My Heart's on Fire for Elvira

[whitelop]

So I have a question about Ellie's litter habits. While she is GREAT with the box, considering she is a baby and unspayed. She leaves stray poops in her cage, which I don't have a problem with, but why JUST in the cage with the strays? Since I put the big box in the corner she hasn't had a stray out of it on the floor. Only in her cage does she have the strays and its A LOT. But they're mostly on the blanket and I just shake her blanket out and then sweep her cage, so its easy. Is she just marking her cage as 'hers'? I would think that she would be pooping all over the floor if she wanted to mark something as hers? But she only did that for a few days before I switched the boxes around. I'm not really bothered by the poop, they're all solid and perfect and really easy to clean so it doesn't really bother me, just perplexes me.

My second question is, why does she pee on the velvet blankets and not the others? I cleaned her cage yesterday and changed blankets, she went from a baby blanket(?) I think, to a velvet blanket and I noticed a few places that she peed on the blanket near her food bowl. I wonder if I should put the food bowl in the litter box or something to keep her from pooping/peeing while eating? But I don't think that would work, I think she would take the bowl out and spill the food in the box. She doesn't pee on the fleece or the baby blankets I put in her cage, BUT the fleece and baby blankets are new. The velvet ones I had with Foo. I bleach all the blankets and use extra wash detergent to get the smell out, do you guys think that she can still smell Foo in the blanket and she has to pee on it to get HER smell on it? I have a lot more velvet than baby/fleece blankets! With the fleece ones, they are like $2 in the baby section of walmart and they're the perfect size for her cage, so everytime I go I get one and throw it into the rotation. So I'll get rid of the velvet when I have enough fleece blankets to last like 2 weeks without washing.

To be honest, I'm pretty sick of her cage. I'm tired of having to clean two litter boxes and wash blankets and sweep a cage out. I think I just want to get rid of her cage and just have her be free, with a box to sleep in. Maybe I should get her an x-pen or something, in case she has to be contained for something. Or give her a cat crate or something so in case there is an emergency I can get her into something and go. What if I did an x-pen with a cat crate as her house? The x-pen would be open all the time, but if I had to close her in, it would be like her cage, and the house would be a crate for emergencies and sleep. Would that be more trouble than its worth? Ughh. I'm just sort of sick of looking at a cage, its not very pretty. I don't really want to build a NIC condo, that just seems like a pain in the ass and more money than what its worth, and they're not pretty either(for me personally) I would build a condo if I had a rabbit that had to be caged often. Since she doesn't have to be caged, it doesn't make sense for me to buy and make a cage.
Any suggestions?

 

[JBun]

Your morning sounds about as bad as mine. I go in to feed the bunnies this morning and notice Toby is laying down in the back of his cage as I'm dishing out pellets to everyone. Normally Toby is totally hyper at feeding time, chewing on the bars of his cage and trying to shake it apart cause he want's his food NOW. So with him not getting up to come eat, and with his megacolon, I was pretty worried. I gave him some simethicone and metacam, cleaned out his litter tray, and gave him a big pile of hay. He nibbled a little bit, but wouldn't really eat. He did poop a little though, so I felt alot better after that. Then I brought him into the kitchen to run around. You never would have known 1 minute earlier he wasn't feeling well. He started hopping around the kitchen doing binkies. Sooo, obviously he's not dying. I put him back in his cage and he started chowing down on hay. What a relief! I hate it when my buns are sick. I'll just keep an eye on him today though.

Your morning was pretty chaotic. I think I would have just gone back to bed, haha. Those cats would have got an earfull from me! Just ask my buns, when they manage to miss the litter box and leave me morning surprises I am NOT a morning person at all. I hope the rest of your day is better anyhow.

I think Ellie leaving poops in her cage but not out of it, is just her seeing that cage as her area and the kitchen as your area. Roo's kind of the same. He's a total pig in his own cage, just peeing and pooping wherever he wants, but when I bring him in the living room to play, not one poop. I think he realizes it's my territory and not his. I have no clue about the blanket. Maybe she just likes the feel of it better and wants to make sure to mark it so everyone knows it's hers Bunnies are just weird about things sometimes.

