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How do you guys do it?

Hey guys,

Another bunny housing question, but different this time...

At the moment, I've got my two girls in a dog cage (to give them enough height to stand up), but they're fast outgrowing their 30" cage, so I'm looking to change their housing.

I have to admit, I haven't done well in litter training them... :oops: ...some bunny nurse I am! I do realise they're VERY young still (16 weeks now) and have short attention spans. Basically, at the moment, half the cage is a big litter tray, with some Carefresh bedding (just a few handfuls to absorb, that stuff's expensive!!!!) and hay for them to eat, and do their "business" in. They still poop all over the place, but that doesn't really bother me, as it's easy to vaccuum up. However, they're still weeing outside the box. Not often, and I don't know if it's only one of them, but it happens. The other half of the cage is one big pillow, and I still find wet patches on the floor of the cage (under both the tray and the pillow I keep newspaper)...meaning they wee on the middle of the cushion...

I haven't caught them weeing anywhere outside the cage, except once, when I put down some old t-shirts to snuggle into, Binky weed on them...so no more t-shirts.

I'm looking at getting a new cage, and attaching a small run to it (either with those storage cube things or something home-made), so they can go in and out of the cage at night, and when I'm not home. So I've considered getting one of those "rabbit cages" and just filling it with bedding, like sawdust, or straw, or something else.

What do you guys do? Does it work? Is it cheap? Easy to clean?

Help! This cage is now too small and I HAVE to upgrade, but I don't know which approach to take. Y'all are the experts! I had previously thought of buying a 48" dog cage (biggest I can find) and putting a shelf up so they could hop up and down, but it doesn't seem worth it...

Can anyone enlighten me as to the way they do it? Pen living? No cage at all? Bunny cage? A way to make a dog cage work? Something else entirely?

My main problem is that I'm not made of money, quite the opposite, financially I'm actually quite scr*w*d... :cry:

I want to make my buns happy, especially now that the boys are arriving when I get back, but I'm at a loss as to what the best approach is...

Anyone? Please help!!!!
 
Bunnies often loss any litter training they have as they mature and the hormones kick in, usually around 4-6 months mark. They start getting interested in territories and marking out their spaces, count yourself lucky they're not spaying too ;)

Make sure you've put they tray in the corner they like to use, and place any stray currents in the tray. Anywhere they wee not in the tray give a good clean to remove the scent.

Were they your old t-shirts? They were probably marking them as theirs. When I had a lass inside she used to be litter trainned apart from a very annoying habbit of jumping up on my bed and weeing in it :roll:

Tam
 
Yea, I've put the tray in the side of the cage they picked to wee in most. I vacuum up the poos I find outside the cage, but put the ones from inside the cage all in the tray...no success...

They were indeed my old t-shirts. I didn't mind them weeing on them, but I didn't really want to keep washing them, so took them away in the end...

Should I just change to a cage with plastic bottom and straw or something in the whole thing? What's the best idea for the new cage?
 
Hiya

Buns can be a pain to litter train! My foster bun , Princess, was litter trained when I got her but had a few poos scattered about. Have you tried something different in the tray? I changed Princess from hay to cat litter pellets and now she is literally 100%! Also changed Amy my youngest to the pellets and has improved her litter training greatly, tho not completely (well all wees in tray but not all poos, can't expect everything can I!)

We find at work that some of the bunnies prefer to go in straw, some in hay, some in sawdust etc. Seems to be a case of trial and error and finding what works. I expect that when they are spayed they will be better - tho saying that I have a 5 year old girl who isn't spayed but is brill at using her litter tray and never goes upstairs in her bedroom!

Good luck with your girls, are you hoping to do away with cages and runs once they are litter trained?

Nicola
 
Hiya

Buns can be a pain to litter train! My foster bun , Princess, was litter trained when I got her but had a few poos scattered about. Have you tried something different in the tray? I changed Princess from hay to cat litter pellets and now she is literally 100%! Also changed Amy my youngest to the pellets and has improved her litter training greatly, tho not completely (well all wees in tray but not all poos, can't expect everything can I!)

We find at work that some of the bunnies prefer to go in straw, some in hay, some in sawdust etc. Seems to be a case of trial and error and finding what works. I expect that when they are spayed they will be better - tho saying that I have a 5 year old girl who isn't spayed but is brill at using her litter tray and never goes upstairs in her bedroom!

Good luck with your girls, are you hoping to do away with cages and runs once they are litter trained?

