cleaning cage...HELP!

[Teresa]

I got for my daughters two dwarf floppy earedbunnies. I have a regular large wire cage and put theshavings in the bottom slide out tray to soak up the pee andpoop. However, they dig and get the shavings stuck to thebottom and they use the bathroom so much that I have to clean it everyother day or it stinks. I have to scrape the bottom of thewire after taking out the slide out tray and then spray it andeverything. It is such a pain!! It takesforever. Can anyone give me advice on how to make thiseasier? I keep thinking to myself that surely everyone withbunnies does not go through that each time they clean the cage.



Thanks!

 

[Spring]

Hi, and welcome to the forum!

You could maybe try switching from shavings to another kind of litter?Shavings are bad at absorbing the ammonia smell from the pee. I usewood pellets that are actually made for horses. They are very good andI don't smell ANYTHING.There's other kindsoflitter you can use, but I've found thewoodpellets are the cheapest and work very well.

Rabbits can also be litter trained. They naturally usually only go tothe bathroom in one or two certain spots, so they are very easy tolitter train. Just take some droppings and put it in the litter box,and soak up pee (if they have an accident) with paper towel and put itin the litter box under the litter.

Another way you can cut down the smell and keep the cage cleaner iswashing it with a vinegar solution. I use full on vinegar to clean, butI only use a bit. If your spraying the cage, you can use a 50/50(water)solution. Just be sure to rinse it very well.

Here's a list of the different brands you can choose from ofthe wood pellets. You can find them at some petstores, feed stores,etc. .

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=15881&forum_id=1&jump_to=227069#p227069

 

[Teresa]

That sounds great! I will trythose. My girls love them so much, so I am trying everythignI can to make sure they can stay. When litter training, aftergetting the box for them, do you have toplace them in there oreventually they just get used to going in that spot? Thatwould be great to only have to change the litter box during the week.

 

[Spring]

You don't have to put them in the box when youfirst put it in there. Just take some of their droppings and some peemaybe and put it in with the clean litter. You could also put some hayin it (Rabbits often like to eat while they are going to the bathroom)and maybe a little treat to give them the idea to go in there.

If they keep going outside the litter box, just keep cleaning the messup and putting it into the litter box.If they areconsistantly going in the same spot outside the litterbox, try movingthe litterbox.It only took a few days for my girlPebbles to be using her litterbox almost perfectly.

 

[Teresa]

Thank you....I will start it as soon as I get home! I will let you knwo how it goes!

 

[JimD]

Hi Teresa!
Welcome to the forum!!

I started out with the same setups as you....and I remember having toclean every couple of days...and the scraping was the pits!!

Using wood pellets in the drop pan helped immensely.
Litter training them was the best thing I ever did!!!

As Spring mentioned, using white vinegar can make cleaning &deodorizing a lot easier. I mix 50/50 water & vinegar in aspray bottle to clean the wire bottoms and trays. If the pee getscrystalized on the tray you can use a little straight vinegar and letit set fora bit. I then use Dawn dishsoap to wash everythingdown and rinse, rinse, rinse, then dry, dry, dry.

Most of my bunnies took to litter pans like they had been doing it allalong. Position their hay over the pan and they'll get the idea. Ichange the litter pans every other day, but I only have to clean thecages once every week or 2.

jim

 

[aurora369]

Spring gave you some very good advice!

Most bunnies take to litter training right away.

I trained my sister's bunny overnight, and now she never goes outside her box.

With my girl Wildfire, it took a bit more effort, but eventually shegot it. I had to keep moving the box around, because shedidn't want to go in it. But I just kept cleaning up theaccidents with vinegar.

Keeping some soiled material in the litter box for the first littlewhile is a good idea. It lets them know where to go,exspecailly when everywhere else is all clean.

It takes very little time for me to clean my cages now. Idump the litter boxes either everday or every second day (depends howmany buns are peeing in it), and then use a hand brush to sweep up thefloor.

And after using vinegar, I just wipe it up with paper towel, and it's good to go!

--Dawn

 

[HoneyPot]

Hey there - we have a wire bottom cage forCookie - see picture. Not sure what your setup is like, butthis is what we have been doing..

Ignore the mess he made for a second .

We have a mat we bought at Walmart covering about 2/3 of the wire (sohis little feet don't get sore standing and playing on the wire).

We left 1/3 of the wire bottomopen to the bottomtray. In the tray we have his litter (we use Carefresh whichisa paper/wood pulp based litter - them smell is prettyminimal, but we do clean it every 2-3 days).

Cookie chose that corner of thecage to go in, so we designedthe cage around his preference. You'll notice that your bunsmay only choose one area to use the bathroom - that's the area you wantto keep available to them (they will go where THEY want to - we have toadapt accordingly!).

What is even easier, is using a litter box inside the cage (instead ofthe tray under the cage), that way you just need to dump the litterbox, rinse it with some vinegar, refil the box and toss it back in thecage.

______________
Nadia

 

[mambo101]

I also recommend trying to litter train thebunnies. 2 of my 3 rabbits have metal cages with the drop pans. All ofthem took about a week or 2 to litter train. They still drop a fewpoops every once in a while through to the pan so I just cover thatwith newspaper and just have to clean the pan about once a week. Ofcourse I use Woody Pet in the litter trays and replace that about every3 days. It's sooooooooo much easier that cleaning up the drop pan everyday.

 

[JimD]

mambo101 wrote:

Ialso recommend trying to litter train the bunnies. 2 of my 3 rabbitshave metal cages with the drop pans. All of them took about a week or 2to litter train. They still drop a few poops every once in a whilethrough to the pan so I just cover that with newspaper and just have toclean the pan about once a week. Of course I use Woody Pet in thelitter trays and replace that about every 3 days. It's sooooooooo mucheasier that cleaning up the drop pan every day.

:yeahthat

 

[Teresa]

Well, to give you an update......I made a litterbox for the bunnies, boiught them some hay to go in, put old poop andpee in there, and what did they do, flipped it over and now they lay ontop of it. Which created and even bigger mess!AHHHHHH

 

[Starina]

My bunny was pretty easy to litter train, shesometimes would get in these moods where she would pee in the othercorner, but if I changed her box, that usually fixed it. She used tosleep in her litter box too, but who am I to judge? I also had severaloccasions where she would toss it across her cage and make a HORRIBLEmess. Here is a pic of her asleep in the litter box. I recently changedto a smaller corner box, to give her more room to lay down and messaround.



Good luck, bunnies usually catch on... eventually.



~Star~