Litter training

[VanillaMarshmellUwU]

So I started litter training my rabbit for the past 2-3 days and the first box I bought him was too small so I bought him a larger one and cut it out so he could enter since it's too high... I use wood pellets for litter But the problem is... He won't even go in there unless I put pellets or carrot there so I just removed the hay from it's litter box and transfered it to another one, plus he won't eat the hay unless I gave it to him by hand, I'm also lessening the amount of pellets he receives. I use star grass hay because it's the only hay I can afford now and I don't want to buy any other hay because almost a lot of it are overseas and my mom won't allow me to, I'm from a different country, continent(Asia) and I also live in a poor province so we don't have Walmart, petco, etc. Here, plus it's hard to find hay here. I searched in the internet that star grass hay is like a cheaper version of Timothy hay since it said that Timothy hay is hard to purchase so I have no choice to buy star grass hay. Anyways it's my rabbit's first time eating hay so I also bought her wheatgrass which he likes. He is 4 months old and I had him when he was 2 months old. I'm really worried that he may not be litter trained especially that he isn't nurtured yet and another problem, the only pet clinic here in our province only specialize in cats and dogs. I know... I'm so problematic right now. I'll try my best to be patient. Any suggestions? Or tips?

 

[Hermelin]

Minimize the pellets amount to just a few tablespoons. Bunnies won’t starve themself and he will start eating his hay. Place all the things in the litter box or next to the litter box. Have you made sure that only the litter box have bedding in it and not the rest of his area.

Also he’s in a age litter training can be one annoying period. My own buck at that age was only litter trained in his cage and would scatter his droppings every where outside the cage. Took a year until it calmed down with him scattering droppings and me correcting his behavior. My boy had used people as a litter box, my moms underwear drawer, beds, couches and rugs. His favorite place was my moms underwear drawer, took a while for myself to figure out where he went to do his buisness and always disappearing when he had to go. He was nearly banned from the house but he’s so cute so my mom forgave him and my dad bunny proofed the drawer

 

[VanillaMarshmellUwU]

Minimize the pellets amount to just a few tablespoons. Bunnies won’t starve themself and he will start eating his hay. Place all the things in the litter box or next to the litter box. Have you made sure that only the litter box have bedding in it and not the rest of his area.

Also he’s in a age litter training can be one annoying period. My own buck at that age was only litter trained in his cage and would scatter his droppings every where outside the cage. Took a year until it calmed down with him scattering droppings and me correcting his behavior. My boy had used people as a litter box, my moms underwear drawer, beds, couches and rugs. His favorite place was my moms underwear drawer, took a while for myself to figure out where he went to do his buisness and always disappearing when he had to go. He was nearly banned from the house but he’s so cute so my mom forgave him and my dad bunny proofed the drawer

Wow, I'm sure you had a hard time and how many days/weeks/months did it take to fully litter train him?

I also feel you but it's not my parents who is the leader of the house... My grandma is because my grandpa it scared of my grandma lol and she also understands how hard it is to litter train an unspayed rabbit since she also had a buck and a doe in her old days.

Also thank you for telling me your experience and I understand how you can't resist a rabbits cuteness especially when they ask for food and get into trouble such as yours. And should I remove the other stuff from her cage? And just put the litter box their? I also made sure that there is no litter anywhere in the cage except his litter box but I think he does not k ow what it is since it's still new but I will give him time and I'll just put carrots there so he could be confident to enter and understand that it's safe. There's a lot of new things to him.

When I saw him for the first time at The petshop... He was outside shaking(scared) with his other 2 sister... I was with my friends(2) at that time, I felt so sad and did not hesitate to take him in and my other 2 friends also purchased his sister but for now he is separate with them... I would be happy if I could go to my friends place so they would have a playtime but because of this pandemic... I could not go out especially that I'm still 13

 

[Hermelin]

Wow, I'm sure you had a hard time and how many days/weeks/months did it take to fully litter train him?

I also feel you but it's not my parents who is the leader of the house... My grandma is because my grandpa it scared of my grandma lol and she also understands how hard it is to litter train an unspayed rabbit since she also had a buck and a doe in her old days.

Also thank you for telling me your experience and I understand how you can't resist a rabbits cuteness especially when they ask for food and get into trouble such as yours. And should I remove the other stuff from her cage? And just put the litter box their? I also made sure that there is no litter anywhere in the cage except his litter box but I think he does not k ow what it is since it's still new but I will give him time and I'll just put carrots there so he could be confident to enter and understand that it's safe. There's a lot of new things to him.