The xpen idea sounds like it could work for her. Do you even have to have any sort of cage for her or could she just free roam the kitchen? Do your cats leave her alone or do you have to have to keep her safe from them still, until she's bigger?

 

[whitelop]

I am not a morning person either! When I was younger, I never understood what people meant by "don't bother me before I've had my coffee", now as an adult and a coffee addict, I totally get it. Don't bother me before I've had my coffee and for me to do all those things and feed my son breakfast before even a sip of coffee...ha, they're lucky. My cats got thrown the hell outside in the rain. All three of them, they were not happy and tried to come back in. I sent my dog out too, but my rooster attacked him for coming to close to his woman and cat food. I had to let the dog back in. Poor dog. He didn't do anything!

I'm so glad that Toby is alright! Maybe he was trying to tell you he wanted some out of cage time, to work up an appetite!

It sort of makes sense for her to poop in her cage and not in the floor, the territory thing. The velvet blankets are pretty nice! haha.
As for an x-pen. I haven't got 100% of a plan together. I need to take a picture of the whole area on that side of the kitchen, there is a wash hamper, dryer/washer and Ellie's cage. That hamper won't be there forever, because its about fall apart, so a new hamper(s) will be coming soon. So I was thinking I could do something in the corner of the wall, I'll maybe get some coroplast or something hard on the floor to protect my floor, with some blankets on top. It would be more like an 'enclosure' than a cage. I have one of the small petmate carriers, its the 100 size, it fit Foo in it and she could turn all the way around in it. I could put that in her enclosure as her house and if there was an emergency then I could lock her in and take her.
I have to think about it, because I have a few ideas, but I'm not totally sure.

The cats aren't messing with her anymore. I think they know she's a pet bunny now, not just any baby bunny. When she runs from them it kind of sparks their interest, but only for a fraction of second and then they walk away. I've started putting her food bowl in the middle of floor in her area, so she has to come out into the middle to eat and not hide in the corner. I think that has helped A LOT with getting her used to the animals. She will still run to the corner when they come in, especially the dog and my husband; but once they've been in for a second, she comes back out. Then once they've been in there for like 30 seconds and she realizes she isn't being bothered, she'll go back to eating. So we've made huge steps toward having them all together. And the little cat that was trying to hunt her, Ellie actually went up to her and sniffed her and let the cat sniff her. I was sitting right there and they were next to me. So she's coming around to them. Maybe once she's bigger she'll feel more confident, because she'll be closer to their size.

PS. I'm watching Hoarding: Buried Alive; not my favorite hoarding show but I'll take it. Anyway, I just saw this woman who had taxidermied chickens, a hen and roo, on the top of her kitchen cabinets. They were AWESOME! The chickens were so pretty, I couldn't pinpoint a breed because they only scanned them. But they were great! I texted my mom and told her I wanted them, is that wrong? I would be worried about dust, I feel like their feathers would collect a lot of dust. Hahaha. Maybe when one of my chickens dies, I'll have it stuffed to put in my kitchen. lol, just kidding, or am I?

 

[agnesthelion]

Omg Morgan Archie and Agnes poop ONLY in their cage too!! I still can't figure out why. I actually posted something onnhere awhile ago asking about it. My two are free run the entire day. So, when they are free run they poop in their litterboxes which are in their condo even when they are free run. Then at night, when the condo door is closed, the litterboxes are obviously still there, lol, they poop around them. It is the craziest thing and ive chalked it up to stop trying to figure it out because it only makes sense to them I do wonder if it has something to do with territorialness that maybe is heightened when they are "locked" up but I still don't know for sure......

As far ad Ellie peeing on the velvet. When Agnes was a baby, she peed on my couch. And only there. And I've heard of rabbits peeing on beds too. So maybe they just like the soft material, it feels oh so good, lol, I dunno. Maybe she just has a going for the velvet!? Buns are funny little things aren't they??

Lots of people have complete free run buns and it seems to work fine. I would just think you would need a place to put her in an emergency and it would be fine. If you do decide the xpen route, do a search on eBay. I bought mine on there for like half the price that I found in every store I checked.

Jenny--so glad Toby is okay. My two have scared me like that as well. Just acting not themselves always sends me into a panic.

