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Forum HABITATS AND TOYS Type of Bedding for Baby Bunny

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    • Natasha Maki
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        I just recently got a baby Lionhead/Lop mixed baby who is about 6 weeks old, and am in the middle of litter-training him. I’ve read conflicting literature on types of bedding to use.

        At the moment, my baby is still eliminating on the Kaytee Soft Granule bedding we’ve been using in his cage. The problem is that the cage is kept in a carpeted area and as much as I want to allow him to roam outside his cage on the carpet, he tracks his bedding shavings all over the carpet, which becomes a nuisance to vacuum (I also try to avoid using the vacuum around him, as the noise frightens him).  Is there a more manageable type of bedding (one that won’t stick on carpet or fabrics) that I can use for a baby bunny whom I’m currently trying to litter-train? I would also prefer to use a bedding that he won’t confuse with his litter.

        Any help for a first-time baby rabbit owner would be much appreciated! Thanks! 


      • jerseygirl
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          Congratulations on your new bunny. : )

          You really don’t need bedding at all.
          If you like, you could use a towel or fleece on base of cage. Or leave it bare as many rabbits push everything aside so they can lie in the bare floor.

          The kaytee bedding could be used as the litter material instead.
          Having just litter in a litterbox with some hay on top will help a lot in training. They catch on really fast.


        • Natasha Maki
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            Thanks for the tip, jerseygirl! I’ve heard of fleece being used, but for the sake of litter-training and cleaning, especially since he seems to eliminate a lot, would it not be better to use something I could just dispose of? However, he does have the tendency to dig up his bedding from a corner and lie on the plastic bottom of his cage anyway, so I am inclined to go with the fleece blanket idea.


          • jerseygirl
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              However, he does have the tendency to dig up his bedding from a corner and lie on the plastic bottom of his cage anyway, so I am inclined to go with the fleece blanket idea.

              If he’s doing this, I’d just keep the floor bare. You could give fleece or blanket when it’s a bit older. Some rabbits cannot resist peeing on anything absorbant.

              Being indoors, they just don’t need bedding for warmth and its extra cost and cleaning for you. Plus it probably gets all through his longish fur.

              If he has accident on the bare cage floor it will be easy to wipe up. A litter training trick is to wipe up pee puddles with paper towel then put it into the litterbox. So then your rabbit is more likely to go in the box where it smells like urine.


            • Nonvieta
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                This is the exact thing I went through when I got my lop from a petstore (or rather my teenaged sister did and later bequeathed him to me when  she realised how much work he is!).  He started out with just one of those starter kit cages that they sell you with baby bunnies in pet stores….the kind with the plastic bottom.  The owner of the store told us not to add any bedding while potty training…they have a hard time telling the different between bedding and litter at first!  I think this is sound advice….but definitely include some kind of blanket or towel for your bun to rest on!  He WILL pee and poo on it at first….but bedding seems to make them take longer to learn.

                After he was mostly box-trained, we thought we would put some bedding in (we tried wood shavings first and then the little, soft papercrumbles) but honestly, he hated it!  He just cleared a spot and laid on the cage floor like you described!  It was also messy (he would kick it out of the cage) and was constantly getting caught on his fur….we had to dust him off every time he came out!  I don’t think most bunnies much care for bedding, and there isn’t much advantage for us humans either.  It’s messy, and costly to replace when bunny seems to see it as a mess in his space! 

                Since he was a baby, I have vastly upgraded Peanut’s cage (he outgrew that starter one in a matter of months) and have experimented with a lot of bedding.  What works for me is a washable surface (his condo floors are tile that I got from home depo….easy to clean spills and mishaps!) with rugs on some levels (these are his favourite to lay on).  Once litter box trained, rabbits can have carpet, rugs, towels, fleeces….some like loose blankets to bunch up, some like them more as carpeting! 

                You may have to wash a towel here and there in the beginning, but if you keep a few cheap ones to rotate, you wont have to do it every day and most young bunnies will learn their litter box fairly fast! 

                These are just my experiences, but I thought I would share since your situation was so much like mine when Peanut was a baby!!  Hope this helps!


              • DUSTBUNNY-CLYDE
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                  I had the same problem with my lionhead boys!! I started out using freshcare litter and pine shavings!! their fur was a mess and so was everything else!! The cage should be bare and in the litter box, use pine pellets and put a sheet a newspaper on top!! it’s easy to change the newspaper a few times a day and I change the litter every 3 days!! I used a fleece cuddle cup bed for them!! dr. fosters and smith has them reasonable!!


                • Samantha1357
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                    I use a fleece blanket for two of my buns they love it, my trio will pee on ANYTHING if I put it on the bottom of their cage.


                  • Jesse97
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                      I have two bunnies. One is a holland lop and the other is a mixed breed with a lion head mane. I use fleece for their cage and inside their litter box I use both carefresh natural and horse stall bedding. I know fleece can be a little hard to maintain when your bunny is not fully littler trained and especially while your bunny is reaching bunny puberty (around 6 months old). To make litter habits better, make sure your bun gets neutered at around 6 months of age.
                      For the litter box I would use horse stall bedding. It is really cheap and is a little heavier so it won’t stick to your bun as much and get in the carpet. Carfresh would also work pretty good but it is more lightweight and would probably stick to your buns fur.


                    • Ella K.
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                        I would suggest making him an NIC cage, and getting some linolium to put on top of the wood you use for each level. You’ll find that he’ll soon outgrow his cage anyhow, and that will give him pleanty of space.

                        I use Carefresh Natural pet bedding, a paper based litter that works very well. I wouldn’t use it anywhere else it can mess up their litter habits. I would advise against wood shavings.

                        Also, litter training will be much easier if he is neutered. It makes WORLDS of difference.


                      • Ella K.
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                          Also, I got a soft sheet for my bunny to lay on. He really likes that, and its easy to wash. But yeah, using a bedding is REALLY unnessecary ( bad spelling. )

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                      Forum HABITATS AND TOYS Type of Bedding for Baby Bunny