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sarcastx posted:Bunnies! Your floor is so clean...May I ask what type of vacuum you use? We have three vacuums (many roommates) but none of them are powerful enough for hay and poops.
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Jun 9, 2009 18:25
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sarcastx posted:No, we bought Jaina's cage - she was in a smaller one which we had initially planned to be only temporary until she and Apollo had bonded - but as they aren't getting along, we got her the larger and more permanent one. It's actually an outdoor cage (no floor so they can eat grass I presume). So now it is on top of some boarding from a hardware store. Ahh, otherwise I was going to hound you for the plans  I'll need something similar to that for next year so my buns can start going outside again to play in the grass while I'm gardening.
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Jun 9, 2009 18:43
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Very cute buns Sarcastx. The agression should go down as the hormones leave the system, which can take upwards of 60 days. Mine ripped the poo poo out of one another for several months until I gave them to a professional. She bonded them and then I moved, so a whole new environment seemed to deal with most of the fighting. They still fight if they run out of food or if Portia gets a bug up her rear end. Good luck, don't forget car rides or putting them on the dryer. Any sort of motion will freak them out and force them to rely on each other for support
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Jun 9, 2009 20:18
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Scooty Puff Jr. posted:Your floor is so clean...May I ask what type of vacuum you use? It's a Dyson of some sort- it isn't always (or normally) that tidy though.
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Jun 9, 2009 22:08
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I love how we talk about vacuums as much as we do. It's quite amazing, really.
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Jun 10, 2009 00:59
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I wish they had mini garbage disposers built into the first section of vacuum hose. Chop up the hay, fur and poop so things don't clog as easily.
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Jun 10, 2009 01:37
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GrAviTy84 posted:I wish they had mini garbage disposers built into the first section of vacuum hose. Chop up the hay, fur and poop so things don't clog as easily. Seriously, I would buy one of these in a second. If I use the hose part of my current vacuum I can get up the poop but if some stray hay gets into it I'm hosed. So I have to sweep until it's only hay dust, THEN vacuum. I wish I had enough room for the buns to get their own room.  Those bunny pictures were so cute!!
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Jun 10, 2009 02:31
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Vacuuming is the most time consuming part for cleaning bunny rooms. I have to first sweep the carpet(near impossible) to get most of the hay up, then use the shop vac for all the stray poo and hay and then Dyson to the rescue for anything I missed. Their room in the new house will not be carpeted if I have anything to say about it!
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Jun 10, 2009 03:13
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Windy posted:Vacuuming is the most time consuming part for cleaning bunny rooms. I have to first sweep the carpet(near impossible) to get most of the hay up, then use the shop vac for all the stray poo and hay and then Dyson to the rescue for anything I missed. Their room in the new house will not be carpeted if I have anything to say about it! What about industrial carpet, can't you just hose that poo poo down? They have those carpet squeegee things too. Just put a false floor in at an angle that goes into a drainage. I mean if we're dreaming of the optimal rabbit-only room why not go all the way?
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Jun 10, 2009 04:20
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Cmdr. Shepard posted:I came here to post that my rabbit has been peeing next to, rather than in, his litter box from time to time. But, it looks like I'm not the only one having problems with the rabbit forgetting his litter training! Still looking for advice on this issue. My rabbit has been peeing next to the litter box on the floor recently and I don't know why. Today I went out and got another litter box that I put right next to his other one, so now he really has no floor space on the bottom of his condo that's not taken up by litter box. I came home from work tonight and found he already started using his new litter box and no accidents on the floor, so I'm happy!  His condo has 3 floors and as far as I'm aware, he hasn't done anything other than territorial poops on the 2nd and 3rd floors which I'm ok with.
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Jun 10, 2009 06:43
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GrAviTy84 posted:What about industrial carpet, can't you just hose that poo poo down? They have those carpet squeegee things too. Just put a false floor in at an angle that goes into a drainage. I mean if we're dreaming of the optimal rabbit-only room why not go all the way? Because I can't afford that kind of upgrade in my new house(hoping that the re-zoning passes). They'll probably have either wood laminate or a soft, almost rubbery feeling, flooring put down in their room with some area rugs and grass mats like they have now. I can't wait for wall outlets higher than 2' off the floor and no baseboards. But really, they aren't messy enough to warrant hosing down the carpet. Hay just gets stuck in what we have, but I can't replace it because I rent.
