A new bedding

I use newspaper, woodshavings and lots of hay in my rabbits hutch. I know woodshavings aren't the best but my rabbits aren't litter trained and they can be quite messy so I find this works best so far. Can anyone suggest any other bedding I could try? I've tried litter training them lots of times but they just don't seem too get the hang of it :lol:

Are they spayed/neutered? If they aren't, that would improve things a lot. Territorial marking can account for a lot of stray poops. Is the tray large enough for them all to sit in at the same time? I like the underbed storage boxes for trays as they are larger and have higher sides than cat litter trays and stops them from spraying over the edge. I use wood pellet cat litter in the trays, and plain non slip vinyl for the floor which enables them to differentiate from the litter area. You may need to provide more than one tray. Sweeping up poos regularly and putting them into the tray would help too :thumb:

They're both neutered I've tried lots of different litter trays, maybe I should try a storage box, I just worry about it taking up a lot of space especially if they won't use it. I've got a 6ft x 2ft x 2ft hutch with a 6xt x 4ft x 2ft run, which was the recommended size for bunnies when I got them but is now smaller than the recommended size so I'm trying to give them as much space as possible.

I understand your question.

My bunny is still young and not litter trained at all. I can't just leave him on plastic all day, he pees and poops, it's disgusting after a few hours.

I currently use linen (?) shavings. The problem is that it doesn't absorb anything, all the pee goes under it... It stinks pretty fast.

I don't want to use wood shavings as it may be toxic for her. Wood pellets are good for a litter tray but for the whole cage, I'm not sure...

I went to the pet shop yesterday and I didn't know what to buy. The paper pellets seemed the best litter available but it is very expensive for a big cage...

Carefresh would be best but is very expensive to kit out an entire hutch, so I'd recommend megazorb. Megazorb is also more absorbent than shavings so it should work better for their toilet habits, but is a bit more dusty than dust-extracted wood shavings. Some people use aubiose, I haven't any personal experience but ive seen a bale and it looks like fine wood chips.

I also second a bigger tray - it can't hurt to try and even if it doesn't work you can always take it out again. I have a storage box and they spend a lot of their time in there, which they don't with smaller trays, so it's not a waste of space as such.

Are they marking everywhere or just specific places?

N&T didn't get the hang of litter training until I gave them a big tray and didn't put any substrate down anywhere else. They took to it immediately once I gave them a nice big, deep tray. You can pick them up for about £3 so it wouldn't be too much of a waste if they don't get the hang of it!

In terms of what substrate to use I really like carefresh but find it too expensive, so I use megazorb instead. A big sack is about £8-9 from nearby horse retailers or you can order it online for about £14 max I think. The sack is 85L and fits perfectly into an 85L bin if you squish it all down and use a bit at the time, so it's easy to store outside if you have a bin for it. The pieces of megazorb are smaller than carefresh by quite a lot so I probably wouldn't want to use it as a subtrate all over the hutch floor in case it rolled out the hutch, but it works very well in the trays.

I use an underbed storage box per rabbit with newspaper and hay. I sometimes use straw under the hay.

For the guinea pigs I use newspaper, fitch then hay. Fitch is lovely and soft (like shredded loo roll) and doesnt stick to them.

Hope you find something that works for them.

Mine are on lino now, but I used aubiose for months and it was great! Absorbent, lasts well and much less dusty than sawdust.

Horse Bedding

I used to use Megazorb horse for all of my bunnies. Excellent stuff. Very absorbent and soft. Especially good for Rex rabbits prone to getting sore hocks.

However, I recently changed to a new bedding called Probed. It is another dust free horse bedding made from the chopped stems of Rapeseed oil plants. There are other similar brands. It comes in huge bags for around £6.50 each so much cheaper than wood chippings. I am lucky that my local pet shop stocks it. Not only is it dust free, but it is treated to make it mould free too (no nasty fungal spores to irritate lungs). Horses have very delicate respiratory systems like rabbits.

We had one rabbit diagnosed with snuffles. We changed her bedding from newspaper and hay to Probed and her problems disappeared. We now think she had an allergy and not Snuffles.

Anyway ... have been using Probed now for 12 months and happy to recommend.

http://www.probale.com/probed/

http://www.probale.com/probed/

tulsi said:

I use an underbed storage box per rabbit with newspaper and hay. I sometimes use straw under the hay.

For the guinea pigs I use newspaper, fitch then hay. Fitch is lovely and soft (like shredded loo roll) and doesnt stick to them.

Hope you find something that works for them.

Click to expand...

Another thumbs up for Fitch bedding. I've just swapped the piggies onto it and I'd say it was better than megazorb. Doesn't stick to the fur, no dust and very absorbant with no smell :thumb:.

You can buy direct from Fitch or via Amazon (for the same price).

Megazorb seems great but I can't find it in France.

Would you advise something similar on zooplus ? This one maybe ?

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/hay_and_bedding/other_bedding_small_pets/399362

Or this ?

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/hay_and_bedding/other_bedding_small_pets/403210

Thanks

The second one looks similar to what I use except mine's paper not cellulose. I think mine's called Back-2-Nature. It's not cheap at £15 a bag and that only lasts me just over a month, but I'm sticking with it until Lopsy's new house is up and running with a bigger litter tray!

Oh, yes, we have Back to nature in France too. It is really expensive though. It would be like 40€ a month for her big cage... :/