New naughty bunny lies in his urine

[ntloser]

Hi,

Our new 1 and 1/2 yo male nuetered bunny likes to lie in his urine.This is our first bunny and today was his first day in the new surroundings. I have read lots of information but can't seem to find anything on this.

He is indoors inside a large cage built with organize-its. There is flat pan 3 feet by 2 feet with hay and a food bowl on it, a little house, some sticks, and a corner kitty litter tray (that apparently is in the wrong corner). The floor of the cage is a rubber mat that lies on top of the house floor.
The flat pan with the hay seems to be where he has chosen to do his business and lie down.

What is bunny trying to say?

 

[ec]

It's pretty normal for bunnies to enjoy hanging out in their litter boxes - some even take naps in them. (if you look around in the Photo Philes and bunny Blogs forums, you'll see quite a few pics of this.)

it sounds like your new guy is very relaxed and is making himself at home!

 

[ntloser]

Thanks

 

[Pipp]

My bunnies love topoop in their hay box while munching away, it's the equivalent of a bunny magazine. So I put hay in the litter box-- Aurora369 showed me the trick of just having a thin layer of wood pellets with hay on top in the litter boxes --and/or I just let them do their business in the hay box, and just put clean stuff on top every day and throw it all out every couple of days.

I buy hay by the bale.

Welcome to the forum! :welcome1

sas

 

[ntloser]

Hi,

Thanks for that idea too. After some more reading I have have been thinking about getting something to put the hay in to raises it off the floor and away from bunny pee. I think I may design a new NIC cage and get some more toys too while I am at it. Between bunny being super cute and designing the NIC cages I am addicted.

 

[ntloser]

So far so good. In the platic tray where he"takes care of business", I put some kitty litter on that side and hay on the other. He is now going exclusively on the litter corner and has chosen to lie beside the tray on the mat.

The corner kitty litter box is now suspended from the corner of the cage and used to keep the hay up off the ground.

 

[JimD]

ntloser wrote:

I put some kitty litter on that side ....

What kind of litter are you using?

I just wanted to check and make sure you're not using a clay based kitty litter or any kind of a clumping litter.

 

[ntloser]

I am using Feline Pine. http://www.naturesearth.com/original.html

The WCC recommended it.. Is there another brand I should check out?

 

[Prizm]

ntloser wrote:

Iam using Feline Pine.http://www.naturesearth.com/original.html

The WCC recommended it.. Is there another brand I should check out?

It's possible he doesn't like the smell of the pine--I have two bunnies that have a cat litter box with a hood on it. I used to use Carefresh,which is an excellent scent-free litter that I think costs about the same amount as Feline Pine so you might give that a try. They love to dig in it and eat the hay which I place in one corner of the litter box(they pee and poop on one end of the box while eating from the other end) Carefresh leaves virtually no scent what-so-ever. ...And this might be a little off topic, but since I'm talking about litter now, Iwant to tell you that I've actually started using CHEAP rabbit FOOD as litter! I bought a 40 pound bag of rabbit feed from a supermarket in the pet section for about 4.00--I bought it purely because it was cheap and the bunnies had just ran out of food. They rabbits wouldn't eat it.I then read the label and saw it comprised unhealthy fillers like soy meal and oils that I don't blame the bunnies for avoiding. So I bought them their usual healthy food, and dumped the cheap food into their litter box. It's a dry, high fiber plant product anyway (simillar to yesterday's news) and it works GREAT as a litter! There's no smell, andI don't have to worry about them accidentally ingesting it.

Another thought your post provokes is, maybe your bunny needs a larger litter box? Mine have large, hooded, cat box that they can lay down in if they want to.

 

[Usagi_Chan]

Here's how I deal with litterboxes:

I use small plastic pans which I got in housewares because it's a bit taller than a kitty litter pan and my bunnies can't pee over the side.

For the litterbox in their play area I do use kitty litter but I cover it with plastic needlepoint material cut with scissors to fit the box exactly so they cannot get at the kitty litter. They are always supervised when in this area.

I do the same for their cage but I use aspen shavings because I don't feel comfortable trusting them with kitty litter while I sleep.

The plastic keeps their butt off the urine since it goes through the netting into the litter itself. I add a gob of hay to one end of all litter boxes. Bunnies love to keep both ends occupied at the same time.

Usagi_Chan

 

[Brandy456]

Did you breed him, if not the previous owners might have used hay instead of bedding and now hes attached to it.