New Kid On The Block

[Deleted User]

Hello Everyone. I am a newcomer to this forum and the proud owner of a very spunky mini lop named Pepper. She was born on Chrismas Day and all of us just love her. Our last bunny Magic passed away about 4 years ago, and gave us eight years of fun and games. He is truly missed by us all. We plan on getting Pepper spayed when she is old enough, but I have a couple of questions to put out there for any suggestions/advice anyone can offer. We purchased a two story condo cage for her, which she seems very happy and content in and is doing well in there as far as using her litter box. We also purchase a pen for her to play in and placed it in our family room, so that she can be close to us when she is out of her cage. We have purchased the same type of litter box for her use in there, but when she is placed in the pen, she immediately puddles on the mat. We have tried to place her in the litter box right when she is placed in the pen, and she will stay in the box for a minute or two and then jump out and pee on the mat. We have been trying to watch her and we tell her “No” when we see her do this and bring her to her box, but she still seems to like to puddle on the mat. I have cleaned it thoroughly with vinegar like I have read, but I just want to make sure that we are doing the right thing for her. She is still a little baby, and I know that this takes time, but if there are any other suggestions out there, they would be greatly appreciated. We want to be able to let her have some free roam time around the house, but not until she is ready. One more quick note, she has just discovered that she is able to leap over the fence of the pen, believe it or not. We usually stay on the floor next to the pen when she is in there, but my son had her out late on night and he got involved in a movie and I guess she felt a bit neglected and decided to do something about it. The next thing he knew was there she was sitting next to him on the floor and when she was put back in her pen, she did it again. What power there is in those hind legs. We are taking her for her first vet visit on Saturday to make sure all is well and to discuss getting her spayed. Hope to hear from someone with some suggestions/advice and I just love this site. It’s great to be able to share experiences and information with fellow bunny people.

[KitD]

Hi mcontardo, welcome!
Well I just want to address the “leaping tall x-pens in a single bound” issue…You might consider clothespinning a light color bedsheet over the top of the pen to discourage her from jumping. It might prevent a serious back or leg injury.

As for the puddle thing, when you soak up the urine from the mat, drop the soiled paper towel into her litter box and set her in there for just a sec so she connects this second box with her pee. It does take consistency but she’ll get it.

[marianne]

Thanks Kit. I’m going to try the sheet. I don’t want my little girl to get hurt. It’s just amazing to see her jump up and straddle this wire fence and jump over the other side. She is quite the daredevil. I have been doing just what you said about putting the soiled paper in her litter box. When I do this, she will go over and sniff it. When I clean up her mess, she comes over to supervise what I am doing. I have seen her go pee on the paper after I place it in the box. There are some days when she will use the box the whole time she is out, but other days she will go in her pen. I will just keep trying, as I have heard litter box training gets easier after a rabbit is spayed/neutered.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Welcome! She sounds adorable! It definitely gets easier when they get spayed, and as they get a bit older. Young bunnies seem to mess all over
Would love to see some pics of her if you could?

[jerseygirl]

Welcome! You could try putting down something non-absorbant over the carpet in her pen area. Plastic sheeting or a piece of vinyl. They don’t seem to pee on things when it’s not being soaked up. Also, does she pee in the one spot in the pen? You could try move her box to there or introduce another one and see which one she favours. It’s really good though, that she does use it time to time.

Would love to see pics also!

[marianne]

I bought the vinyl floor pad that comes with the pen. The pen is shaped liked an octagon, so there aren’t any definite corners. When she does go, she seems to just go anywhere on the mat. We try to catch her in the act, and immediately bring her to her box. I have placed hay in there and she will sit in there and graze on it. When I change the litter boxes, both in her cage and in her pen, they both are wet, so I know that she is using them. I just had her out running around in the room where her cage is and she actually jump in her cage and went in her litter box to pee a nd jumped back out for some more free time. I think she is getting it and I have to keep in mind that she still is a baby and still learning. I know that she is trying.

[bunnytowne]

She sounds adorable the little daredevil.  Yes the sheet should work just pin it with clothespins.  Yes I second that pics pics pics PELEASE

[marianne]

I just want to thank all of you for all of your advice on how to keep my little girl safe in her pen. She’s quite the little daredevil for sure. She could win and gold medal in the bunny olympics I bet. I am going to try the white sheet over the top of the pen. I don’t know what kind of reaction there will be, but I will keep you informed. I just might get my first snub, you never know. I did attach a photo of Pepper to my profile. I hope it works. I tried sending photos as attachments to this message, but I got an error message that either the file was to large or it was not a correct file. I have her pictures in a folder on my computer, but not quite sure how to post them to my message. Any suggestions?

[jerseygirl]

There’s some info on that in the Tech section of the forums. The easiest way I find to do it is add it as an attachment. In the post editor, you should see after the text body area, 5 message attachment lines. If you click on the Browse button to the right of these lines, some options will come up of where to locate your files. Click on your photo folder and then on the image. Click open. The link for this should then appear in the message attachment box. Repeat in the other lines, up to 5 attachments per post.

Saw the profile pic – a lil fluffball of a baby! Hope you can get some more piccies up – good luck!

[Author]

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