About to become a bunny mom, need help setting up cage please!

[jkarn]

We will be picking up our Holland Lop tomorrow, he is a present for my son for Christmas! He is not litter trained yet, he's young. We bought a huge cage (for indoors), it is nearly 4 ft long! Our intention is to litter train...WHAT do I put in the bottom of the cage to start? We have a solid bottom plastic cage, nowire floor. I know we need to figure out what corner the bunny prefers to pee and poop in, then place the litter box there, but what should we use in the bottom in the meantime??? Newspaper lining? Do we just spread shavings or bedding all over the entire cage or just 1/2? Won't the rabbit just pee and poop everywhere, thinking the whole cage is a litter box??

Please help me understand how to set the cage up, our bunny is coming home tomorrow!!

Thanks,

Jules

 

[kherrmann3]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

I would suggest leaving the cage bottom bare or cover it in a soft, rabbit-safe litter, like CareFresh. Try putting a different litter in the litter pan (different from what's lining the cage). Yesterdays News is another good litter (it's for cats, but works well with bunnies).

When I litter trained my bun, Toby, I forced him to go potty in a specific corner. I put his litter pan with litter in one corner, his water bottle in another, his food bowl in another, and finally a nest box in the remaining corner. He learned very fast where to go! He would not go potty where his food, water or nest were, so the final corner was the obvious option!

When you clean his litter box, make sure you leave some of the soiled litter in there. Don't throw out all of the old litter. It will help with scent-association. If your new rabbit isn't spayed or neutered, you may have some problems with litter training. Some rabbits are fine, others are little piggies until they get fixed.

Have you had rabbits before? How old is your son? Who is going to take care of the rabbit? They can live 10+ years, so I just wanted to make sure that the rabbit will have a good, permanent home. I've seen a lot of rabbits in shelters who's previous owner's children "lost interest" in their pet.

Good luck with your new family member! Make yourself at home on the forum!

 

[jkarn]

We have never had rabbits before, but we LOVE animals. We have adog (a friendly, calm type), and I am the type of person that will stop my car and help a turtle cross the road so it doesn't get run over. I even took care of 5 baby possoms when I was in high school (a LONG time ago!) when their mother was killed in front of my parents house...I fed them w/ a bottle every 3 hrs around the clock. So, you can see I am an animal lover.

My son's are young, 9yo, 6yo, and 4yo. The bunny will be for my 6yo, and he is very responsible and will help in the care and cleaning. I will obviously be supervising all play time and cleaning and feeding until I am sure my older sons are able to care for the bunny.

Please be assured we will be loving, responsible bunny owners, and we are purchasing our bunny from a reputable breeder. THANKS for your wonderful advice. I think I'll just put newspaper all over the bottom of the cage, and then put his bed in one corner, food bowl in another, water bowl in an another, then the little box in the last corner and wait and see what happens!

Jules

 

[kherrmann3]

I am glad to see that you thought this out prior to buying the rabbit. I worked at a pet store for two years, and I still cringe thinking about the poor rabbits who were brought back after the "novelty wore off".

Good luck with your new friend! Are you going to post pictures once you have him home? We love pictures around here!

 

[Amy27]

I put carpet at the bottom of my buns cages. It really helped them litter train as they knew the difference. I did try putting bedding down at first but it was the same thing I put in their litter box, there was no difference for them so they would go everywhere. I bought a big roll of carpet for like $20 at Lowe's that I used. I could also pick it up and throw it in the washer when I was first training them. Though after a few washes it would start to fall apart and I would replace it. It worked really well for me. I think every bun is different so you may try a few things and find out what works well for your bun. Good luck and welcome.

 

[juliew19673]

I found with my bun (and I was too, not familiar at all with bun) that in his pen I gave him a "cat box" that I line with a puppy "wee-pad" to absorb pee and then put hay on top of and he eats his hay and pees in one specific corner, and I change it every other day... Took me a good monthtofigure out this was what he preferred, but your bun will most likely, "explain" to you what he likes as well; buns are - or at least mine was,very easy to "litter box train"..

Mind you he likes to keep a few "loose poo's" around that I pick up and throw into his "cat box" but I think as he is a malehe's just saying "this space is mine". But really not a problem..

Glad you found RO and look forward to hearing about the new addition to your family..

 

[Happi Bun]

A technique I find that works wonderfully is just waiting a few days to find the corner the rabbit goes in most (use news paper until then, but change it often). Once you figure that out put in the litter box and he should start using it on his own. He will most likely still go in other places because: 1) He's a baby! hehe 2) It takes a while of picking up poo's out of the box and putting them in it before they get the concept.

Also, I find that it's pretty impossible to 100% fully potty train them with their poo's. Which isn't a big deal since you can just pick them up. Even the most well litter trained bunnies miss the box with their poo every now and then. But with pee (the most important and messiest) they can be fully litter trained.

Congrats on the bunny!

 

[LizBuns]

I too use carpet in my bunny cages. They won't want to pee on it. Though, occasionally they poop on it. I just vacuum it every couple days.

 

[Elf Mommy]

Did you get your bunny? We want photos!!!

Minda

 

[Wabbitdad12]

Welcome to the forum! Yes we demand pictures!

 

[irishlops]

jkarn wrote:

We have never had rabbits before, but we LOVE animals. We have adog (a friendly, calm type), and I am the type of person that will stop my car and help a turtle cross the road so it doesn't get run over. I even took care of 5 baby possoms when I was in high school (a LONG time ago!) when their mother was killed in front of my parents house...I fed them w/ a bottle every 3 hrs around the clock. So, you can see I am an animal lover.

My son's are young, 9yo, 6yo, and 4yo. The bunny will be for my 6yo, and he is very responsible and will help in the care and cleaning. I will obviously be supervising all play time and cleaning and feeding until I am sure my older sons are able to care for the bunny.

Please be assured we will be loving, responsible bunny owners, and we are purchasing our bunny from a reputable breeder. THANKS for your wonderful advice. I think I'll just put newspaper all over the bottom of the cage, and then put his bed in one corner, food bowl in another, water bowl in an another, then the little box in the last corner and wait and see what happens!

Jules

i take care of any sick/injurged, ect animal. i have looked after58 bird, hada pet duck, squirl, and 2 dogs. i have my own 1 now, i stopped to look after a crow in the road, well my bro stopped, i cant drive!