 

[agnesthelion]

Double post :spintongue

 

[whitelop]

I think that if I put a cat crate in the kitchen for her house and took her cage away, I think she would be fine. Like her crate would be for a house and emergencies. I would keep all the litter boxes and possibly put another one, and I would probably add a hide box in the place she likes to sleep next to the fridge. I think it could work.

I'm not going to do this until she's fully grown. And I need to make sure she keeps up her litter habits until then. And I think I should probably talk to my husband? And see how he feels about having her free in the kitchen. I mean the way I see it, its only the kitchen not our whole house so it shouldn't be a problem!

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

I eventually want Monty to be a kitchen bunny (during the day...I can't trust her giantness not to jump the gate when I'm sleeping) once I get her spayed. She has pottied in front of the fridge twice now, so I need to get those pesky little hormones sorted out. I can't use the fridge with a litter box in front of it!

 

[Chrisdoc]

Have loved reading all of this and people do have habits that drive us nuts, I´m sure I do things that drive some of my friends nuts but living on my own, I get away with doing more things as my bunnies are the only ones I could drive nuts now.

I am so tired today, I didn´t sleep well last night, haven´t really slept that well since coming back from my friend´s house but the bunnies were really happy as they were out all night. Well, Snowy and Bandy were out and Houdini was in the enclosure but he has space. I was really laughing as at 4am he was dashing from one end of the enclosure to the other and back but like loads of times. I was laughing out load as he reminded me of Dash in the Incredibles, you know, the little son. He is so quick, it´s unbelievable. I feel a zombie now as I had a really hard day today doing a build clean so I´m absolutely knackered but don´t want to go to bed too early in case I don´t sleep again.

Xpen idea is a good one, with something in there she can dash in if she gets frightened and she´ll have more space when she´s locked in.

Things that drive us mad. One of my neighbours likes to get showered really late and as I live in an apartment, you can hear it above and next to. I was talking to my other neighbour yesterday who lives above and we were having a rant. She´s a selfish b***h and never thinks of anyone else...maybe the next time, I will spend half an hour banging on the wall and see how she likes it haha.

 

[holtzchick]

Okay, I love the ranting here first of all

Men are there to bother women, in every aspect of life, but vice versa. Ever thought about how our bitching and complaining sounds like to them My boyfriend has purposely turned the tables on me once in a while and it aint pretty, just to prove that point to me. At the same time, if your husband had a laydown personality, your relationship probably wouldn't be very fun (ever dated someone who agreed with everything and did everything you asked?), it gets awfully boring! :yawn:

I know what you meaning by the fact that you are sick of cleaning cages and litter boxes. That's how I felt with my two and I just couldn't bring it upon myself to wake up and let them out let alone rush to 8 hours of work right after! I would always give them pellets to shut them up temporarily as they would also rattle their xpens. If there is any way you can secure everything with zip ties in multiple spots the rattling isn't so bad! Now with the NIC cubes, the cages are rattle free
Also, what kind of litter are you using? and if you were to make a grate for over her litter, it's way less clean up and since I've started using the stovepellets, I only scoop like once every other day (believe me Phoenix urinates a lot since she drinks like 1 1/2 cups of water a day) and there is absolutely NO smell

Also, with the pooping just inside of their cage, she's just marking territory. Hippo has like 99% perfect litter habbits and doesn't care but Phoenix only goes in the litter box 75% of the time to poop. I just shop vac her cage every morning, it's super quick and makes all the bunny hair go away She's probably just peeing on only the velvet because she likes that material and perhaps she is too lazy to move. If I give Hippogryff a blanket he is fine with it, the second I give (and would give Peter) Phoenix a blanket, she pee's all over it! Bunnies are very particular in that sense and every bunny is just plain weird

and you should try Amino Acid for energy it's wicked and natural!!

 

[Chrisdoc]

Michelle how right you are. It is good to have friends to rant to as well, the just listen, nod at the right times and don´t contradict you. It really does help to get it off your chest.

I use the wood pellets as well and they are great. During the week, I just change the soiled litter and move about and it really doesn´t smell which is great when they are in the house. I do get paranoid as well about a smelly house, couldn´t stand that. I have friends with dogs who pee and poo in the house and on the terrace and the smell is unbearable.

