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Joined
May 31, 2022
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Hi everyone,

Brand new bunny mom here. I'm in Columbus, Ohio. My husband and I just brought home a 10 week old Mini Lop bunny from a breeder over the weekend, and I'm just a bundle of worries lol. I was hesitant to join a forum because I've seen on social media how everyone jumps all over everyone and is super judgy, but I feel like I had to try anyways because I need people to talk to about this who know.

I've seen people get attacked for having just one rabbit, and I would like to preface that my intent isn't to have Maverick alone for good. I wanted to let him settle in, bond with us, and later on once he's neutered, I would like to correctly find him a friend from the local shelter.

My eventual plan is also to let him have some free roam freedoms (not the whole house) but definitely the living/dining room once he's littered trained and trustworthy. Right now, we bought him a pretty roomy enclosure as far as those go (I know, also a taboo it seems to have a cage these days) by Krolik (the Extra Large version). This is kind of his "home base".

I have a few questions I was hoping maybe folks could weigh in on. I want to ensure I'm not doing anything wrong. I almost wish I could have a Bun Mom Mentor lol.

- I have been opening the front of the cage (it opens wide) and sitting there talking to him, petting him, etc. I haven't yet picked him up from that position because I didn't want to scare him too soon. He's showing more and more interest to climb out on his own. I don't have his pen yet - waiting for the shipment to arrive. So this is making me nervous for him to come out because I don't want him to just take off all over the room and if I can't catch him it could be extremely traumatic for him.

- I read that you only should let them have a small space at the beginning to not be too overwhelming so I would like to limit him to the play pen once it arrives. So right now I'm feeling hugely stressed that he's getting cabin fever in his enclosure since the pen isn't here yet. I don't want him to hate it. I have toys in there, but without having his pen I feel like I'm trapping him in there and I feel so cruel :( I also feel like I'm playing Russian Roulette risking he could start developing bad boredom behaviors.

- I think he's doing pretty well with using his litter box so far. I have the hay rack right there so he can eat and poop/pee. It's one of the ones that has a protection grate over the poop and pee so he's not walking in it. I'm still seeing a pee or two in the rest of the cage, but I think that means he's learning because there's plenty of pee made in the box? When I find a pee, I've been putting it in the litter box. My question is though, is it normal for them to continue pooping everywhere? I'm kind of feeling overwhelming at just how much poop there is. At first I was trying to be dutiful to scoop the turds into his box to get the point across, but there's just no way. I came out this morning and attempted it for a few minutes, then realized it would take me forever.

- I wasn't sure what to put in the plastic bottom of his enclosure to make it more comfy for him, so I bought some of the unscented low dust soft bedding. Not Carefresh, but similar. I was shocked how pricey it is, and I started with just a small cube for $10 - I didn't even make a super thick layer of it, but half of it is gone already in just two days. My thought was to eventually (after being litter box trained) have something like a soft bunny liner that's washable (kind of like a flop mat) plus a scratch pad area, so that I won't have to waste money on bedding, but I'd love to hear what other people do in their bunny's "home base".

- Again, because there's so much poop, I'm wondering at this point now if it makes sense to just simply change out ALL the bedding instead of trying to pick the poop out. I feel like this is just not sanitary at this point. But like I said, I don't want to be spending a fortune on this stupid bedding either...am I being unrealistic? Is that just a thing that if I want to have a bunny, I'm going to be buying like crazy?

- I think some of my stress is just forming routines. I need to find a better way to prep hay in batches. I need to also find a better way to manage his poop/bedding (as mentioned above).

Thank you!
 
Welcome to the forum! I don’t believe bedding is necessary with a litter box other than for temptation to pee and poop on it. It is completely normal for them to poop outside of the litter box, but many get better after being neutered.

For reference here is a picture of one of my rabbit’s pen. I don’t use bedding outside the litter box so I just sweep up any poop that doesn’t make it to the litter box.26EF91CD-09DA-4DB2-BB32-768002DF0201.jpeg
 
Welcome to the forum! I don’t believe bedding is necessary with a litter box other than for temptation to pee and poop on it. It is completely normal for them to poop outside of the litter box, but many get better after being neutered.

