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Hay as Litter Method????

M

monobird

New Kit
I went to a rabbit adoption organization and they had the hay the bunnies ate in their litter boxes... I have only had my bunnies for 2 months now and it has been very hard maintaining their cage. I use Carefresh Ultra bedding (very costly) and newspaper pellets in their boxes. They use the boxes but they also poo around them and around/ in their food.

1. How do I get them to only poo in their boxes?

2. Why should I use the "hay as litter method"?

3. Explain to me how its done as far as keeping the food sanitary?
 
Hi there.

I don't think you have to worry about keeping the hay sanitary as bunnies will choose to 'chew and poo'. We use hay in their litter trays and this encourages them to sit and wee/poo in the correct place as they tend to do it when eating. Some bunnies don't but the majority take to this method. Hay is generally cheaper than other litters.

However, to make life easier, I use newspaper, a layer of litter such as Carefresh/Megazorb (in the UK)/Yesterday's News/Back to Nature and then hay on top. This way any wee is soaked up by the litter, the paper prevents it from sticking to the tray and the hay encourages them in there (plus stops them from kicking the litter out).

It's quite normal in the UK to have a set up like this. Saves work for the humans too.

If you want to give extra hay that doesn't get wee'd on, you can add a manger too.
 
monobird said:
Thank you for the information. I am going to work on this now as a matter of fact!
Click to expand...

It's a great way to encourage good hay eating and saves on tidying for us humans!

Let us know how you get on.

Lots of folks on here will do things differently but having hay in the litter box is quite normal and the buns seem to love eating there, sitting there and doing their toilet there too. All quite normal.

Helen:D
 
I do it that way only just newspaper - a whole one, and then deep hay. I use a hay rack over one but they tend to "dig it out" and pull it in to the litter box anyway.
 
what hay should i use...right now they are on a mixture of alfalfa and timothy but that seems a little thin for me?
 
Meadow is great and if you can get Timothy for a good price some of that too.

I'd not use Alfalfa freely as this can cause calcium problems and you might end up with a rabbit with stones or bladder sludge. Give that one as a top up/treat hay only.
 
I must admit I was a bit surprised that most people put hay in the litter box - I thought rabbits wouldn't eat hay they have sat on - but I do it now too. They tend to drag it out of the hay rack and spread it around, so at least the hay stays in one place.

Rabbits like to poo in corners, so place the litter tray where they are already pooing. Put any loose poops in there and hopefully they will get the idea. I believe speyed/neutered rabbits seem to do better with litter training than unspeyed ones.
 
I reorganized everything and they seem to really love it!! Ive never seen them graze for so long. As I chat there is one in each litter box. Seems like it brings them out more. They make their messes at night so I will be able to tell by morning if this is an easy adjustment for them.
 
hay poop boxes

monobird said:
I went to a rabbit adoption organization and they had the hay the bunnies ate in their litter boxes... I have only had my bunnies for 2 months now and it has been very hard maintaining their cage. I use Carefresh Ultra bedding (very costly) and newspaper pellets in their boxes. They use the boxes but they also poo around them and around/ in their food.

1. How do I get them to only poo in their boxes?

2. Why should I use the "hay as litter method"?

3. Explain to me how its done as far as keeping the food sanitary?
Click to expand...
yes,,hay-for poop boxes,hay bins-works very well,,but i use-compose-garden work anyway--so its a win,win -green--situation..sincerely james waller...clay litter,,scented liter-rabbit may eat it,gi stasis//,,pine,cedar-scented wooden toys,or bedding is deadly
 
I am one of the few people who do not use hay in the litter tray, so I thought it would be useful to tell you what I do and why.

My house buns have wooden cat litter in their tray, and a big hay rack of timothy hay right next to it, so they can still sit and poop whilst eating if they wish. They also have a massive 10" dog bowl full of timothy hay in their dog crate which they sit and eat without pooing/weeing in their dog crate.

I did used to put hay in their litter tray many years ago, but whenever there was hay anywhere else (such as it had fallen out of the hay rack onto the carpet) the buns wee'd on it. So I needed to stop them associating hay as something to wee on. Now I can also feed them pure timothy hay (which is the best for their teeth, and low in calcium for my calcium intolerant bun) as I'm not putting heaps in their litter trays to be thrown away. Ah, one other thing, when their litter tray was filled with hay it always seemed to get walked all around the living room too, now our living room is mostly hay free. Both my buns eat huge amounts of hay, so this all works well for me.
 
I dont use hay for my buns to pee on, i use wood pellet cat litter in the trays, then put a large bit of hay at one end of the trays.
They then jump in the trays, eat the hay, and do their business on the litter :)
 
i get bales of hay from a nearby farm which costs £4 a bale. i use about a bale a month for 7 buns. they have hay in the litter tray, hay in their hutch and in the upstairs part of their run hay boxes. underneath the hay the litter tray is lined with newspaper and cardboard to soak up wee. they have access to their run all day and have identified the corner that they like to use. at night they are kept in their hutch and again they identified a spot to use. my buns are split into a group of 3 and 2 pairs and they are all good with their routine!

i did use straw in their litter at one point (it's cheaper at £2 a bale) but gradually just used the hay only.
 
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