Training a housebun!

I had a wonderful housebun until he died 3 years ago but i got him at age 5 and he was already litter tray trained and very good at not chewing ( wires excepted!). WE moved house whilst we had him and this house has all hard floors and he hated them which I felt restricted his exercise because he stayed on the carpeted area. The house is also very hot in summer which was a worry even with fans and frozen bottles pads etc.

We really really miss having a bunny in the house but I have no idea how to housetrain a bun! Friends have 2 which they have had from babies and they are good but they don't free range which is what i want for any housebun.

Any tips or hints whilst we ponder??

my only tip is don't get a trio of house buns. They are a nightmare. The original pair in that trio were really clean & tidy, since Mouse joined them its poo city. Mucky bunnies.

Mine rarely chew our stuff, clothes & shoes etc are safe, they'll snip the odd vine (eg phone charger) but generally really good. Previous bunnies have remodelled the whole house. I like to believe they are good buns in this respect as they have loads of forage / appropriate chew stuff

I got Louie at 10 weeks, from Pets at Home, and he used the littertray 100% perfectly from the first day we got him

joey&boo said:

my only tip is don't get a trio of house buns. They are a nightmare. The original pair in that trio were really clean & tidy, since Mouse joined them its poo city. Mucky bunnies.

Mine rarely chew our stuff, clothes & shoes etc are safe, they'll snip the odd vine (eg phone charger) but generally really good. Previous bunnies have remodelled the whole house. I like to believe they are good buns in this respect as they have loads of forage / appropriate chew stuff

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Do you think that's generally true of trios/groups of bunnies JB?

MightyMax said:

Do you think that's generally true of trios/groups of bunnies JB?

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I don't know to be fair - this is my only non pair I've had but they are all rotters for it. Its driving me a bit nuts at the mo. How are your trio at toilet habits?

joey&boo said:

I don't know to be fair - this is my only non pair I've had but they are all rotters for it. Its driving me a bit nuts at the mo. How are your trio at toilet habits?

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It's probably early days. The new comer was the very best ever - absolutely spotless and not a poo out of place anywhere. And now he's left 5 (large golden) poos on my patio and he's the only one to do that!!

But I sympathise with Boo pulling all the hay out. He does that too! I went to the shed this morning, and since all three of them assure me they are olympic jumpers, they can leap into their litter tray so he can't pull the hay out any more :lol:

*lily* said:

I got Louie at 10 weeks, from Pets at Home, and he used the littertray 100% perfectly from the first day we got him

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Yes, I had no problem with Ludo at 10.5 weeks, exactly the same, he's never had an accident.
Otherwise I'd never trust a bunny to be housetrained with wires and cables, so I covered them all in conduit.

THanks everyone. Yes we also put all our wires/cables in ridged conduit, kept them safe but didn't look fantastic!!

A good tip for litter training a house rabbit is to take some sawdust/hay/litter that's already contaminated with urine from their hutch/cage and put it in the tray you want them to use. They have such a strong sense of smell that they'll home in on it. This has worked for me with babies and adults. The younger they are, the more likely to gnaw everything in sight and wriggle through tiny gaps to get to wires.

Mimzy, even when he lived outdoors, only used one corner of his run yard for a wee/poo spot. He NEVER went in the shed, which amazed me. So when I brought him indoors so that he wouldn't freeze in winter, I wasn't surprised at all that he immediately took to the box. He's always been the cleanest bun so when he became a bit incontinent early (due to EOA I assume) and now also just goes anywhere since he's a post tilt bun, I can imagine he is not really happy that he can't manage a litter pan anymore.

Fiver, same. He was very young when I got him but he knew where he wanted to go and where he did not. I never had an issue with him. He was always allowed on my bed as a result because I trusted him implicitly to run back to his enclosure to use his litterbox. He had a bladder stone removed a few years ago and has been incontinent from time to time since then...he also seems to be distressed by this like Mimzy.

Pip was a bit different. Maybe because she was a girl? :? You'd think the ladies would naturally use 'the ladies' :lol: but not only would she tend to wee over the side of the box, (watching her hang her behind out to pee was at once hilarious and frustrating) she would pee on her feeding hay. :roll:
Also she had a habit of flinging rabbit raisins at anyone she could hit. :shock: I often found a lone one sitting on or near my pillow. :mrgreen:

And Mimzy did have one caveat, he would wee on anything soft. So no bunny beds or cuddly cups for him. :? If I ever wanted a cuddle on my bed, I had to keep puppy pads under him.

I think Zarla has it spot on too, I did hear about using some soiled hay or grass as incentive. I believe it works very well.