Hay bucket as a litterbox

[qtipthebun]

Q-tip consumes a lot of hay. More hay than I've ever given to a rabbit. I was filling up her little hay tray on her cage at least three times a day (and being woken in the wee hours of morning to refill it again). So this year when I got to my apartment, I figured I would try something new. I got a big plastic tub and put it on the floor and dumped in a whole bag of hay. Now she has hay at her convenience.

However, I litter trained her with hay in her litter box. Therefore, in her mind, she must see this as a giant litterbox with no litter. Essentially, she's been pooping in it. She's still using her box, but I've pulled several pieces of poop out of the hay bucket.

Is there any way to curb this while still giving her unlimited hay? I take out the pieces of poop and move them back to her litter box, but that does little to deter her. I don't mind it all that much because I haven't noticed her pee in the hay box, but I'd love to break her of the habit if at all possible.

 

[MiniLopHop]

Mine still use their hay wrack to potty on occasion. I think because they love to munch and eat there's no real easy way to remind them to keep their tush over the litter. I get hay by the bale and have it behind a NIC fence so they can't potty on it. I then add a flake at a time to their bin because they can't eat all of that in one day. Sometimes they soil it so I toss it. At $7 for 60 pounds it's not a big deal. You may feel differently if you are using the little bags from the petstore.

 

[qtipthebun]

Yeah, I'm using pet store hay. I hadn't found bales of timothy, even living out in the country. I checked every feed store in town and called every cowboy that had hay outside their ranch.

She seems to be peeing in the bucket now, so I guess we're back to the hay bin and being woken up during the night for more. Oh well, it was good the two days it lasted.

 

[Imbrium]

I saw a picture somewhere of a litter/hay box combo where half of it had a board underneath that had large bolts coming up through it that were spaced far enough apart that the rabbit could reach through them for hay, but the bolts deterred the rabbit from actually standing on the "food" half of the box (and therefore from using it as a potty)... you could use either bedding or hay for the side the rabbit stands/potties on.

 

[MiniLopHop]

What about adding a lid to the larger container so Q has to pull the hay through the bars but can't get all the way in on the top?

 

[SOOOSKA]

Check out this Blog. It's excellent and i've actually seen them. Maybe you can build one for Q-Tip.

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=53690&forum_id=93

Good Kuck

Susan