Sleeping in the toilet!

[Angelene]

Hi, 

I am the owner of a new baby Dutch Rabbit and am still trying to learn up on training my new lil boy. He is having some issues picking up on the litter box though, or maybe i’m the problem and not putting the right type of bedding or hay inside his box. I’ve read that once he is neutered that this can help with litter box training tremendously, but want to make sure that I am setting up his cage properly.

Right now he has made his litter box his bed. The litter box is a triangular box and is in the upper left corner of the cage. It has carefresh Ultra bedding at the bottom of it, and then a second layer of alfalfa hay, and a final handful of timothy hay in the corner of the box. The cage itself is lined completely with the same carefresh bedding. In the bottom right hand corner i have his water and his food bowl. It seems that he is eliminating in the upper right hand corner of the box mainly, but there are droppings throughout the cage. 

He has made the litter box his bed! 

My questions are mainly- Am I putting the right beddings/hays in the correct places or am i confusing him? Should I change the box to the corner he is going to the bathroom in? Should I change spot the food and water are in in the cage? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

[Hazel]

Welcome and congrats on your new bunny!

It sounds like he has picked a corner, so yes, it would be best to move the litter box there. Concerning the litter box itself, the triangle boxes are really too small. You would be better off getting a medium sized rectangle cat litter box. That way there will be enough room for hay, his food and water bowls as well as room for him to lay down if he wants to (a lot of bunnies do that). Rabbits like to use the bathroom while eating, so putting all his food in the box will help litter train him.

There shouldn’t be any bedding or litter anywhere other than in the litter box, otherwise he will think the whole cage is one big litter box.

What kind of cage do you have for him?

[Tessie]

Hi, welcome to the forum!

Once he is neutered his litter habits will improve immensely – have you got him an appointment to be neutered?
The only other thing I would suggest is that often having bedding throughout the cage is confusing to buns, and it isn’t necessary in the main part of the cage, so if I were you I would remove the bedding from everywhere but the litterbox.

[LBJ10]

Yep, you don’t need the bedding throughout the cage. It just transforms it into one giant litter box.

[Monkeybun]

Agree with the others, no other bedding is needed. Just confuses them! Also, it’s totally normal for them to lounge in the litter box, mine do it all the time. Just keep it clean

[Angelene]

Thanks so much for all the fast and helpful responses! I knew i was the confused one, not him! going to remove the bedding from the cage area now. The cage I have for him is something like this http://www.petco.com/product/113068/WARE-Home-Sweet-Home-Purple-Small-Animal-Cage.aspx that i got at the petstore, but i’m now realizing that as he grows he’s going to need a much bigger living space but i’m not sure exactly what else to get, maybe create a multi leveled housing area? trying to look into DIY housing setups.

[MoveDiagonally]

Hope his habits improve soon!
He will definitely need a larger cage. If you want to check out some of the set ups members here have take a look at our habitats gallery.
https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/GreatHabitats/tabid/229/Default.aspx

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