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Jun 10, 2009 06:47
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Man reading about y'all's bunnies freaking out and biting each other is making me realize how lucky I am. Sherbet has never bitten on purpose (he accidentally nipped me once when I was feeding him a piece of dried pineapple and I sneezed, surprising him - then he freaked out and got all worried, and proceeded to 'groom' the finger for a good five minutes. Didn't even break the skin.), never scratched, LOVES to hang out in our laps and be petted, doesn't mind being flipped on his back with a little coaxing to brush his belly, etc etc. He gets a little grumpy when you try to pull little mats out of his fur sometimes, but all that amounts to is him trying to turn himself around to break out of your grip, and a grunt or two under the most extreme of circumstances. His favorite veggies are generally the cheapest - dude loving LOVES collard greens. Pictures as soon as I can get my wife to get them off her camera.
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Jun 10, 2009 12:37
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Cmdr. Shepard posted:My rabbit has been peeing next to the litter box on the floor recently and I don't know why. Have you tried a litterbox with higher walls? Have you seen your rabbit sitting in his litterbox? This happened to me a while ago, and I managed to catch one of my buns sitting in the litterbox... with her butt hanging over the side. She thought she was fully in the litterbox and was going about business as normal, making a mess on the side. A deeper box fixed that like a charm. It may not the the problem - your bun may just not be going into the box at all, but I thought I'd share my solution. e: If I haven't already. I can't remember if I've mentioned that a deeper box fixed floor-pissing in addition to digging. Bagleworm fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Jun 10, 2009 |
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Jun 10, 2009 16:57
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Well the bonding is getting better, I think we might get to a point where Sprout and Dodger get along and tolerate each other but I don't think there will ever be much grooming. Lately Sprout will give a few quick licks to the head, ears, and cheek of Dodger, but then she gets mad she doesn't get groomed too so then she'll start nibbling his nose and cheek softly which just gets them both aggravated and they go to opposite ends of the blanket on the kitchen floor. Still LEAPS AND BOUNDS better than before, because other than a little nuzzle in the butt here and there for attention neither are outright attacking each other anymore. After another few days we might actually try the living room again to see how they do. Despite how long and frustrating bonding gets (especially having a third of our apartment devoted to bunnies now), I'm really happy we got Dodger. He seems so happy and energetic having a bigger pen, getting to run around and do full sprinting laps in the living room until he flops down and passes out, or burrowing under the covers on the bed where he will do a little happy hop under the covers and get confused why he can't hop higher. I am so glad we decided to get him from the foster home. Fenarisk fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Jun 10, 2009 |
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Jun 10, 2009 18:58
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For everyone having problems with your guys peeing outside of the box I would consider a checkup, it could be a UTI, especially if you have a pretty high box where they're not able to accidentally pee over the edge. It's been fun 2 months or so. First both mine had UTIs, then my cat had some problems, and now it turns out one of the buns has terrible mites on his face. The next few weeks are going to be awesome fun.
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Jun 11, 2009 00:07
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I had a rabbit when I was a kid, and I'm looking to get another one. I've been all over rabbit.org, especially back when I was taking care of my old rabbit, and I feel fairly well versed in what I'm getting into. I still want your opinion on a couple of things, though. I met a rabbit today at a Humane Society that I really like. She's not a part of a bonded pair, though. Should I let her 'check out' the other bunnies at the shelter? Is there a good way to do this? If she (or I) don't really like the other bunnies, is it okay to get just one and get her a buddy later? What's the best way to find a buddy for her? Another rabbit at the shelter had something coming out of her nose and was sneezing. I'm assuming it's sniffles. If one rabbit has it, how likely is it that they all have it? If I go back to that shelter later and she's well, is it a dumb idea to adopt her knowing that she's probably a carrier?Also, on your all's cube cages ... how are you making doors for your rabbits? It seems to me like you'd have to have at least one hatch on those things to get in to clean.
