Cage bedding

[mdith4him]

Hi everyone,

We got our bunny a couple days ago and he's still learning how to use the litter box. The bedding was getting pretty gross, so I changed it this evening. The one corner he uses to sleep in, he had pushed all the bedding out of the way and was just sleeping/laying on the hard plastic bottom of the cage. Could it be he doesn't like it? When I put the cage back together I put some of the bedding on the opposite side of the cage with his litter box and hay ball, covering about 1/3 of the cage. In the corner he was using to sleep (another 1/3) I cut up a soft pillow case and put that there. I left the middle 1/3 of the cage empty. Does that sound like an okay set up? Everything I've read says rabbits like bedding and like making a nest for themselves, but ours is pushing it all away from him! Any thoughts/suggestions? Thanks

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We use kiln dried pine and Nikki digs it all out of her pan before she lays down. The other five don't. Go figure.

 

[MarisaAndToby]

When I used to line Toby's old cage entirely with bedding he would scooch all of it away from the middle of the cage which is where he liked to lounge. Sounds like normal Toby behaviour to me.

Litter training is a lot easier if you only put litter in his litter box. If he pees outside of the box, soak it up with either extra litter or a Kleenex and put it in his litterbox. That's how I did it anyways. Good luck!

 

[missyscove]

If you have an indoor bun in a solid-bottomed cage, you shouldn't really need bedding anywhere but the litterbox (although some buns require more complex combinations of carpet/blanket/towel, etc. if they are prone to sore hocks). Putting litter just in the box should really help with litter training.

 

[LaylaLop]

I use pelleted newspaper cat litter in just her litterbox. She has 3 litterboxes in her cage although 2 are just hay/dig boxes and she doesn't pee/poo lots in them. She's never peed outside the litterbox in her cage and I always pick up her stray poops and throw them in the litterbox. I found putting her food bowl and hay in the litterboxes (or a hay holder over the top) keeps a lot of waste IN the litterbox and not everywhere else.

When I had bunnies in the past with fully littered cages they'd scoot it away too. I think maybe it got too warm for them so I'd usually give them a piece of tile to lie on.

 

[mdith4him]

Thanks for all the replies! I'll try taking out the bedding that's in there (and already soiled again!) and see what happens. We've got a litter bin in one corner with litter and a bit of hay in it, so hopefully he'll be encouraged to use it! He's pooped and peed everywhere except IN the litter bin, lol!