Interesting litter tray dilemma

[l.lai]

Hey guys,

Thought i'd run this by you to see what you thought.

So i have a 3.5 month old Netherland Dwarf (Racer) whose toilet trained.

In the past i had a large cat litter tray with a triangle shaped corner litter tray inside of the cat litter tray.

In the cat littery tray i had hay, in the smaller triangle shaped tray i had kitty litter (recycled newspaper pellet style).

Racer would eat the hay but exclusively poop and pee into the corner litter tray which was inside the larger tray.

So he started digging the litter out a few weeks ago, to combat this, i bought a large litter tray with a grid inside it:

This one:

I soaked the large kitty litter tray in vinegar which was used as a hay tray and removed the triangle shaped litter tray from it.

I then placed the kitty litter from the one he peed in, and put it all into the gridded one, hoping Racer would smell the old litter and pee and poop into the new gridded litter tray.

I put hay into the clean cat litter tray and placed the new gridded litter tray side by side with the cat litter tray (now a hay tray).

The old triangle shaped tray was stored away.

What i found is:

1. Racer will now pee into the hay tray (large kitty litter tray), but also eat the hay, problem is the hay at the bottom is soaked in urine.

2. He doesnt use the gridded litter tray.

So i then tried this:

- I removed the large litter tray. I placed some hay into the gridded litter tray.

Racer started peeing into the grided tray which is great! But ideally i'd like to have:

- One with the grid for his pee and poops, the grid so he cant dig it out and also so he's not standing in his pee and poop all the time.

- An exclusive hay tray (the kitty litter tray).

I'm not sure if i should place some hay into the litter tray again and put it in his play pen as im afraid he'll just go back to pee'ing and pooping into the hay tray and not using his gridded tray!

Although im happy that he pee's into the hay tray instead of the floor, at times the cat litter tray is not high enough and he'll pee over the cat litter tray and soil the floor, so this is why a high back tray is required!

He hasnt been getting much hay lately, i've instead given him Lucerne cubes, more fresh veggies and reduced pellets. Only thing is he doesnt enjoy the cubes as much as plain hay.

Thoughts?

 

[Sox]

Well by the time I got to the end of your thread ,,,, I'M TOTALL CONFUSED AS TO WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO SAY ..... and by the way .... WHAT IS YOUR QUESTION??? Oops, maybe I should read again from the start for the 3rd time! :inlove::shock::laugh::happyrabbit:

Edited: just briefly re-reading it ... I think it doesn't matter where the rabbit pees or poos as long as it is in a litter tray; they ain't dogs or cats! Or just get a bigger high-back corner tray like I did. Mine is a gigantic one that cost me $26 from City Farmers and all my problems ended. 3 huge corners for Sox to pee/poo in, no problemo! And they are pretty smart and don't eat hay with pee, they are rather fussy! Sometimes I think they are as smart as us, if we don't eat food that has been pissed on, neither will they mate! :bunnydance:

 

[Pipp]

I have the same problem, I understand it perfectly.

I think the only way to combat the peeing in the hay box/eating hay in the litter box problem is to buy it by the bale and use enough of it with the litter that he'll always have fresh hay. They really like to munch, pee and poop. (I think the hay is like a bunny bathroom magazine).

I've cut a hole in a small cardboard box and fastened it to the bars on the side of the pen and my guys are taking the hay from there, but they still do at least a little pooping while munching. What I should do is fasten it above the litter box. But I want them eating as much hay as possible, so I just keep loading the litter box and the poor-man's hay rack with fresh stuff. (And I stuff empty paper towel rolls full of hay, they can't pee on that too easily!)

Let me know what works for you.


sas :bunnydance:

 

[l.lai]

Thanks for your help guys, i may have to look into either buying more hay or Pipp's idea!

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

What about something like this would it solve your problems. Cause I am a little confused as to the problem:?. Mabye I am not reading it right.

 

[bunniekrissy]

I think it would be difficult to have an exclusive hay tray...because the bunnies will want to poop while they are eating the hay. I think the hay rack in the litter box is a great idea because it keeps it a bit separated from the litter. Personally I just put the hay in a corner of the box over the grid.

 

[l.lai]

Looks like its a plan.

My bunny has been eating these lecurne cubes too long now, time to switch him back ot hay (i read its okay to feed hay cubes while they're young, but not when they're older as the cubes contain too much protein and less fibre compared to pure hay, but Racer's only 3.5 months and growing so i guess its okay).