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Jun 15, 2009 21:39
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Cmdr. Shepard posted:Still looking for advice on this issue. My rabbit has been peeing next to the litter box on the floor recently and I don't know why. Today I went out and got another litter box that I put right next to his other one, so now he really has no floor space on the bottom of his condo that's not taken up by litter box. I came home from work tonight and found he already started using his new litter box and no accidents on the floor, so I'm happy! If you check my post history for the thread, you'll see I've been having this problem, too. I'd love to say things have changed, but they haven't. At all. Restricting her space didn't help- Bowser is still preferring to lie down in her pee and poo. Well, occasionally she just sleeps in her litterbox, which is usually clean as can be. I've pretty much given up- there's nothing medically wrong with her, she's just loving crazy.
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Jun 15, 2009 22:46
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Melicious posted:If you check my post history for the thread, you'll see I've been having this problem, too. I'd love to say things have changed, but they haven't. At all. Restricting her space didn't help- Bowser is still preferring to lie down in her pee and poo. Well, occasionally she just sleeps in her litterbox, which is usually clean as can be. I've pretty much given up- there's nothing medically wrong with her, she's just loving crazy. That's not good to hear. I took out the 2nd litter box yesterday and just left the other in while I cleaned it out and took care of some things. When I came back he had already peed on the floor again next to the litter box. The only solution I really see right now is to not let him have any access to the floor by covering all the space with 2 litter boxes. The funny thing is when I let him roam around the apartment he hasn't peed anywhere else that I'm aware of. Maybe he's equating the entire floor of the cage as his bathroom rather than the litter box itself.
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Jun 16, 2009 04:51
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Cmdr. Shepard posted:Maybe he's equating the entire floor of the cage as his bathroom rather than the litter box itself. Yeah, that's pretty much what I've figured with Bowser, too. We started to have this problem in our old house with her- she had an whole room to herself there, and gradually decided that that entire room was where her poop went. When we moved, all the issues seemed to be cured- for about 6 months, then back to using most of the room as a litterbox. She no longer has an entire room to herself, but seems to think the room where her cage is is where her poop goes. There's poop and pee all over her entire cage, and when she's not in the cage, she eliminates basically within a 2 foot radius around it. I'm glad I can trust her not to go pissing all over the kitchen or whatever, but it's not much better to have poop and pee covering the floor of my study. Sorry I don't have better news for you :\
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Jun 16, 2009 07:00
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Anyone have a suggestion on how to get a rabbit to eat papaya tablets? Godewyn ate it no problem (maybe he just trusts anything I feed him by hand?), but Eowyn licked it or took a small nibble and turned it down.
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Jun 16, 2009 09:13
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Good luck with that, I can't even get mine to eat a bit of fruit, or to eat anything he doesn't know. I never would have thought a rabbit could look so utterly revolted. I don't really know what kind of consistency the tablets have but have you tried dissolving it in some juice or fruit mush?
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Jun 16, 2009 12:22
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My old rabbit couldn't figure out it was food unless I stuck it in her feeder first. Then, once she learned she could eat whatever it was, she'd eat it no matter where it was.
