Hi! Newbie here with a couple of questions!

Hi :wave: I'm a newbie
Just found this site today...thank goodness, because I'm getting in a right muddle with my buns.
I haven't kept rabbits since I was a child (I'm now 32 :lol: ) but now I am the proud owner of Harvey and Ruby - Harv is a male french lop, Rubes is a female mini lop. They are both nearly 14 weeks old.
I have two main problems, the first is a messy problem! They are outdoor buns in a large (5ft by 3ft by 3 1/2ft) hutch. In the "bedroom" I have put layers of newspaper and loads of straw. In the "living" area I have newpaper and woodchippings. I seem to be having to completely clean this all out every day :shock: . They are really really messy. Everyone keeps telling me they will only wee in one area, well that seems to be rubbish because they wee in the straw and in one corner of the living area. They also pull all the straw out of the bedroom into the other area, leaving the bedroom empty??
How can I persuade them to wee in one area??
Secondly...has anyone ever had a hemaphrodite (sp) rabbit? They both went to the vets for Mixi vax on Monday. The vet expressed surprised that there was no pitter patter of baby buns yet, (I'm getting Ruby spayed in a fortnight) She checked the sexes were correct and found that Ruby is a girl but Harvey has both male and female organs and no sign of testicles yet! She said that this explains the lack of babies yet and that she wants to see him in a month to check if any testicles have dropped ....BTW my sister said I should change his name to Nadia :evil:
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You could try a litter tray in the outside bit, lined with newspaper and filled with hay. It would have to be cleaned daily but easier than changing all the bedding! The tray has to more tempting than the rest of the cage, rabbits like to nibble whilst doing their business!

Hello and welcome

my experience of using newspaper, is that the tidiest of bunnies, having spotted a corner of newspaper in their hutch will then spend hours pulling it up and chewing it and turning the whole hutch into a bombsight. Try things without the newspaper, just to see.

Neutering usually makes bunnies tidier. The removal of the newspaper, may seem too easy an answer, but I would be interested to see if it made any difference at all, its just too tempting for them to rip it up....

My bonded pair of boys, with newspaper in their hutch, little terrors, without it, little angels - well almost... :lol:

Annie

Thanks, :lol: That's exactly what it's like, as soon as one bit op paper gets torn they have to rip the whole lot up,aghh.
I'll try the tray with the straw, see if that works, anything has to be better than changing everything everyday!

My bunnies LOVE tearing up newspaper I've given up lining their cage nicely and just throw it in for them to play with!!!

Hiya,

Welcome to the forum That sounds a nice big hutch! One bunny usually favours one corner as a toilet but with two bunnies this can mean a corner each! Cleaning out can be made a lot easier by putting a litter tray in the appropriate corners then you can clean those out daily and the rest of the hutch doesn't get such a mess. Its normal for bunnies to rearrange their bed, I wouldn't worry about it to much, especially in this weather when its warm at night anyway.

I have heard of hermaphrodite rabbits before. I don't think its a guarentee they can't reproduce as there are different causes? They don't generally become ready to reproduce until 10-12 weeks so it could still happen, needless to say this wouldn't be a good thing considering Harveys possible genetic problems. The testicals in males don't always drop until 14-16 weeks old and sometimes they are retained in the abdomine. I would give it a couple of weeks and let an experienced vet have another look and you might find he isn't a hermaphrodite, rabbits are often miss sexed.

Tam

I agree with Tamsin.

But I would still be happier keeping them separate in the meantime if I were you, you definitely don't want any accidental litters, after all nothing is confirmed as yet regarding male/female status.

Yes there certainly are hermaphrodite rabbits, they're more common than people think :? :lol:

Ok, off to buy a couple of trays then for the hutch, hope it works!

Tamsin, the vet I saw is the one that specialises in "small furries" :lol:
at the practice. She drew me a diagram of a male rabbits bits and a female rabbits bits and then drew what Harvey has, i.e a mixture of both . However, she did say that there was a space she could feel that should house the testicles and that they may well drop in the next 2-4 weeks so she definately wants to see him back again. I think I'll take him back to be checked in a fortnight when Ruby goes to be spayed. And, yes you are quite right, I wouldn't want a litter bred from him if there were any genetic problems (well actually I don't want a litter at all- regardless of problems!)

hi bumble, :bunny:

I soon gave up on newspaper too!

I have used care fresh bedding topped with hay, at the moment I am using megazorb again topped with hay for munching, and it is much easier using a litter tray.