Tasmanian Devil and Ruby!

[Hyatt101]

Yeah, I'll take it easy with tricks. I just meant cute tricks like sitting up on cue, maybe spinning, come when called, etc. I researched and found 2 websites for training dwarf rabbits. I also joined the agility group

 

[Hyatt101]

Taz and Ruby are still doing great! Ruby is starting to warm up to veggies a little more; she had one baby carrot and some cucumber peels. Today we're going to re-stock on food and hay, and we're going to buy a few more litterboxes so that hopefully the bunnies will start to go in them more!
Pics coming, just thought i should give quick update!

 

[JBun]

I'm glad both Ruby and Taz are doing well. I hope the new litter boxes work out better for you and your buns. Let's hope it solves Taz's peeing problems

 

[Hyatt101]

I'm glad both Ruby and Taz are doing well. I hope the new litter boxes work out better for you and your buns. Let's hope it solves Taz's peeing problems

Yes indeed!

 

[whitelop]

So how many litter boxes do they have in their cages? Ellie has one in her cage and 2 out of the cage. She uses them all, but she picked the box up fairly quick. I would put a bunch of boxes in their for them, in their favorite places to pee! lol

 

[Hyatt101]

Yeah, we're doing 2 boxes per rabbit, in hopes they'll get the hang of it. How on earth did you get ellie to use the box so quickly,when she's pretty young?? I feel like I must be doing something wrong!

 

[JBun]

You aren't doing anything wrong, Christina. Morgan just has this perfect angel of a rabbit, haha. My bunny, Roo, has horrible litter habits too. I haven't figured out the trick with him yet, he just wants to pee everywhere except his litter box, and only sleeps in his litter box, lol. So you aren't alone Some rabbit's just pick it up a lot faster than others. And with some, you sometimes have to do a little experimenting before you find just the right thing to help your rabbit get good at using it's litter box. With one of my rabbits I had to move the litter box to just the right spot, then he was nearly perfect at it. With another rabbit I had to use the right kind of litter before she would use her's. With another rabbit, I had to cut the side down so it wasn't so tall for her to hop over the edge to get in to use it. And with another rabbit I had to get a bigger litter box, put her hay in there, and move it to a different spot, to get her to use her's better. And some just need to grow up to get better at it, and some have to get fixed for them to use the litter box better. So, you can see that all rabbit's are just different and need different things.

 

[holtzchick]

As soon as I made a grate for the litterbox, thats when phoenix regularly started to urinate in it. I'm guessing she didn't like to stand in her urine.

Anyways, happy new years! And yes, Morgan does just have an angel of a rabbit!

 

[Hyatt101]

Thanks Jenny and holtzchick! Yes, I think Ellie is an angel bunny! Maybe I'll try a litterbox with the grates to see if they like that better, plus the extra litter boxes. Would their age have anything to do with it? Like, is it possible that when they're older, their litter habits become better? Also, I noticed that they're both peeing in the same spot, near the divider. Is this a territorial thing maybe?

Anyway, happy new year!

 

[JBun]

Yes, that's probably territorial, and that's where you want to put the litter boxes.

 

[whitelop]

Christina, I didn't mean to make you feel like you're doing something wrong, because you aren't! lol Trust me, I am as surprised as everyone else that Ellie is using the litter box as well as she is. And she WASN'T until the other night, when I took the grate out. I had the grate for Foo, but Ellie doesn't need it or like it. So when I took it out, thats when she started to use it exclusively. The other two boxes are in my kitchen floor in the corner she likes to pee in. I tried putting one there and she peed in it AND next to it. So I put the other one there too to fill up the whole corner and now she has no choice but to get into one and use it. And she does. She didn't pee once outside the litter box yesterday, stray poops yes, but no pee.
She happens to be good with the box, but like Jenny said; not all of them are.
It just takes finding what they like to pee in and sticking with it. Thats why I suggested MORE litter boxes, haha. Because more is always better and you run a better chance of finding the right spot with more boxes. haha.
Its all trial and error with rabbits!
I agree that the peeing next to the divider is territory marking, so putting a box there might help.

They'll get it eventually. Unfortunately, its just one of those things that tends to take them longer to learn than other things. I wouldn't be surprised that if in a few months when Ellie goes through "puberty", her litter box habits will get worse. Oh well. Its just one of those things with rabbits.

I'm glad to hear their doing so well. Has Ruby grown anymore? How's her little dewlap coming in?

