Litterbox arrangement…

[Liza]

Does your bunny do this too?

I’m new to all this bunny business, but I have noticed over a few weeks that Velvet would push her hay off the toilet part of the litterbox until she could pee onto the bedding part only. She would push the hay out of the box and eat it outside the litterbox. This goes against everything I have read online.

Well, one day, I decided to put very soft litter (Carefresh) on one side and the hay on the opposite side. Ever since, Velvet has not pushed anything away. Basically, she does not like to do her business on hay! Haha! She keeps her business and her food seperate. This makes it so much easier to keep everything clean! I clean out her litterbox (the pee part) every day. We have rats in the house and any ammonia build up is very, very bad for the rats (and I imagine for the bunnies, too). Besides, I have OCD, so the thought of her sitting in her own pee that is more than 24 hours old makes me shiver. She has either picked up on my OCD or she is just as particular as her mommy to begin with! Of course, this makes her even more perfect! All I do is scoop the bedding out, put new litter in, more hay on top, done. So easy!

[Deleted User]

From what I understand (someone correct me if I’m wrong), the reason we put hay in the litter box is because rabbits eliminate while they eat. Therefore putting hay in the litter box not only encourages the bunny to eat more hay, but also encourages potty training because he/she will much while pooping or peeing, therefore making less mess. From what I have read, the bunny doesn’t want to pee or poop ON the hay, but it’s good to have the hay in either a corner of the box or very easily accessible from the box.

i might be wrong! but someone will be along to help!

[Beka27]

anytime i put hay in the box (sometimes but not always as she is already littertrained) i put a big handful in one corner. i think some people put a layer over everything… i don’t.

[Liza]

Yes, I mean the layer over the bedding. She can’t stand that! She will push it all out until it is out of the entire litterbox. If I split up the litterbox and put litter into one half and hay on the other half, she will sit in there and eat her hay like a good girl without pushing anything out. The second the hay touches the litter, she will start pushing it off of there and gets so into it that there is hay flying around everywhere.
Everything is so nice and clean as long as I put litter in the toilet area and hay in the kitchen area. I wonder if she is unique that way or whether that is common for rabbits.

[JK]

I think that’s great! Rabbits don’t eat peed on hay anyway. I have a layer of hay on the litter only because like you I don’t want Edson’s feet to be wet as he pees so much. Don’t mess with a good thing!

[Sage Cat]

Velvet the bun decorator!

I have a hay ball that hangs over one ot the litter boxes. That way buns can have a tasty & clean snack while conducting business!

 

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[Beka27]

i like what sage cat does. i have a hay ball that sits next to the litterbox and she’ll nibble over the edge at it.

[skunklionshow]

I have a hay ball too.  In the big litterbox I put hay in just one corner.  I also have a hay wicker bin (from Binky Shop) that I keep filled on the food level.  My reason for the hay ball is b/c I felt like I was throwing out more hay than they were eating.  Turned out I was right.

[Beka27]

^^^^i was feeling the same way about throwing out hay. she’s really only eating more now that i got a different “flavor”. now i look over and she’s ears deep in the hay ball (i just use one half as a makeshift hay bin)

[Deleted User]

Hey where did you get your hay balls from?  I want one of those … what a great way to keep hay clean and no wastage.

Luey has a littertray which I line with paper and plonk the hay on top … he will sit outside the littertray and eat the hay when it has been freshly ‘plonked’ but after a while he jumps in but will generally only eat the hay from one end of the tray.

Need a hay ball ….

[Beka27]

 

http://www.rabbitstop.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=61917&Category_Code=3HayAccessories&Product_Count=3

 

this website ships international… this is the link for the hay ball.  i started out using the whole thing but Meadow was barely eating hay and she was not interested in pulling the strands thru, so now i only use one half.  the other side of the colored part pops off completely.  she can push it around and since it’s a ball it rarely ever actually tips over.

[Sage Cat]

I got mine from RabbitStop.com – I don’t know if they ship internationally.
However, I see similar feed balls in all of the pet supply stores.

[Beka27]

rabbitstop is where the link is from. i got mine at a chain petstore (and i paid more than the rabbitstop price) but it’s the same exact thing. i went to the shipping page and it says they do ship international.

[Deleted User]

Oh those balls are cool … however, to post it will cost $30 US …mmm might see if I can use something else …

Thanks anyways Ladies.

[skunklionshow]

I have the little hanging ball that Sage has.  It originally came w/ a bell on it, but they didn’t like the twinkle while the did a tinkle, so I had to remove  it. 

Dawn, based on all we hear in the US about how bad the US dollar is, everyone else is rich w/ the exchange rate.  I guess Bush didn’t send that memo down under   Have you checked on ebay?  I know that I’ve found several ebay things I like, but they are all in Australia…I think neither of us can win.

[Deleted User]

Oh thanks I’ll have a browse on E-bay.

[Liza]

Well, now that we have two bunnies … we have a much larger litterbox, too. Sometimes Velvet pushes the hay all over the place, sometimes she leaves it alone and hay and bedding are seperate from each other. Very odd! When she was on her own, she couldn’t stand it when her hay touched her bedding. So cute, as I am typing, they are both sitting in their fresh litterbox, munching away on hay.
I tried those balls, but it doesn’t work. They don’t like to pull the hay out of there. They want it right there, by their feet, ready to be eaten. They don’t want to work for their food… haha!

[babybunsmum]

pinky’s setup is similar.  originally i had designated a great big plastic litter box with high sides for her hay & litter but i noticed she was only peeing on one side.  so i put a smaller plastic container (a dollar store on with lower sides) with yesterdays news pellets in her pee spot and hay in the rest.  works great!  i use less litter pellets & can dump this part daily while leaving the hay side until the weekend to dump.  she does leave some poops on the hay side but never pees there.  sometimes she eats hay while sitting in the litter part and some times she hangs out just in the hay part. 

baby, on the other hand, didn’t like this setup.  she wouldn’t pee in the hay box at all & went into another corner in her room (the whole room is her ‘enclosure’) so i put a small plastic container with litter pellets just in that corner and thats what she uses.  no hay nearby.  for some reason she likes her hay very separate from her toilet.  she has never been a normal bun bun

[Beka27]

hmmm BBM… so you ahve a litterbox within a larger hay box? interesting. i don’t think i’ve ever thought of doing that.

[kimberleyanddarren]

i dont put a layer all the way over, just in one corner, if u put it all the way over they wont eat it because its soiled.

[Liza]

Oh my goodness!!! It is sooo obvious, too!!! Put one litterbox into a bigger one! DUH!!! Thank you so much babybunsmum! It appears to be so very clear to do that, too! I will go out there tomorrow and get a big litterbox and put the smaller one in the big one!
Hopefully that will work. Velvet likes to dive into her litterbox, so it might not work over here… Oh my, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this!

[Author]

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