 

[whitelop]

I use wood pellets for litter, I love them. I change the box like every two day or something, but I'll scoop it if there is a lot of pee in the box, or if there is TON of poop. One easy scoop and its done. The litter doesn't make a make a mess, but I'm just tired to cleaning the two litter boxes and then the cage that she uses as a litter box.
(right now, I'm watching the Lorax again with my son, I LOVE IT!) I'm going to put the piece of fleece in the cage and see if she uses that too, if she doesn't then I know its just the velvet. You're probably right Michelle, its pretty comfy I guess and she just can't bring herself to move off of it to pee in the box. lol

Michelle, which pen do you like better, Phoenix's metal one or Hippo's plastic one?

I dated this guy when I was like 17 that I knew for a long time and he agreed with everything I said. Now, I'm pretty domineering and I have a very headstrong personality. I get along better with people who are like me, my best friend for example, we challenge each other and compromise. Thats what life is all about, compromise. Anyway, this guy, he was a total pushover, it made me freaking nuts. So we dated for like 2 months and I told him we weren't supposed to be dating we were only meant to be friends, he agreed and we went back to being friends like nothing happened because thats the way our relationship was meant to be.
My husband isn't a pushover. He takes A LOT of sh*t from me, but basically puts his foot down when I get a little too...of the walls I guess you could say. I try really hard not to nag him, it wasn't easy for me to break myself of that habit, but I did. I try to ask him to do things nicely, like rinse his plate off or put water into the glasses he has milk in. Last week, finally is when I asked him to stop letting the door slam. Well, it wasn't that nice, he caught me when I had a headache and was watching something and the door slammed and cut the power to the living room and I lost my show and he made my eye twitch from the headache. I may have yelled something not so nice about slamming the door and told him if he slammed it again I would make him eat it.
I would probably not get along well with someone who couldn't stand up to me. haha. Or stand me for that matter. lol

 

[holtzchick]

LOL yes, sounds like we are very alike. Sometimes, my boyfriend and I actually enjoy nagging each other and bitching back and forth with insanely rude comments so that a few minutes later we get a hilarious laugh out of it! We get into arguments about everything but last week was bad because he packed a bag to go to my sister's house and I thought it was garbage so I threw it out without looking inside... Turns out he had a steak, a full meal, and his phone charger (including my camera) charger in the bag... it was so funny afterwards though!

I LOVE THE LORAX Thneed is all ya need

I love Hippogryff's plastic one, it's definitely 1000% more quiet!

 

[agnesthelion]

I just read a book (The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perotta...good book!) where one of the characters gets married to this woman and she's like perfect! But he's not happy. He cant figure out why. Shes so good to him, nice to him, etc, etc. He later figures out he's not happy because she NEVER challenges him. They NEVER fight. She's too agreeable! It's a fiction book but it was so refreshing to hear that perfect is boring! I'm a nagger too and my hubby puts up with alot too but of course we fight but moral of the story....fighting and then making up keeps things interesting

 

[whitelop]

Michelle, I am laughing so hard right now! I'm freaking crying! I can't believe you threw it stuff out! Thats the most hilarious thing I've ever heard, even it was an accident. My son is laughing now because I'm laughing.
He took a steak? WTF?! God, his man brain totally kicked in and told him "TAKE MEAT!" like a caveman. I just read it again and laughed again. I can't wait to tell my husband and then he's going to say "jeez you're ALL crazy! Good for him for trying to get out!"

My husband and I nag each other all the time. Like, if you didn't know us you would probably think we hated each other. We got into an "argument" in the chip aisle in walmart not to long ago, because we were fighting about the dips and chips he wanted. There was a guy standing in the aisle with us looking at chips and laughing so hard, but quietly and trying to hide it. He actually busted out laughing when I yelled at my husband, "Fine! Get whatever the hell you want to get! Get that one, with those(as I was pointing to chips/dip) and I'm getting these! And yes, they ARE name brand!(I got fritos chili cheese, so bad for you but delicious.)" The guy couldn't control his laughter then my husband turned and looked at me and said "You know, sometimes you are just such a bitch!" The guy about fell in the floor.
We were a little high strung that evening because we were starving and going to dinner at my dad and his girlfriend's house. So it got a little ugly, until we tore into MY chips and found the deliciousness that was a chili cheese frito. lmao.

