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BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

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Forum HABITATS AND TOYS new member with cleaning questions

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    • jstewar6
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      1 posts Send Private Message

        Hi everyone,

        I want to introduce myself. My name is Jess, and I have a juvenile bunny named Greg. He’s a little under a year old.

         I have some questions about cleaning in general. Greg lives in a modified large dog kennel. It’s nice and big with room for him to run around and a shelf for him to hop onto and hang out. The problem is that the sides are open where there are spaces between the bars. He gets hay and bedding and poop EVERYWHERE! It’s on carpet, so I sweep and vacuum as much as possible, but I can’t keep up. My idea is to make an edging out of corrugated plastic. Do you think this would be safe for bunny chewing habits? Also, does anyone know where to get it?

         

        Next question: I’m using aspen shavings for lining his litter box. It’s very absorbent and it covers odor pretty well. He hasn’t seemed to have any problems with it so far. However, I use a separate box with hay in it, and he poops in that too. He only pees in the litter box, but he likes to flip his hay box and it flings poop and hay everywhere. Should I just fill his litter box with hay? I felt that would be unsanitary, but the litter box is fixed to the cage and can’t be flung.

         

        Last question: Greg is has only peed out of his litter box a couple times when he was younger, but he poops outside of it ALL THE TIME. But only when he is out of his cage. He particularly loves to poop on our couch. My boyfriend hates it. Can I train him to stop? Also, he’s not neutered, so I don’t know if that has anything to do with it. Should I get him fixed? Or is it too late and that pooping habit is already reinforced? I don’t really want to get him fixed because  he’s never around other rabbits, and I can’t stand the thought. It seems so barbaric.

        Thanks!


      • MarkBun
        Participant
        2842 posts Send Private Message

          The pooping habit is him marking his territory. ALL rabbits do this in new areas but it often subsides in a couple of weeks. Of course, if you wash or shampoo the areas, the pooping may return for a short stint.

          Rabbits will chew, and sometimes ingest corrugated plastic, which isn’t overly healthy for them. If it is only ‘dry’ waste, I’d suggest using cardboard. He’ll wind up chewing it up so you’ll need to replace it from time to time but it won’t hurt him. Having hay in a litter box isn’t an issue but I’d suggest finding a way to secure the hay box to the walls. Some bunnies are diggers and just like to pull hay out and throw it about. It could also be that the rabbit is bored so maybe some rabbit safe toys will work.  If you don’t mind the mess, I’d suggest a telephone book.  Diggers seem to love to tear them up.

          Above all, I’d say his demeanor will calm down a little when he is neutered. You should do so as once they get to the adolescent phase, the marking and other things can increase.


        • Usagi5
          Participant
          125 posts Send Private Message

            I would also suggest getting him neutered because a lot of bunnies will get much better litter habbits when they are neutered, not all but quite a few. I used corrugated plastic and my bunny just chewed it up so I would use cardboard.


          • Freyja
            Participant
            159 posts Send Private Message

              I second getting him desexed, my male bun used to poo EVERYWHERE until i got him done about a month ago and now it has magically stopped hurrah! as it is a territorial habit neutering should drastically reduce this habit (it will take a few weeks after the procedure though so dont be too worried if he doesnt change immediately)


            • Beka27
              Participant
              16016 posts Send Private Message

                In addition to the poop marking, some buns (males in particular) will start to spray urine to mark territory. Picking up poop pellets is easy, cleaning dried urine off walls, not so much. He will be calmer after neutering and won’t have any urge to mate, so while it may seem barbaric to you, since he’s not ALLOWED to mate, it’s actually the best thing for him to remove those hormones from the equation.


              • RabbitPam
                Moderator
                11002 posts Send Private Message

                  I second the neutering.
                  Aspen litter is excellent, so I’d continue to use it in the litter pan.

                  I would suggest a hanging hay rack. It will make him unable to poop in it, but he can pull the hay down to eat. You can even hang it over the litter box, so when he eats his hay he will poop at the same time but already be in the litter pan so it will contain it.


                • Kokaneeandkahlua
                  Participant
                  12067 posts Send Private Message

                    Welcome!!

                    Corrugated plastic is very safe-you can get it at home depot/home hardware, rona places like that.
                    Yes-hay in the litter box is the way to go-that will help him to poop in the litter box, but neutering is what really will make the difference-as well as keeping his area tidy-the longer the poops are on the ground, the more that is normal. If you pick them up and put them in the box right away he’ll get the picture.


                  • Jenner
                    Participant
                    58 posts Send Private Message

                      I have coroplast surrounding my bun’s cage and it works very well to keep things inside! I would suggest putting it on the outside of the cage, because when my bun is out to play, he does like to chew on the coroplast every now and then – so if it was on the inside of the cage, I’m afraid he’d chew on it quite a bit.

                      A different litter box lining you could look into is wood stove pellets. They absorb better than aspen shavings and are cheaper. I used to use aspen and then when I found out about wood stove pellets, I switched and I love them! 

                      A hay rack would be a great thing to get. Placing the rack above his litter pan (on the side of the cage) keeps the hay off the floor and he can’t soil it.

                      My rabbit isn’t fixed either. He never pees outside of his cage, but he does leave droppings every now and then. I found that having him run around with his cage door open allows him to hop in and go potty, then come back out to play, and this has drastically reduced the amount of poop he leaves outside of the cage. So if you don’t already do that now, you could try that.

                      Good luck!  

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                  Forum HABITATS AND TOYS new member with cleaning questions