How often do you clean your rabbit's cage and litter?

[Bella's mom]

Hello my fellow Bunny friends. Hope you are all well

I have a few questions for you! How often do you clean your bunny's cage? I have a four and a half month old Holland Lop. We adore her. I clean her cage every day and change her litter box every day. I also take her cage apart once a week to clean the crevices and remove the alfalfa hay stuck in between. Is this excessive or do you guys clean your cages as much? We have Bella in our living room and she loves all the action! We take her out of her cage every day and bought her a dog pen and she runs around the pen for hours.... it's so cute. We LOVE having her a part of our family!

 

[Joanna]

I find myself cleaning there cage every 2 days sometimes once a day because my boy rabbit isnt fulling litter trained and he insists on going potty on each blanket my girl rabbit Alice is fully litter trained at least lol
My rabbits have 2 dog pens attached so its about 8ft x 4ft x 3 1/2 feet, QUITE a bit of cleaning so thats why i skip a day somedays.

 

[lavendertealatte]

I clean Bunster's cage every day to put the poops in his litter box. I used to have to clean his litter box practically every other day because it was small. He's getting better about only peeing in his box ever since we got him a bigger one --> https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pet-Champion-X-Large-Cat-Litter-Box/45743501 and I went almostttt a week before it started to smell! I want to thoroughly clean the pen more but I haven't found a good way to do it... the hay is ridiculously out of control and Bunster is terrified of the vacuum cleaner! What kind of cage do you have and how do you clean it?

 

[Blue eyes]

This is what my cage looks like after 4 days when I had 2 rabbits. Now it takes a week to get this messy with just one rabbit.
The cage door is open all day every day.
So when it looks like this (after 1 week with 1 rabbit) I clean out the litter box and sweep up the cage. Between cleanings it honestly does not smell at all. I add hay twice per day.

 

[Popsicles]

I scoop out the wet corner of her litter tray every morning (she only pees right in the corner) and have a quick sweep around her pen before I let her out because she loves to throw hay everywhere in the morning to protest my lie in.. but she only gets a proper full on clean out once a week.

 

[Orrin]

Our buns do most of their peeing in the night; so, at the morning feeding I add another layer of dry pine shavings to the litter box. We have a spare litter box which allows us to swap out clean for dirty. We dump the waste onto our compost pile and wash the box out with the garden hose. By the next day it is dry and fresh, again.

The rest of their condo stays fairly clean, except when the ladies dump out their hay and grass. It only takes a couple of strokes with a broom every other day to tidy up. The sweepings go into the rest of the waste headed for the compost heap.

My wife and I team up with the evening feeding and housecleaning. It only takes a minute to tidy up. After about a year of rabbit care it is still enjoyable, no chore at all.

 

[Janine Barlach]

I clean Cas's cage every day as well. He fills his litter pan so i have no choice but to stay on top of it. I clean it at night and by morning it's full enough to change. He gets moved to a play area for the day time and while we are at work and I have a litter pan in there which i clean every evening as well. I don't think your cleaning habit is excessive, you are just being a good bunny mom : )

 

[Winston]

My little guy is four months & a few days. He is using his litter really well, but I still clean his litter box twice a day, morning and night. However I am just spot cleaning, and once every 3 to 4 days I change it out. A week into his training he peed outside of his box and I was stunned cus he had been doing soooo well, but then I noticed I had forgot to clean his litter that morning. I think maybe my little guy just likes it clean, and I notice if I keep it clean he only pees in the box. I don't find it a big deal because I do the same thing with my cats. I spot clean their litter twice a day. I just find it easier to stay on top of it. I keep a woman's sanitary garbage can next to the litter and scoop, and the lid locks when shut to keep out smell. Cleaning takes a few seconds with this system so I decided to do the same thing for my bunny.

The one thing I hate about litter training is keeping them on a clean, hard surface, near their litter box. Which, while it works great the draw back is getting to bond with the bunny. Sitting in the cage for 5 or 10 minutes throughout the day didn't seem like enough time. Yet, if I let him out and tried to keep him away from the carpet he would pee because he couldn't get back to the cage easy. After some thought I reshaped his playpen area so it comes up to my sofa, and with one grate that I can take on or off easily; it allows him pretty much free access to me, at his leisure. I got a waterproof crib mattress cover from Amazon and I laid it on my sofa. I hand feed him his pellets when ever he hops up to me. He comes to visit me for pellets several times throughout the day now, and sometimes just to say hi now. On day one he hopped off the sofa and I picked him up and put him back in the playpen, and we did this three more times. Now, he never jumps off the sofa (I think to avoid being picked up)... He hops back to his litter pan if he needs to go so I think he his litter trained now. I'm going to stick with his routine no matter how much I want to let him out until he is neutered. I don't want any set backs if I can avoid them. I just hate the litter training part because it seems to interfere with bonding time. This system seems to be working for me though, and I love all the visits I get.

 

[Winston]

I have to refill the hay ball often, so I need to go get something bigger. He is sound asleep right now on his chinchilla cooling stone I bought him. I need to go buy a bigger piece for him. I have a carpet protector down (from office max) and a water proof picnic blanket was added when I extended the cage. I wrapped one of the square grates with several shirts and cut holes to zip tie them so his feet wouldn't be on any wires. He also likes going under it to play when the cat visits him.

