Best way to litter train a rabbit

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LBMBarbalooski

LBMBarbalooski

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What is the best way to litter train a rabbit? We have cages with wire mess bottoms so the berries and urine go there but I have put small litter boxes in each cage as well. They all seem to use the litter boxes but as well as the floor but them tend to just sit and hang out in the boxes too. Yuck. I've tried putting other sitting platforms and boxes in their cages to sit in, even bunny buckets but the just poop and pee all over those and then their fur gets real dirty. When I take the bunnies out for some playtime, they are allowed in the kitchen where we have linoleum. They ignore any litter boxes there and poop/pee all over the floor. Is this pretty normal for rabbits? Is there any technique I could use to get them to use the boxes more? Just curious.
 
Is this pretty normal for rabbits?
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I firmly believe that good litter box habits are partly inherited and partly taught by their mothers so depending on the bloodline it may just be normal :shrug:

Everything your doing sounds like the recommended protocol for litter training rabbits,

My rabbits are pretty well litter trained, they naturally go to corners to do their business but they still do leave poops around when loose in a room.

They will urinate on resting platforms if they are in a corner so none of mine are ;) they are in the middle of walls instead. Platforms are their preferred place to eat cecotropes - more privacy - and they occasionally leave the leftovers on them :( however they dry out pretty quickly and a putty knife scrapes them off fairly well.
 
Wow. I hadn't thought about the platforms in the corner thing. I will be moving those to the middle of the walls since, yes, they are in the corner making it necessary to clean frequently. My does have taken to leaving messes on them lately. Thanks got you advice.
 
In my litter boxes, I like to have a layer of absorbent material with a layer of straw(not hay) overtop to help keep them up above the level of their mess, but for most rabbits it still requires daily changing to keep them clean.

Sounds like they may be "territorially marking" your kitchen floor. :lol: I don't know how to fix that particular habit. You can trying putting the litter boxes in all their favorite places to potty. The more boxes the better. (I bet you already tried that ;) )

Are they producing a lot of uneaten cecotropes? That can usually be reduced by feeding a somewhat less rich or lower protein diet. For me, that means less pellets/oats/boss/rich greens and more grass hay. Angoras often need higher protein to grow their wool, but every individual bun is a bit different in their dietary needs.
 
I did tell my husband we need to get some straw. Silly city girl that I am, I thought hay and straw were the same thing. ;-). I have so much yet to learn.


I hadn't considered the diet change. I have noticed my girls aren't eating as much if their Timothy grass as they usually do and yes, I have noticed uneaten stuff too. I seem to find those little gems in the kitchen more often than in their cages. I may be feeding to much pellets/BOSS/oats/fodder for them. I will pull back on all that and see if it helps a tad.
 
I do the same thing Zass does. I have absorbant pine shavings at the bottom and straw on top. The litter boxes have sides that are high- 8 inches, and I have small rabbits but I give them a big box. All the pee and poo falls down through the straw —I can't even tell there's poo until I tip it into the bin and its all at the bottom of the straw- so it looks very clean. If the spca ever inspected me- my litter boxes look really clean - even if they are not all that clean. :roll: ;)
 
I really think it depends on the rabbit. I had a Flemish Giant doe who used the litter box, but she also went all over the place too. But what I did to litter train her was I found a spot in the cage where she normally went, I put the litter box there, and she used the litter box because it was in the place where she had her "toilet". And normally I put slatted stress mats in their cages so the manure and urine don't sit on the mat. The small gage laticework works really well for stress mats.

~SDR
 

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