Litter Box Training

[Hyatt101]

Sorry if people have already asked this before, but, whats the best way to litter box train baby bunnies?
We will be keeping 2 babies from our litter and we want to litterbox train them so that their cages will be cleaner. Right now, the babies are about 3 1/2 weeks old... When should we start the training?

 

[agnesthelion]

I've never raised babies but I got Agnes at 7 weeks. All I did was find the corner she picked and put a box there. I put soiled bedding and poop in the box and boom, she was trained. She has had near perfect habits from the beginning.

 

[Hyatt101]

Okay, thats how I thought I would do it. Do i just wait till she finds AND soils the corner?

 

[agnesthelion]

Well, with Agnes I put the litterbox in from day one. She ended up picking another corner. I tried to get her to use the litterbox in the corner I wanted but was not successful. She knew where she wanted her toilet

So I guess you don't necessarily need to wait til she picks a corner. You could put it in so they get used to the idea. Keep putting soiled bedding in it. Maybe youll get lucky and she will like where you put it! Or, if they pick another corner, move it there.

 

[Hyatt101]

Okay, thank you! Just one other question: what age should i start? Just, like, as soon as she moves in to her condo, which should be when she is 7 weeks old. (Now she is 3 1/2 weeks!) :big wink:

 

[Imbrium]

btw, don't get discouraged if she doesn't take to it as quickly as agnes did! mine are 10.5-11.5 wks and still insist on having at least one pee spot outside the litter box no matter where I put it (they'll move their pee corner if I put it in the current one) and no matter how many times I scoop soiled bedding into the box.

they DO keep all the pee in their cage (ie not in the run portion of their living area) and don't pee in their sleep corner, but they're far from fully box trained. I've heard spaying/neutering tends to work wonders in terms of helping with box training, so I've got my fingers crossed that my babies will get better once they're older and have been spayed.

 

[Hyatt101]

I knew they probably wouldn't take to it right away!!

 

[Imbrium]

hope you don't mind if I piggy-back on your thread to avoid starting a new one on the same topic...

I don't expect my babies to be fully trained until they're, you know, not babies any more (ie spayed), but I've still got the box under the hay manger in their cage in an attempt to make progress. I take them outside most mornings before it gets too hot and never take their litter box with them because I couldn't care less if they pee on my grass. I've already gotta haul their pens, toys, hay manger, water bottle and dig box plus a collapsible chair, MY water bottle and a digital camera out there and set it all up, then do the same in reverse an hour later and I'm all kinds of lazy, lol.

I was wondering, though - should I be bringing the litter box with us when we play outside? will it mess up their training if they're not given a pre-designated place to tinkle? will they try to hold it for the hour until they have cage access again? (they don't drink much out there and I've never actually seen them pee, but they could've done it without me noticing)

 

[Ellie]

Another thing to remember is to praise them when they use it as well. Takes a lot of time and watching them.

Also, I'm not sure if this is true by any means.... but I heard that they don't like the smell of vinegar so they won't pee/poo near vinegar. I sprayed a little bit on the other corners of Buster's cage to keep him from going there. He didn't try once... not sure if it's because he's a smarty-pants or if the vinegar trick worked.

To Imbrium, I don't see why bringing the litter box outside would hurt. You could give it a try

 

[Imbrium]

I know bringing it out couldn't hurt, hehe... just wondering if NOT bringing it out *could*

I'm all about being lazy in efficient ways - ie laziness that doesn't lead to more work later. if bringing the box out would = less frequent cage cleanings (every other day is a royal pain) then it's actually lazier in the long run to haul the box outside daily. if that's not the case, though, then it's lazier to leave it inside. I want to do whichever allows me to be lazier in the long run! (yes, I know, I have a very complex scheme to my laziness )

 

[ldoerr]

I personally would not bring the litter box out. Rabbit pee and poop is some of the best fertalizer that you can get. I am still in the process of litter box training my rabbits (not trying very hard).