When I saw him for the first time at The petshop... He was outside shaking(scared) with his other 2 sister... I was with my friends(2) at that time, I felt so sad and did not hesitate to take him in and my other 2 friends also purchased his sister but for now he is separate with them... I would be happy if I could go to my friends place so they would have a playtime but because of this pandemic... I could not go out especially that I'm still 13

I can understand if I grew up with my grandparents in the household my lola would be the queen. All my cousins nicknamn her as the queen which you should listen to all her orders. While at home it’s my mom that’s the boss, might just be the filipino personality kicking in

Before he was hormonall it took only one week to trian him. Later when he was a teenage which I call that age of the bunny, he was first litter trained again when he was a year old. So myself was a bit frustrated at my bunny because I was the one that cleaned up his mess and covered for him.

If you have any soft beds or such things you should remove but toys and such things can still be in the cage. You can wipe up his urine with a napkin and place it in the litter box. It will help him to understand where he should go and make sure to always do a through cleaning after he’s gone outside the litter box. Anything that have the smell of urine will be a bathroom spot. You can use a water and vinegar mix to clean up urine, the vinegar will hide the urine smell.

He won’t miss his sibblings, he’s better away from them and would need to be neutered to be able to be with other bunnies. Bunnies aren’t like dogs that would enjoy playdates. You can give him a stuffed toy and he will be okay with you and his toy ☺

 

[VanillaMarshmellUwU]

I can understand if I grew up with my grandparents in the household my lola would be the queen. All my cousins nicknamn her as the queen which you should listen to all her orders. While at home it’s my mom that’s the boss, might just be the filipino personality kicking in

Before he was hormonall it took only one week to trian him. Later when he was a teenage which I call that age of the bunny, he was first litter trained again when he was a year old. So myself was a bit frustrated at my bunny because I was the one that cleaned up his mess and covered for him.

If you have any soft beds or such things you should remove but toys and such things can still be in the cage. You can wipe up his urine with a napkin and place it in the litter box. It will help him to understand where he should go and make sure to always do a through cleaning after he’s gone outside the litter box. Anything that have the smell of urine will be a bathroom spot. You can use a water and vinegar mix to clean up urine, the vinegar will hide the urine smell.

He won’t miss his siblings, he’s better away from them and would need to be neutered to be able to be with other bunnies. Bunnies aren’t like dogs that would enjoy playdates. You can give him a stuffed toy and he will be okay with you and his toy ☺

Oh... So your Filipino too. Our stone floor here kasi... It kinda absorbs water and not polished but I clean it up right away with vinegar and water. He goes to his litter box BUT steps on the hay. So should I not feed her the whole day So she could start eating the hay? I also removed his cardboard hiding house so the litter box would look much more appealing as you said and I plan to free roam him after he finishes litter training since the rats are more scared of him and he learned how to go up and down the stairs. I can't neuter him because as I said... The only clinic here only specialize in cats and dogs... I chatted with them if they do rabbit and they said "sorry ma'am we don't do rabbits, we only specialize with small animals such as cats and dogs" and I said to myself... "Aren't rabbits small animals"? So yeah the end.

 

[Hermelin]

I’m just half filipino, but I’m closer to my filipino relatives than my swedish side of the family. But I never learned the language, planing to at least learn tagalog, my mom didn’t teach me because I had trouble learning swedish. So myself only learnt a few easy words and can understand a few questions.

At least If you feed other thing through the day bunnies will often skip the hay. Even my own bunnies will skip the hay if they have something more yummier to eat. Myself noticed the problem with one of my own, so I restricted the pellets to make him eat his hay.

Finding bunny vets can be hard even here in Sweden and in the Philippines many have a different view of bunnies, so it must be even more rare.

 

[Butterscotch]

My doe was very difficult to litter box train while my buck was born litter box trained, it seems. I had to remove all bedding and soft surfaces from the cage and play pen where my doe lived so that she really had no choice but to use her litter box. It was hard to see her sleeping on the bare floor or in her litter box but it was temporary and it paid off. She can now have soft beds and blankets and she won't soil them. I only feed hay in the litter box and I only feed pellets once a day, so when they get hungry they have to go sit in their litter box to eat. My doe was not reliably litter box trained until after she was spayed. I'm not sure she ever would have figured it out otherwise. She was awful!

 

[VanillaMarshmellUwU]

My doe was very difficult to litter box train while my buck was born litter box trained, it seems. I had to remove all bedding and soft surfaces from the cage and play pen where my doe lived so that she really had no choice but to use her litter box. It was hard to see her sleeping on the bare floor or in her litter box but it was temporary and it paid off. She can now have soft beds and blankets and she won't soil them. I only feed hay in the litter box and I only feed pellets once a day, so when they get hungry they have to go sit in their litter box to eat. My doe was not reliably litter box trained until after she was spayed. I'm not sure she ever would have figured it out otherwise. She was awful!

Thank you for. The wonderful response and telling me your experience, I did remove all the soft and absorbent things in the pen as you said and last night, I just saw him peed one of the sides of the pen so I quickly wipe and spray it with vinegar. And it's hard to find a rabbit approved vet in here since cats and dogs are so popular to be house pets
Well... He did pee in the litter box 2 times I think and his poop is still outside the litter box but I do pick it up and put it in the litter box as it should be.