Litter tray hutch!

Hi there,

I took in my rabbit, Dumbledore from another owner who had bought him quite a large double hutch. Unfortunatly because of this, he seems to sit in his litter tray a lot of the time and results in me having to often clean and trim his bum to stop risk of flystrike. It's like he sees the tray as his hutch and the rest of the hutch is just free space. We do have a one level hutch but it is getting old and it would be a waste of an amazing hutch not to use the two level one.
Any suggestions of what we could do because I am getting a little bit worried about his bum. :shock: He is 5 so it's quite hard to teach him new stuff.

Thanks

5 old?! Don't tell my 6 and 7 year old that :lol: they can live up to 12 years, maybe more so 5 isn't old at all (wait, read it wrong! Thought you said the bun was old, not the hutch :lol

Mine are usually in their litter trays/ in one area most of the day, Poppy will sit in her bed all day.. They're just sleepy and less active in the day dawn and dusk is when they are more active.

What size hutch is it? I know when I had mine in smaller spaces they weren't very active at all because they couldn't be.

Even tips on how I can clean his bum would be helpful! :lol: its H136xW110xD70

Skye normally sits in his potty in his cage which is rather odd. I think he also see's the rest of his cage as "free space". I have caught him sleeping in it lol. His bum isn't too bad.
I did have a rabbit who had three legs and I was advised by my vet to clean her bum with cornstarch powder.

Why is his bum mucky? What's his diet? I have a rabbit who needs help cleaning herself but that's because she's on a pellet only diet because of her teeth.

So the hutch is only just over 3.5ft? Does he have access to a large run at all times? Otherwise I can see why he just sits there, mine did the same until I gave them access to a 7ft x 4ft run and attached it to the 4ft double hutch. Now they're bonded they have a shed and run though. The minimum space recommended to give rabbits a decent amount of space is 6x2x2 hutch and attached 6x4/8x4 run, space is very important and I bet that if he did have that kind of space his bottom would improve

The more exercise he can do, the more weight he would lose which would enable him to clean himself properly

Hope I don't sound rude! Just speaking from experience

He has a diet mainly of hay, then veggies, then pellets. I put him in the run everyday and that's a pretty big run. I think it might just be because he's got a very fluffy bum so to speak :lol: He was a little fat when I got him from his previous owner since she said she gave him the odd little bit of bread as a treat once a month :shock: But he's thinned down now and should be able to clean himself. I've seen him clean his back legs but not his actual bum. Also he's only a little rabbit and he doesn't look like he's running out of space. It is a double hutch so there are two hutches connected just for one mini lop rabbit. Sorry got the measurements wornd they are 132x160x70.

Is there anyway you can attach the run? The problem with double hutches is that space is lost with the ramp, so space is taken away at the top because of the hole and space is taken from the bottom because of the ramp. Small rabbits need just as much space as big ones the 6ft minimum hutch with attached run is recommended for small to medium rabbits.

Rabbits are awake when we are asleep so offering space all the time is good for them so they can decide when they want to use it rather than using it when the owner decides

Diet should be 90% hay, 5% pellets and 5% veg/herbs/forage. What veg do you feed?

You can get litter trays with plastic grills, less mucky and less appealing comfort wise. I don't know if they might cause sore hocks though, maybe you could put some litter on top?. http://www.amazon.com/Ware-Plastic-Scatterless-Lock-N-Litter-Bigger/dp/B000HGB8W6 http://www.oz-pet.net.au/litter_tray.html http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stefanplast-Litter-Strainer-Furba-4-Parts/dp/B001DXFHLA