Now I need to go get some of those chips and some wine! He refused to go get me any wine last night! JERK!

 

[whitelop]

I just read a book (The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perotta...good book!) where one of the characters gets married to this woman and she's like perfect! But he's not happy. He cant figure out why. Shes so good to him, nice to him, etc, etc. He later figures out he's not happy because she NEVER challenges him. They NEVER fight. She's too agreeable! It's a fiction book but it was so refreshing to hear that perfect is boring! I'm a nagger too and my hubby puts up with alot too but of course we fight but moral of the story....fighting and then making up keeps things interesting

My husband says the best part of fighting is making up! :thumbup

 

[Chrisdoc]

This is so funny. They do say that when we find the perfect man who never argues, does everything you want, we get bored and move on. I always pick the b*****ds which is probably why I´m now living with three male rabbits, much easier and no leaving their dirty socks or anything else around the house. I must admit now that I´ve got so used to living alone, it would be really difficult for me to adapt to living with someone else, I´m sure I´d be a nightmare.

 

[holtzchick]

Michelle, I am laughing so hard right now! I'm freaking crying! I can't believe you threw it stuff out! Thats the most hilarious thing I've ever heard, even it was an accident. My son is laughing now because I'm laughing.
He took a steak? WTF?! God, his man brain totally kicked in and told him "TAKE MEAT!" like a caveman. I just read it again and laughed again. I can't wait to tell my husband and then he's going to say "jeez you're ALL crazy! Good for him for trying to get out!"

My husband and I nag each other all the time. Like, if you didn't know us you would probably think we hated each other. We got into an "argument" in the chip aisle in walmart not to long ago, because we were fighting about the dips and chips he wanted. There was a guy standing in the aisle with us looking at chips and laughing so hard, but quietly and trying to hide it. He actually busted out laughing when I yelled at my husband, "Fine! Get whatever the hell you want to get! Get that one, with those(as I was pointing to chips/dip) and I'm getting these! And yes, they ARE name brand!(I got fritos chili cheese, so bad for you but delicious.)" The guy couldn't control his laughter then my husband turned and looked at me and said "You know, sometimes you are just such a bitch!" The guy about fell in the floor.
We were a little high strung that evening because we were starving and going to dinner at my dad and his girlfriend's house. So it got a little ugly, until we tore into MY chips and found the deliciousness that was a chili cheese frito. lmao.

Now I need to go get some of those chips and some wine! He refused to go get me any wine last night! JERK!

LOL... that sounds like one of our arguements too... My boyfriend laughed so hard when I read him that. Then he said, "I'm going to go throw this garbage out.... in my MAN slippers!" (by the way, they're like super fuzzy grey slippers that I made him buy )

 

[holtzchick]

I just read a book (The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perotta...good book!) where one of the characters gets married to this woman and she's like perfect! But he's not happy. He cant figure out why. Shes so good to him, nice to him, etc, etc. He later figures out he's not happy because she NEVER challenges him. They NEVER fight. She's too agreeable! It's a fiction book but it was so refreshing to hear that perfect is boring! I'm a nagger too and my hubby puts up with alot too but of course we fight but moral of the story....fighting and then making up keeps things interesting

Ooooh, this character setting seems to intrigue me, I think I'm actually going to give that book a read Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[agnesthelion]

Tell me if you like it! I liked his writing style so much I want to get his other books too. The part I described is just a small part. It's fiction but it examines the close-mindedness of certain groups of people (don't want to give too much away) and I just really liked the two main characters. Plus it was an easy fast read too.

 

[Katielovesleo3]

Lol, extra cookie! My donut shop lady from the phillipines always gives me extra donut hikes or something she is so nice I love her. Lol. I Hate downtown and any big city like humble or Baytown, it's too crazy and people are jerks and are snobby. ''' on them!
Lol to the poking smily haha! ^.^ yeah the heat is brutal but that's why I stay inside between the hours of 10am-2pm after or before that is OK lol. The lake helps.