 

[Popsicles]

What a super spoilt bunny!!! You seem to be doing a great job and he’s lucky to have you!

 

[mark]

We change ours usually twice a week (two rabbits) but sometimes will change it one extra time per week (as in, a day "early") if we find that it needs it. We use wood pellet litter and add hay (like Blue Eyes mentioned above) when the poops become plentiful.

I'd say it depends on your situation - how many rabbits, how prolific they are, the type of absorbent material you use, and how large the litter box is. But, I would say twice a week at least, with steps taken (like layering in hay or litter) to keep them from sitting and peeing on a layer of poops. Just my personal advice.

I think it's even more important to keep the litter box fresh during the warm months of the year. Our Kimchi became ill with a respiratory infection during the summer, and I wonder if the cleanliness of his box had anything to do with it, since he fell ill toward the end of the cleaning cycle (that is, the box was due for cleaning on the day he became sick).

Here's a couple of pictures of Ellie eating hay this morning, sitting in the litter box. We use a large plastic storage bin from Home Depot, so both buns can sit side by side (they do!) and to give us more volume than the one we had previously from the pet store. Note in one picture, you can see where I dropped a little hay on top of the layer of poop pellets, so she doesn't have to stand on them.

 

[lavendertealatte]

Winston I have the same complaint about litter box training and bonding. Bunster has been doing pretty well within the x-pen we've attached to the pen, but we only let him out there when we can watch him cause the bottom is still carpet or a not water proof sheet. Lately he has been only interested in hopping around, I think maybe because we added a lot of cardboard stuff and tunnels and hops away when I try to pet him. ;:sigh:; I also was clicker training a bit so he mainly comes to me to search for pellets now lol. At least he is happy and is doing binkies, even if I miss when he would go into a loaf and "purr".

 

[LionheadRabbitLover]

I have a hutch, 2 cages and a big enclosure for my 2 buns, so it takes a while for it to get dirty enough to clean. Probably every 2 weeks I go threw and clean everything out.

 

[Winston]

Litter training is tough and that was my biggest concern because he is little. If you have a rescue or get an older bunny things might be different. But, when they are young (and properly cared for before you get them) you have a great chance to create a bond if you have the time and can set it up. That is not always the case so you just have to do what you can. My plan is to keep extending the playpen area (after he is neutered), until he is free roam. Today in my daily research I found something about the flooring I'm using perhaps not being safe. I didn't know slippery was bad (it is only until he is four months old, when he is set to be neutered) so now I'm trying to research safer floors. I found Coropast from the Gini Pig cage site, and then I found it at home depot for cheaper, but when I touched it I was thinking his nails could break it, so I'm not sure how long that would even last, has anyone ever tried that? I saw someone saying they used Horse Mats as its safer, but I'm not sure if it's water proof incase he does have an accident. My main goal is to try to keep him clean, and tidy and easy clean up incase of a mistake... The better job I can do now, during the first few months could make all the difference for long term freedom. Once animals start making mistakes it's hard to get them to stop using that spot so that is why I was using the hard floor - sadly I had no idea this was bad for my bunny... Ugh!

 

[Blue eyes]

^ Coroplast is very slippery. I would not use it for a rabbit unless it is covered with something not slippery.

 

[Popsicles]

@Winston i just bought an offcut of linoleum to put over the carpet where her pen is; she grips absolutely fine and is great for wiping up accidents - also stays nice and cool to lay on when it’s warm.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Litter pan daily and cage and main pan every week. Vacuum the room 2 times a week and all the pans (paper and litter) once a week

 

[Bella's mom]

Wow you guys are all amazing. Thanks so much for your replies. I am so thrilled I'm not the only one that changes the cage every day...lol. You guys are great and I love seeing how much you all love your bunnies. I always laugh as I often find Bella rearranges all her furniture....lol. We bought her a wooden house where she hides and the other night she was moving it with her teeth. She put her litterbox right next to her water bottle and the hay tray. She's a perfectionist....lol. I can't get over how meticulous, intelligent and loving bunnies are. We are smitten with our Bella. Thanks for your responses:
@Joanna , @lavendertealatte , @Blue eyes , @Popsicles , @Orrin , @Janine Barlach , @Winston , @mark , @LionheadRabbitLover and @Nancy McClelland ! (Hope I did not forget someone)... Thanks for all your replies. I appreciate it. I love ALL your setups!!! Great homes and bunnies you all have!

@Winston looks identical to my Bella xo

 

[lavendertealatte]

Bunster rearranges his "furniture" too, it's funny! I put a house/tunnel I made out of a cardboard box in there and at first I had it against the wall.. well he decided it didn't belong there, and pushes it so that there's space between the wall and the house for him to run! Genius.

Winston, what kind of flooring do you have?

 

[Winston]

I was using a flooring from office depot but I didn't know that a soft floor could be bad too... He is set to be neutered in two weeks, a couple days later I plan to switch the flooring up so he isn't on something slippery. Though, he does have a few different surfaces to choose from... He seems completely litter trained but I have read he can have set backs and I don't want to risk it. He also spends a lot of time on my sofa with me, and he is not having any accidents, but I do have that baby crib protecter which is made of a soft material, not slippery at all. Hopefully I will be okay for a few more weeks, wait 2 and a half weeks... Bell's Mom: Yes, they do look alike! Soo, cute, I just love the coloring but all the bunnies just seem to be sooo cute