you let her out, then follow the litter training guidelines and remove all poops and pee outside the cage and put it back in there. And let her eat in her cage/x-pen.

[Catniprabbit]

Thanks so much for the input!

I didnt even think about the night time cuddling issue in regards to sexual maturity. Bunnies sexually maturing a topic of which I dont know much about in general, and need to learn, fast, because my baby is growing up, fast. I am planning on getting her spayed, but shes probably going to still need her own space when shes older. I know I sure did when I grew up! (though I wasnt spayed, so bad comparison, lol)

I suppose Im going to have to get her a hutch, or something (I hate the word cage for my baby!). Even though we currently enjoy cuddling together at night, we will both appreciate having our own space from each other somewhere down the line. And it doesnt mean we cant cuddle during the day while Im reading or napping or posting on BinkyBunny forum

and as for response to the questions:
1) Shes impartial to biking. No bunnies really LIKE to be held, especially for longer periods of time, so she tolerates it because Im making sure shes used to being held. Plus she cant see out of the sling, is very supported by it, and is practically against my body the whole time (minus fabric of clothes and sling), which are all things that make her feel safe.
2) Im not sure what breed she is, but shes probably going to be big, but shes still a baby, so shes still small
3) She has full run of my room currently at all times, but I also have a very small room
4) She has not hit destructive phase yet
5) Yes, I’ve bunny proofed my room as well as I know how, before destructive phase sets in

[mocha200]

i would start saving for the spay now, it can coast from 100 to 300 dollars i would save as much money as possible so once she is about 6 months old you can get her spayed right away. the cuddling is sooooo cute! i will my buns would they just zoom up and down me when i am in bed! haha LOL.

[Beka27]

If you have a small room, I would recommend a condo made out of NIC grids (the wire shelving cubes). This way you can configure it in a way that fits YOUR space, and take advantage of vertical height with multiple levels. When people say “hutch” I always think of outdoor bunnies and wood structures with wire bottoms. DO NOT go that route!

[Catniprabbit]

Mocha: Oh yes, she also zooms. When we go to bed she first has to get in a good 15 minute zoom (after which she clonks out), and then wakes up several times during the night to get in some more zooms, but her most intense zooms happen when my alarm goes off in the morning, which to her signifies breakfast, to absolutely make certain I wake up, a job which she carries out very well, including burrowing through all my blankets and wiggling her whiskers on my feet. Its funny how quickly she picked up on the alarm clock thing.

Beka: Yup, I actually just ordered some of those shelving things already off ebay (so cheap for so many!). We have big plans on building a castle.

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