 

[Hyatt101]

Oh no Morgan, you didn't do anything!! Lol sometimes the little buggers can be tricky, one day ruby goes in the litterbox, next day she doesn't
That's where the new litter boxes will go; by the divider. I think I'll try some with grates, maybe that'll help.

Ruby doesn't seem to be growing, but she stopped shedding thankfully I'd hold her, and then I would be covered in white fur! I can't tell if she's forming a little dewlap, when she lays down, it looks like she has a double chin! I will try to snap a pic of it if i can Cocoa, one of my outdoor bunnies, has this little tiny dewlap, it looks cute on her!

 

[Hyatt101]

Having a second litterbox has worked wonders for Ruby!! Taz...not so much. We're still working with it. Just wanted to give that little good news, since I just posted about some terrible news. I won't put too much info here since I made another thread about it, but we lost our beloved Ranger due to a heart attack, or at least, that's what we think. RIP Ranger!

 

[Hyatt101]

My outdoor rabbit cocoa currently lives in a cage in our barn that I really don't like, so I want o give her a new cage, and I was thinking of building an NIC one that could work outside. She's on a sort of bench tabl thing high up in the barn. Anyone have pics or suggestions of NIC designs that would work? I can't be anything too high, maybe one other little level at the most, but I want to make it long, so she can have more room.

 

[Hyatt101]

So I realize I haven't updated in awhile Taz, Ruby, Cocoa, and Pockets are all doing great (cocoa formed a little dewlap that makes me smile every time I look at her!) It seems Ruby is almost perfectly litter trained!
I'm still looking for a good cage for cocoa. I found a nice, gently used hutch for $40 that we are considering, but I want to make sure it's a nice big cage. Any suggestions? She's a medium sized rabbit, currently in a cage that I think is too small for her.

 

[JBun]

I'm glad Ruby has taken to being litter box trained. I'm sure that's a relief for you. Sorry Taz isn't doing very good at it though. If it's not working out with her very well in the nic condo, you could maybe try putting her in the cage with the plastic tray bottom, for a little while and see if it helps improve her litter box habits. You have one of those cages, right? At least I thought I saw one in one of your pics with Ruby. If you do, I would still keep her close to Ruby, as I'm sure they like to be near each other. You are considering putting her out in the barn in the spring right? I'm guessing it's cause of her bad litter box habits that you may not be able to keep her indoors, so maybe trying out the cage for a little while may help. It would at least keep her from being able to make such a big mess peeing everywhere. And getting her spayed might be the trick to litter training her, though it isn't a guarantee. I know you'll try and do what you can. Again, I'm sorry about Ranger, but I'm glad all the other buns are doing good

 

[Hyatt101]

Thanks Jenny! Moving Taz into that other cage probably would help a great deal, but my only hesitation was that, she won't get proper exercise since I'm at school all day, which was why I built them a big condo in the first place. Do you think it'll be okay though? Yes, it looks like we're going to move her outdoors in the spring if we get the right cage. If I move her to the other cage I have that I used for ruby when I first got her, than I could start rebuilding the NIC just for Ruby.

 

[whitelop]

I think she would be okay in a plastic bottomed cage while you were at school. You have to remember that they sleep most of the day anyway while you're gone. So as long as you let her out first when you first got home from school, for a few hours. She would probably be fine. Sunday Ellie spent like a solid 12 hours in her cage and she was fine, she wasn't happy with me, but physically she was fine! haha.

I hope you find the right cages for out in the barn.

 

[Hyatt101]

Thanks, we're going to get her set up in the plastic bottom cage soon!

 

[Hyatt101]

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile, this blog is starting to flop a little!

So, Taz is all set up, and I'm building an xpen for her so that she can still have good exercise, but not be out with Ruby. She'll be moving to my dads once warm weather comes. But, now that Ruby will be an only bunny, I'm hoping she can have free run of the room she's in, so she'll have her cage open during the day. She has almost perfect litter habits, so how did you guys make sure that the litter habits stayed perfect? Do I put more outside the cage? And, where can I get some wire-cord protector things so she can't chew cords? I don't know if she'll necessarily have free run of the house, (she's upstairs, and the stairs are a little steep), plus, my mom wasn't pleased at the thought of a rabbit running free around the house so I figured she could at least have free run of the room she's in. If your bunnies have free run of rooms, how do you make sure they have perfect litter habits, keep them from chewing things, etc.