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Jun 16, 2009 15:10
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Bean posted:What's the best way to find a buddy for her? Rabbits can hurt each other quite badly, so bonding can be a long and complex process. The very easiest solution would be to find a local rescue that already has a bonded pair, or to adopt this single girl and then get the rescue to help you do the bonding. Some rescues will even take your bun for 2 weeks and return you with a bonded pair. Bean posted:I'm assuming it's sniffles. Not necessarily, it depends on how close all of the rabbits are in contact. If they aren't housed closely enough for direct aerosol transmission, you may be fine. But definitely get her a vet visit immediately after adoption, so that if she does have it, you have the option to return her. Incidentally, rabbits can live long and healthy lives with snuffles. In 2004 we pulled a shelter girl who had a positive test and active symptoms. She was also 7 years old. We figured she had a year or two left, but she's still doing great and is nearing her 12th birthday! Bean posted:Also, on your all's cube cages ... how are you making doors for your rabbits? It seems to me like you'd have to have at least one hatch on those things to get in to clean. Ziptie one side, use a binder clip or similar to secure the other. Here is a closeup of a 2-grid door. Melicious posted:If you check my post history for the thread, you'll see I've been having this problem, too. I'd love to say things have changed, but they haven't. At all. Restricting her space didn't help- Bowser is still preferring to lie down in her pee and poo. Well, occasionally she just sleeps in her litterbox, which is usually clean as can be. I've pretty much given up- there's nothing medically wrong with her, she's just loving crazy. I read through your post history, but correct me if this is not the current state of litterboxes: Inside the cage: 1. 1 hooded box 2. 1 "super deep sided plastic box" There is hay in the boxes but "the [litterbox] in the cage is currently out of reach [of a hayrack]. I had the box directly under the feeder, but it didn't seem to change her idea of where poop goes" If that's correct, there's two things I'd recommend: 1. Replace both boxes with large shallow containers no more than 6" high. Rubbermaid has a 28qt box that has a nice profile, or actually I'd recommend one of these - the larger ones are about 18"x24" and are perfect. The door is only 2" high if you don't put the door barrier in place. 2. Place all hay feeders AND the pellet/veggie bowls in such a location that they are only accessible from inside the litterpans. It may require going to smaller hayracks, she should not be able to sit just outside them and reach the hay. I base these recommendations on my experience with BunBun, my 12 year old who passed away earlier in the year. In the last 2-3 years of his life, he was extremely incontinent. We eventually found there were two causes: first, he was arthritic and just chose not to bother leaping into the litterpan unless he had to. This was solved by using the very low-sided pans. Secondly, he was either unable or unwilling to control his bowels and bladder while eating. If one single strand of hay was on the floor outside a box, he'd eat it, and then poop/pee RIGHT there. So moving all his food inside the boxes helped tremendously.
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Jun 16, 2009 15:21
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alucinor posted:I read through your post history, but correct me if this is not the current state of litterboxes: The "super deep box" is maybe 6" at its deepest, with about a 1" door. It's almost exactly like this litterbox, but with a deeper scoop in front for entry: http://www.target.com/Designer-Litt...rank&rh=&page=1 Getting into either box definitely isn't an issue since she sleeps in them frequently. We tried a few shallower boxes (and bigger, and smaller, and hooded, and round, etc) and had the same issues regardless of what we offered her. We've been putting her food (including hay) right next to the box in her cage for a couple of months now, but her newest thing is to simply shove the box out of her way while she eats. I dunno. I mean, maybe we just need the extra shallow box/nearby food combo, but I feel like we've tried everything and she just wants to gently caress with us.
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Jun 16, 2009 16:08
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Ok so arthritis probably isn't an issue if she can get in easily for other reasons. But I doubt she's loving with you. There are a ton of variables to be explored, so don't give up hope quite yet. Is she down to just the one box or does she still have two inside the cage? How big is the current box in terms of its length/width? How much bigger have you tried? I know it's odd, but having a bigger footprint almost always seems to help for me. And how big is the cage itself? Shoot, if you can take a picture of her setup I might be able to give you some more concrete ideas. Melicious posted:We've been putting her food (including hay) right next to the box in her cage for a couple of months now, but her newest thing is to simply shove the box out of her way while she eats. Try putting them IN the box. Like, she cannot access them at all except from inside the box, so she can't shove the box out of the way. This is where a box with a much larger footprint (+18" in each direction) comes in handy. Use binder clips or caribiners to secure it to the pen walls so she can't nudge it aside. If you want a giant solution, wreath storage boxes come in a 30"x30" size and work great for this. Since she's peeing outside as well as pooping, have you had her evaluated for bladder sludge? Also, do you know if when she was spayed, it was a total ovo+hyst, or did they remove just one or the other? If the latter, I wouldn't rule out cancer in the retained tissue. Might be worth a vet visit; a yearly abdominal X-ray can be pretty helpful in a bun over 8 years old. Have you tried an additional box with hay in it, but no litter? Through trial and error I've discovered that I can minimize pooping accidents by starting from the following: minimum cage size 3'x3', two boxes (even for a single rabbit) minimum size 18"x20", hay rack above ONLY one of them, not accessible outside the box. Some pee in the hay box and poop in the other, some poop in the hay box and pee in the other, some only pee/poop in the other box, some of the fuckers only pee/poop in the hay box, but removing the "clean" box causes them to mess on the floor.  This is always the setup I start with, but then I almost always have to modify it as the rabbit's behavior indicates. Some require two hay mangers, some require one, some want their hay on the litterbox floor, some have to eat their pellets inside the box, some require a third box, etc ad nauseum.
