How to Litter Train Your Bunny?

Hello, dear friends.

Today I will talk about litter training.

I will explain how to teach your bunny where to do their "business". When you get your first bunny, you will think at first: God, did I need this? Well, I understand you, completely. At first, they are just not used to poop and pee in one corner, but rather, they do it everywhere around the house. In this post I will try to explain that bunnies can learn thing, and having bunnies as pets is one game of patience, but it pays off in short time.

If you haven't read my earlier posts, try to start from the beginning

This was my first photo...

When I got my Gary, he was so small. Just a baby. And as every baby, he didn't know that we expected from him to find a single place for doing his habits. So he peed and pooped everywhere. On my notes, on the carpet, on the couch etc. I must admit, he never peed on the floor coverings. It was a bit funny to see him going to the edge of it, placing his rear part over the uncovered floor, and there we go... little pond on the floor. :) But luckily, carpet would have remained dry. With the poop, it was different. But no worries, bunnies excrement are dry, firm, little, balls (5mm in diameter). You can just take a napkin and grab it and flush it away. No stains, nothing.

So, how to teach your bunny to do it on the right place? Sometimes it is an easy job. They mostly choose the place they like, where they feel safe, and they keep doing it there. On the other hand, some bunnies can be extremely stubborn.

So, the most important thing is being patient! Prepare yourself for days, maybe weeks or even months of observing the bunny, and teaching it where should it be done. I will just say I was lucky. My Gary has chosen his „right corner“ for doing his things in  less than a week. Actually, it took him 2 days to learn that peeing everywhere is not wanted. Speaking of poop, well, it took him longer to control and change that habit.

Of course, bunnies are animals, and we have to understand their need of marking territory. They need to do that when they arrive to your home. So, that is why it is hard to explain them that all peeing and pooping should be done in one or two places. Even later when they learn, you will still be finding small poop balls around your house. If it is not big amount (10 at max outside litter box), don’t make big deal out of it. That way they may start thinking this way: If I may not mark my territory, it means I don’t have any, SO, the whole house is my territory. Then I can do it all around. You don’t want that.

If you have stubborn bunny, you will have to make improvisations. Having bunnies as pets can sometimes make you start pulling your hair out. But, what ever you are doing, do it slowly, and don’t scare them. It can work against you.

First I will tell something about litter boxes. There are so many types of litter boxes. The only really important thing is that you prepare a place for them in one corner. It doesn't care if it is even going to be a box (I just place few newspaper pages on the floor tiles, and duck tape them for floor tiles). It is up to you. You can also improvise and take a top of shoe-box, place some newspaper on the bottom, and voila!

Why news paper? Well, it is the best material for absorbing strong smell of their pee.

Litter box can be place to eat in and poop&pee in it. Bunnies use to do all those things together. So, the best way to make them do the stuff in one place, is to put some hay there, so they can do it first time there while eating. Every next time it will be easier and easier. It is in their nature to do sanitary habits in one place (they use smell to determine where did they do it last time). Use this as a tool. If they keep with their bad habits, take some poop and, mop some pee with a toilet paper. Put that toilet paper, and collected poop in the spot you want them do it next time. Also, when so see them preparing for doing it outside of litter box, be fast: clap your hands few times, and firmly say NO! And then take the bunny and put it in litter box. This won’t work if bunny already did it on you floor. Any sort of punishment is out of question.

Make them feel free in litter box. Make them love it. Be sure there is always fresh new hay there, and that is it clean. Bunnies are clean animals. They don’t like to spend much time in filthy places.

Instead of news paper, you may use cat sand. But it is not recommended. Our bunnies are sniffing everything. They can be poisoned if they inhale too much of products that are part of cat sand.

Soon, armed with lots of patience, you will start seeing bunnies can learn lots of stuff. That why having bunnies as pets is great thing. You will actually have one great friend, that knows what they may or may not do.

Probably this is going to be enough for today. Tomorrow I will be writing more about food and eating habits.


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Thank you.


Here you can check lots of interesting stuff about other pets too: http://www.squidoo.com/petdaycare .

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