Inside rabbits questions?

[mistyjr]

What does everybody use on the bottom the cage bedding??

Best litter, litter training, when to cleaning?


Any info that would be great...

Thanks,

Misty

 

[elrohwen]

I use fleece blankets on the bottom of my bun's cage. I bought a few yards from a fabric shop and cut them into pieces that fit the bottom of the cage (I got 3 pieces per yard). My bun doesn't pee on them, so I just remove them once per week (or sometimes a bit longer if they still seem clean), sweep up, and replace with a new blanket. I just wash them in my washing machine - very easy and reusable.

Towels can also be used, but if your bun chews them they can get strings that can mess with their digestion. Fleece is recommended because if they chew it it's not dangerous.

If your bun is not litter trained, you might want to start with a bare cage floor - sometimes buns will pee on anything absorbant, so this could hinder litter training if he's peeing on the blanket. However, when I brought my bun home he wouldn't walk on the bare cage floor, so I had to put down fleece immediately. He picked up litter training right away though and never peed on his blanket.

I currently use Yesterday's News in his litter box, but I have a bag of wood stove pellets I'm waiting to try out. I also put a lot of hay down so that he'll eat hay and poo at the same time. I clean his litter box twice a week and I don't notice any smell, but some people clean more often. A 50/50 vinegar/water solution can be used to clean the box and any pee in his cage.

 

[tonyshuman]

I use wood stove pellets in the litterboxes and an indoor/outdoor carpet on the cage floor.

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

my one cage has coroplast as the bottom of the cage then in the pen that is attached to the cage it is just my carpet , and knock on wood no one has tried eating my carpet. In Charger's cage it is corplast bottom and i put a sheet folded up on the bottom of the cage. i use Equine pine in the litter pans

 

[mistyjr]

Thanks you guys for the info. This helps out some,

 

[missyscove]

My cages have plastic bottoms. I use feline pine in my litterboxes.
Your best bet for litter training is a solid bottom with litter only in the box. I see a lot of people that will line a whole cage with carefresh and put carefresh in a litterbox and ask why their rabbit isn't littertrained. Then you put the box in the corner where your rabbit usually pees. If there are accidents in other corners, wipe it up and put the paper towel in the litter box and clean it up with vinegar. If they persist, try multiple litter boxes.

 

[mistyjr]

What about using Puppy training pads in the cage??

I also have them in the plastic cages floors..

 

[elrohwen]

You really shouldn't need puppy pads unless your buns won't use the litter box. If anything, the puppy pads would encourage them to not use the box, because they would soak up the pee. They want to pee on something absorbant and if they only thing absorbant is the litter box, they'll be far more likely to go in there.

I think you're better off with fleece or sheets or something on the cage floor, but only after you've established good litter box habits.

 

[Pet_Bunny]

elrohwen wrote:

I currently use Yesterday's News in his litter box, but I have a bag of wood stove pellets I'm waiting to try out. I also put a lot of hay down so that he'll eat hay and poo at the same time.

Elrohwen, you should try the wood pellets before you run out of YN, in case you don't like the wood pellets. The wood pellets absorbs moisture differently from YN.

Where do you put your hay if Otto eats and poops at the same time. (In the litter box?)

 

[elrohwen]

Pet_Bunny wrote:

elrohwen wrote:

I currently use Yesterday's News in his litter box, but I have a bag of wood stove pellets I'm waiting to try out. I also put a lot of hay down so that he'll eat hay and poo at the same time.

Elrohwen, you should try the wood pellets before you run out of YN, in case you don't like the wood pellets. The wood pellets absorbs moisture differently from YN.

Where do you put your hay if Otto eats and poops at the same time. (In the litter box?)

Pet_Bunny, that's a good point! I'll make sure to try it out first, though it's pretty easy to get another bag of YN if it's a problem.

I do put my hay in the litter box, actually. I usually put a pile in the front and my bun only pees in the back corners. I also have a hay rack outside the litter box that he can reach while he's inside the box.

 

[Pet_Bunny]

elrohwen wrote:

I do put my hay in the litter box, actually. I usually put a pile in the front and my bun only pees in the back corners. I also have a hay rack outside the litter box that he can reach while he's inside the box.

How big is your box then? If I put hay in my litter box (small box), the rabbit will end up stepping all over it, and peeing on it.

 

[elrohwen]

Pet_Bunny wrote:

elrohwen wrote:

I do put my hay in the litter box, actually. I usually put a pile in the front and my bun only pees in the back corners. I also have a hay rack outside the litter box that he can reach while he's inside the box.

How big is your box then? If I put hay in my litter box (small box), the rabbit will end up stepping all over it, and peeing on it.

I think it's about 13"x13". It's not that big, but my bun is only 4lbs and he really only pees and poos in the back corners, leaving anything in the front clean. I also sweep up hay he's dropped from the rack and throw it on the litter every day so he gets some fresh stuff. If I had a bigger box I'd probably keep the hay in there exclusively. Since it's small, I have the extra hay rack to supplement.

A lot of people who have litter training issues seem to resolve their problems by adding some hay to the box and I continue to do it to encourage good litter habits.

 

[mistyjr]

oksy, 2 morrow i will buy some fleece to try that, And get the shavings out of the cage... Thanks you guys..

 

[mistyjr]

*okay

 

[hln917]

We put a litter pan in the corner of the cage then lay down a carpet square for them to lay on. Picked them up at Walmart last spring for $1. each. I just put in a fleece pillowcase but Baci just balls it up in a corner and won't use it.

 

[mistyjr]

yeah, Thanks