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Jun 16, 2009 16:47
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my rabbits LOOOOOOOOVE their papaya extract pills. They hated them at first but I started wrapping them in craisins. Now they just think that they're craisins for all I can figure out. I just shake the bottle, get all pumped about it and they even come back for more. it started by me shaking the treat thing, getting them all excited giving them a craisin and then giving them the one with the pill inside of it. Then doing that for a bit and then switching it up. They're kind of dumb.
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Jun 16, 2009 17:05
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At the end of August I'll be moving across a few provinces for school and the buns are going to be heading over with me. My original plan was to drive the whole way but some recent car issues may have but an end to that plan. My remaining options are train, plane (bunnies in cabin) and plane (bunnies in cargo). I'm leaning towards train because that seems like the least disturbing for them but has anyone had any experience flying with their buns? I'd like to hear if it's a problem so I don't end up that way.
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Jun 16, 2009 22:30
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How much time outside the cage are your rabbits getting? I know what the recommendation is, but what are you guys doing? And if so, is it supervised or unsupervised and are they restricted to certain parts of the house? Random bonus question! Do Rabbits need salt licks? I've seen these in petsmart.
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Jun 17, 2009 01:37
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Has anyone socialized a rabbit and cat? The main problem I'm having is with the cat, but I was wondering if anyone had pointers in general. they can coexist more or less fine in the same room most of the time, but it's usually the initial meeting that's a problem. The cat waits for the rabbit to turn and hop another direction, and she wants to chase him. This usually ends in the rabbit running to his safe spot and then turning around and charging her, and things get resolved more or less. At least until he goes hopping in some other direction and she decides that's a good time to go running after him again. Other times she'll just kind of come up to him like she's trying to figure out what he is, kind of raise her paw like she's going to pat him, and then he usually charges her at that point. But in general he doesn't seem too phased...just when he's being chased, obviously. I guess a good question would be how the hell do you discipline a cat in a way that would make them stop doing something like this? Spray bottle? I've been trying to lock her in the bathroom for 10 minutes or so when she does this but I'm not sure cats are smart enough to figure that out. And since it's my rabbit and my fiance's cat...I'm getting really pissed at the cat. I shouldn't really be but you know, protective of my pet. Doesn't help that the cat is young (about a year old) so it still wants to run around and play
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Jun 17, 2009 02:03
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Cmdr. Shepard posted:Random bonus question! Do Rabbits need salt licks? I've seen these in petsmart. Absolutely not. They get more than adequate salts and minerals from their veggies and pellets. At best they get ignored - at worst they lead to kidney stones and bladder sludge, especially the mixed-mineral licks. It was originally believed that adding salt to the diet could increase water intake and thereby increase urination, helping to reduce the incidence of stones and sludge. However, that was disproven in the early 80's - changes in urinary concentration did not affect solute levels in the kidneys. Source 1, Source 2. The best way to reduce sludge is feed a hay-rich diet complemented by high-quality pellets and veggies which are balanced in terms of calcium and oxalates.
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Jun 17, 2009 02:53
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Cmdr. Shepard posted:How much time outside the cage are your rabbits getting? I know what the recommendation is, but what are you guys doing? And if so, is it supervised or unsupervised and are they restricted to certain parts of the house? Anywhere between 4-8 hours a day of running around time for mine, and around 12 hours during the weekend. Even though my bedroom's pretty much completely bunnyproof I don't like leaving him unsupervised for longer than 10 minutes at a time. He likes to eat my curtains whenever he thinks I'm not looking. He can only run around in my bedroom. I've tried supervised visits to other parts of the house but he seems to hate not being in my bedroom and will run right back. (My bunny's weird, aren't they supposed to have a curious and investigative nature?) Anyway it works out well for me too as I spend an ungodly amount of time in my bedroom either playing games or reading something or whatever.