For reference here is a picture of one of my rabbit’s pen. I don’t use bedding outside the litter box so I just sweep up any poop that doesn’t make it to the litter box.View attachment 60867
Thank you! What does your rabbit sleep on? Do you put something in there soft for him at night?
 
Welcome to RO! I hope you find this forum to be a helpful and welcoming place. We try to maintain a good atmosphere here. One based on trying to help fellow rabbit owners. So please feel free to ask any questions you have.

Right now the poop is just going to be every where, and you may or may not see improvement for a bit. There are several reasons for this. First is that you have a baby rabbit with a short attention span. Next is that rabbits use it to mark new territory. This is his new home, so he is driven to mark it out. Then there will soon be the whole hormonal issue, which will start coming up in the next few weeks if it isn't already. Rabbit poop is actually normally pretty clean(in a healthy rabbit). It's basically just crumpled up bits of grass fiber, in a little ball. Other than washing my hands after picking it up, I don't worry much about it.

As he gets used to his new home and gets a bit older, litter habits will usually improve. How much, just depends on his personality. Some rabbits are very fastidious with their litter habits, some not so much. Once he's settled in, you still will have the hormonal issue. As males testicles drop and the hormones get going, this can sometimes cause litter habits to go out the door until you get the rabbit neutered and give 4-8 weeks for those hormones to fade. So it's best to try and find a good experienced rabbit vet that will neuter as soon as the testicles have decended, which is usually aound 3-4 months old.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Spaying_and_neutering_rabbits
https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/
You're ok keeping him in the cage for now. it's actually recommended at the start, so a rabbit can firmly establish that as it's territory. It's to help with litter box training. You don't want to expand a rabbits area too quickly, until their litter habits are improved. And for now I would recommend not putting any bedding in the bottom of the cage as it can just confuse litter habits. Rabbits tend to want to pee on soft surfaces and less so on hard smooth surfaces. So you want to keep the litter/bedding all in the litter box for now. This will also make cleaning up his fecal balls easier. Just sweep them up. As his litter habits get firmly established, then you can try putting down fleece, soft rug, etc, to see how he does with that. But some rabbits can't resist peeing on soft things even if they are perfectly litter trained. So you'll have to see how it goes and how he does with it. I've had rabbits that had great litter habits and could have rugs/blankets, and others that either couldn't or I just had to put up with washing their fleece bed because it would always get peed on.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/bringing-your-rabbit-home.html
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/housing-options.html
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/litter-training.html
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Litter_training
Whether or not to get him a bunny companion when it's time(neutered and 8 weeks for hormones to fade) will just depend on whether or not he's free roam, how much time he spends with you, and what his personality is like. If he's not free roam and will mostly be in his own living space the majority of the time, it's probably better for him to have a companion. If he's free roam and will be with you, especially in the morning and evening when rabbits are most active, then a companion bun may not be as necessary. Then there are a few rabbits with personalities that just don't like other rabbits. So you'll just need to see how things progress with his living space and his interactions with you. Then once he's neutered you can decide if you feel a bunny companion would be a good thing for him.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/bonding-bunnies.html
 
Welcome to the forum! Glad to see you called out for help!

This is what my pair's setup usually looks like during the night. Storm (small french lop of ~4.8kg) got caught in the picture.
16540862810082895772413428027620.jpg
It could always be better but i've been improving it over the years (the remaining square grid wall line will give you a reference to their base size before i got my pen) , now it's decent enough in my opinion and a similar setup might work quite well for your young chap once he matures a little. It's okay to learn and mess up a little along the road and not get improvements right away, little by little over a longer time still equates to imptovement.
My parents can't stand any jingly bits at night so any cat balls, dumbbell toys, rattles and such are out of the image, but usually they're just scattered around the room. We normally have a clutter of apple branches in the corner for chewing, tossing and digging, but we just ran out. Up until recently we had a woven tunnel too but it got to the point of utter destruction.
There's a water bowl and ceramic tiles on the other side so that loo pieces and things won't get in the water.
If you're eager to get your bun some non-slip flooring, textured ceramic tiles from the hardware store usually work well. They are also a great way to provide cooling surfaces. If you look in the clearance section or ask specifically, you might find ones that are the last of their batch/discoloured/slightly defected for cheap. I got 4 of 33*33cm last-of-batch-tiles for 0.50€ each. Iris (medium mix of ~3.6kg) is a good girl in showing how she likes them in summer heat.
received_1006106223538496.jpeg
They only have litter in their loo. The bare floor is some slick painted stuff so they have a low, dense carpet, mine haven't had an issue with it after neutering. Fleeces, kid puzzle mats or eva-foam sheets could also work as softer flooring in the future.