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Jun 17, 2009 18:06
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Levitate posted:rabbit and cat? That I know of, there are no good consistent answers out there for this. I just sort of trial and error'ed until they were at a point of being okay around each other. They still aren't great friends and cuddle buddies or anything like that, but they all get along pretty well. Cat goes in their house, they don't chase her, she doesn't bother them. I did end up having to put them on different liters because cat decided that since it was the same she could use her box or theirs.
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Jun 18, 2009 02:54
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Made another thread after thinking this was just a house bunny picture thread, actually found it rather informative. Here's my post: My family just bought a 2 month old minature lop a few months ago. Having taken care him for a bit, I have a few questions and concerns I was hoping some of you current rabbit owners could help answer. 1) What kind of bedding is best for odor control, and with minimal dustiness? Right now we're using CareFRESH recycled paper bedding and it's quite dusty and doesn't retain odor very well - are there other viable alternatives? We were looking into other kinds of bedding like wood pellets but having on experience with any of them we're at a loss as to what would work best. Also, should I line the bottom of our solid cage with newspaper, regardless? 2) The pet store we bought the pet at informed us that we couldn't start giving it hay until it was at least 4 months old - is there any other things that we should hold off from giving it until a certain age? Like certain types of bedding or toys? 3) Toys and cage setup - right now, bunny is in an adequately sized cage, but I have no idea what toys to give him for recreation in his cage, since he mostly sits around. We've got a metal kebab skewer thing to hang things for it to nibble on (but we haven't put anything on it yet since he's not of age, as we understand - truth?) Right now, aside from its gravity bottle and food dish, there's a salt lick, the kebab skewer, and a fuzzy nesting cup underneath a cardboard box I cut out for him. Any other suggestions? 4) Litter training - I understand the basic concept of sweeping its dropping and urine to the dish, mainly wondering how to set up the litter box - bedding, hay, ? 5) Name suggestions? I'm partial to Bandit and Hopkins, unless you can think of another (pictures forthcoming) Any information is greatly appreciated. I'll edit with pictures after I resize em.  Click here for the full 768x576 image.  Click here for the full 768x576 image.
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Jun 19, 2009 23:42
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Cmdr. Shepard posted:How much time outside the cage are your rabbits getting? I know what the recommendation is, but what are you guys doing? And if so, is it supervised or unsupervised and are they restricted to certain parts of the house? To be honest, right now mine don't get any. (URGH). It's just for the summer because we're not at our usual apartment... It makes me unhappy because I know they're getting bored, but other than putting them in a pen outside when it's nice out they have to stay in their cage. (There aren't any spare rooms in the house they can have reign over, and the house is made of wide open spaces that are impossible to block off without inconveniencing the family we're staying with.) Even when we're back home they get less than the recommended time out because they're destructive and I can't watch them while doing homework. They've cost us our damage deposit by eating through the carpet down to the subfloor-thing in several spots and carved out a rabbit-sized hole in our boxspring. (My fault for not being in the same room as them, but still frustrating) I think I'm going to find a cheap baby gate in the fall so I can confine them in the kitchen where they can't do much harm but still have a full room to run. (Only occurred to me recently, though I wish I had thought of it last year)
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Jun 20, 2009 00:58
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Thirst Mutilator posted:Made another thread after thinking this was just a house bunny picture thread, actually found it rather informative. Here's my post: I know it's long, but I really recommend that you read this whole thread, all of your questions are answered several times. A few quick things: Rabbits need hay; it should be about 80-90% of their diet depending on whether or not you feed pellets but it's their main feed source. Petstores know nothing about rabbits. Period. I've never been to one where they knew what they were talking about. Forget that you ever talked to them and start over. Get your friend spayed or neutered They don't need salt licks, alucinor discussed this on the last page. The cage is too small, to the point that the rabbit will not litter train because the entire cage is a litter box. There are plenty of pictures of really great set ups in this thread.