Best of luck with your dear bunny boy!
 
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Thank you, JBun, that was a lot of great information! At your advice and the advice of CrazyChickenGirl above, I did remove all bedding and towels. To be honest, I was not happy with the bedding anyways because the "no dust" claim was noticeably proving itself false in the couple days we were using it. I was starting to worry that it might be a health risk to Maverick, so that plus the benefit to our litterbox training made it an easy decision to nix it altogether. So far, so good. I completely cleaned out all the dust and used a vinegar solution to wipe out the floor of his enclosure to try to get any pee smells he'd put down off to discourage him peeing outside his box.
 
If you're eager to get your bun some non-slip flooring, textured ceramic tiles from the hardware store usually work well. They are also a great way to provide cooling surfaces. If you look in the clearance section or ask specifically, you might find ones that are the last of their batch/discoloured/slightly defected for cheap. I got my 4 33*33cm last-of-batch-tiles for 0.50€ each. Iris is a good girl in showing how she likes them in summer heat.

Thank you! It's funny you mention the tiles because my husband actually brought me some home from work that were just unused scrap from a customer's job. His company doesn't typically deal with tile, but they have one customer who uses tile in addition to their company's panel products. He had brought me home some months ago thinking maybe stepping stones in our garden, but I will definitely incorporate them into my bunny setup! :)
 
Bunnies poop everywhere they want to--We consider them "trained" if they pee in a litter pan--bunny poop is the reason I have a giant shop vac--also will pick up hay without plugging up like a regular vacuum will. Mine sleep on a piece of carpet or a small pine board--some will chew the carpet which is why they also get a pine board--they will also sleep in their litter pan. We've rescued 50+ over the last 2 decades and only 2 have used their pan for all their needs--the others would pee in their pan but the poop was where ever they were when it came out--again, shop vac, very large one and they get used to the noise quickly. Final note--some people in the past have attacked, verbally some postings--they usually get the boot--one got booted for comments about me and I didn't even get a chance to complain about them, darn it! Ask any question and most here will try to be very helpful--that's why we've been here for a long while.
 
Bunnies poop everywhere they want to--We consider them "trained" if they pee in a litter pan--bunny poop is the reason I have a giant shop vac--also will pick up hay without plugging up like a regular vacuum will. Mine sleep on a piece of carpet or a small pine board--some will chew the carpet which is why they also get a pine board--they will also sleep in their litter pan. We've rescued 50+ over the last 2 decades and only 2 have used their pan for all their needs--the others would pee in their pan but the poop was where ever they were when it came out--again, shop vac, very large one and they get used to the noise quickly. Final note--some people in the past have attacked, verbally some postings--they usually get the boot--one got booted for comments about me and I didn't even get a chance to complain about them, darn it! Ask any question and most here will try to be very helpful--that's why we've been here for a long while.

Thanks, Nancy. I appreciate that insight. Things have definitely improved since I removed the "carefresh" type bedding from his enclosure. He's been peeing exclusively in his box now (good job, buddy!) so I think that's a big win for him only being with us a week as of tomorrow.

I agree, this community seems worlds better than what I've seen in Instagram land. Everyone has been really warm, welcoming, and helpful - it's great to see that in the world of today where social media is just a wasteland of humans being nasty to one another thanks to anonymity.
 

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