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Jun 20, 2009 04:20
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Thirst Mutilator posted:2) The pet store we bought the pet at informed us that we couldn't start giving it hay until it was at least 4 months old - is there any other things that we should hold off from giving it until a certain age? Like certain types of bedding or toys? Actually, you should be feeding that guy hay right now. Read up on diet at rabbit.org, because if memory serves, you want to give some alfalfa hay because they need some of the fatty goodness. In a couple of months you can start throwing in timothy hay and phasing out the alfalfa. You can also introduce some veggies at this time in limited quantity. There is actually a time line here http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html I use untreated wood stove pellets for litter. It's not dusty, fairly odorless, and as long as I keep up on cleaning there isn't much of a smell from the pee. Key is regular cleanings, like every other day. And honestly, I'd do away with the bedding in the cage. For one, it's expensive to keep lining the cage with it every few days, but also it will make litter box training easier. I didn't have success with my lop until I decided to stop using bedding, and I haven't used it since(been 4 years now) and neither he nor I miss it. Toys will either be a hit or a flop, depending on your rabbit. Find that a set of hard plastic baby keys, I think they cost about a dollar at the market. Seriously, both of my rabbits love throwing the keys around. You want to make sure that if you get plastic toys that they are hard plastic. If it's soft enough to chew, they'll eat it. That goes for anything really. Watch him whenever you let him roam out of the cage. Rabbits are little goats in disguise sometimes, mine will eat anything if given the chance. First and foremost though, read rabbit.org. And then read it again. Everything from diet to poisonous plants. Protip: print out the pages of both suggested veggies and harmful plants and veggies and keep them readily available. This way you have it on hand even if the internet goes out
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Jun 20, 2009 09:35
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Have already taken a great deal of Rabbit.org's information to heart - been feeding Bandit alfalfa hay for the past few days in addition to pellets and he's loving it. I have a litter training concern however. It's been about a week since we got Bandit, and he regularly pees in the corner where his litterbox is, but doesn't poo there - instead it's willynilly around his cage and play area. I do scoop up his poo and put it in the litterbox but this behavior continues. I read somewhere that putting some food in the litterbox helps with the training, and right now I have hay in the litter box as well. Is it just going to take longer to train him to poo in it? Since he's peeing in that corner consistently I'm not inclined to believe the cage is too small, but could that be an issue with poop?
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Jun 22, 2009 07:54
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Murphy took quite a long time to train, but Debbie took all of five minutes. It really depends on the rabbit. Placing hay near or above the litter-box might help, but I wouldn't place it directly in the box since it can become soiled and gross. Another thing to take into consideration is the size of the litter-box. It should be at least big enough for him to turn around in. I know it's annoying to hear because I know exactly how much a cage like that costs, but it is too small, even for how little he is now. They grow up fast and Murphy outgrew the cage in just a few short months. I used it more like a crate than anything as he had free roam of the bedroom for several hours a day, but it's just not a good comfortable size for a rabbit to play around in. Also, the door being used as a ramp can be dangerous as the feet can be caught and snapped between the rungs. Neither of my rabbits ever had this problem, but there were close calls, as seen in the photo  You'll be best off creating a cage for $15 out of those cube shelf things in the future. I spent $30 on cubes and $30 on an area rug and now both rabbits have roughly a 4'x4' living space. They hop around, stretch out and play much more than they did before I ditched the smaller cages. I also got rid of the hay racks and introduced clean litter-pans that get filled with hay. Surprisingly they were both able to resist eliminating in them, and they really enjoy being able to lay around to eat. lazy buns!
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Jun 22, 2009 08:55
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Windy posted:lazy buns! My buns' food and water bowl is about a foot away from the litter box (just the best arrangement with the way their pens are set up). Frith will literally park his butt in the litter box and have his front be at the food bowl. It's seriously the funniest thing I've ever seen. He's so lazy it's so cute. 
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Jun 22, 2009 15:33
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Wow, what a cute bun! Is he an American fuzzy lop? Planning on using the cube-shelf thing in the near future. The thing is that I'll be moving into an apartment for college in August(back home for the summer) and I just don't know how much space I'm going to be able to make for my bun - if it's not going to be sizable, I may as well leave him at home where there will be more (maybe not much) space for him to play with.
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Jun 22, 2009 21:06
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