Nicola
 
Hi Maaike, For cheap cage/bed I'd definatley say invest in those storage cubes. To make it easy to clean try sign makers for correx, the corrugated plastic which you can fit into the cage and have it going up the sides so no shavings spill over the side! I had a look for it on the internet but your better off going to a local sign maker for it. It should be pretty cheap, Bluebunny is the one to ask about it as she has some in the bottom of her piggie run.
For ideas on what you can do with the storage cubes try these links
http://princessblackie.homestead.com/ Not only a goregous black bunny but a good idea for the cage. I have a similar one to this which the bunnies loved. Its now spilt into 2 beds.
http://cavycages.com/howto.htm That shows you how to fit the correx in if you want to do it.
http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/nic.html links to other beds/cages.
There you go that should keep you busy for a while :lol: Good Luck and oh if you buy these from Ebay, ignore the connectors and buy cables ties, a whole lot easier to work with plus there isn't enough connectors to a box.

Angela
 
Zeus was perfect - every poo in the tray...till we got Athena, now he scatters some about the rug marking his territory, he still wees in the tray. Sometimes when I haven't cleaned it out for a couple of days Athena shows her disgust by weeing on the rug (she won't use a dirty litter tray :roll: ) so I clean it out and she uses it perfectly again.

Violet scatters her poos everywhere (but I think she is still trying to asses what is her territory. She has got the hang of using the litter tray for wees though.

I had a dog bed with a fluffy cushion - I bought it for Zeus but Athena & Zeus constantly used it as a litter tray instead. I washed it so many times with all sorts of smelly soaps but they kept weeing on it. Eventually I gave up and put it in the loft. When we got Violet I brought it back down and put it in her cage. She promptly urinated on it, so I washed it - next day she had weeded on it loads and pooed on it too - not used the litter tray at all. Took it away at the weekend and she has started using the litter tray for all wees.

Maybe it is something about cushions - softer on their behinds than hay - I don't know - but it might be worth putting a layer of vet bed over some cat litter and seeing if that helps. They might like it because it is softer to wee on but it will go straight through and be absorbed by the litter. Does mean you will have to have a few spare pieces to alternate while some is in the wash.

Caz
 
Before I used the cushion, I had just a vetbed on top of some litter...they pulled the vetbed up, and made a mess of the litter (carefresh) and the newspaper underneath...Binky seems to have a fascination with eating weed-on newspaper...*sigh*

Cheers Angela, for those links, I'm checking them out right now...

I'm really at a loss of what to do, litter-wise. I'm tempted to just cover the entire floor of the new cage with bedding (hay, sawdust, whatever), but that's expensive, and with the way my girls are, probably messy...

I know they're only young, and they'll hopefully eventually litter train well...

I can't do away with a cage or run completely, as I don't want them running about the flat when I'm not in. It's too dangerous, the handiman has the key to my flat and can come in. Not legal, but it happens. And I just feel better that they're secure in an enclosure when I'm not there to rescue them from anything bad...
 
Hi there - I bought the PWS greenline panels which are advertised on rabbit rehome for an outdoor run, but then also ordered some for indoors - they are brilliant -eight seperate panels that can be joined to whatever shape you want - they can even be used as I do, to make baby gates for the doors to keep buns in one room overnight :) If you make a big run/cage area with these, lino can be put on the bottom, which is easily cleaned. Heres the link:

http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/donate/rabbitrun.asp

When Molly can to live with us she hadn't been a housebun before, so had a few little accidents :wink: . I bought two big underbed storage containers, lined them with newspaper, put loads of hay/supaforage in them. We also fed her in this for the first while, so she just eats, wees and poos in these trays. If she had a mistake we picked her up and put her in the tray, and for the first little while, she got a grape everytime she peed where she should. Worked well - she now runs from other rooms back to her trays to go - very clever girl :) . The plastic containers are big, and on wheels, and we just move them to whatever room we are all in - like she has her own little portoloo :wink: She even lets us wheel her in the tray - no way she's moving if there's food in it :lol:
 
Hee hee hee, portaloos!

The trouble is that I'm not at home with the buns during the day when their potty training should be happening, only at night. So I can't be as consistent as I should...

I'm thinking of making a storage cube condo (got the ideas through those links!) and putting a little run out the front of it, so they have plenty of space during the day and at night when I'm asleep, and they can run around the flat when I'm home...

Now I've just got to hope they'll all like each other enough to live together...

What's the best way of providing litter for them in one big condo, do y'all think? Should I just cover the whole bottom floor in hay or whatever?
 
Hi glad to see you got some ideas from them links! Ehhhh you could invest in a small bit of vinyl, just enough to fit under the bed and you could use it in the same way as the correx although I would think bunnies will be more likely to chew at the vinyl or even the correx. Most of my 11 live in beds made from these panels in various combo's. I have vinyl down on the floor and its nice and easy to clean although they do make a heck of a mess with shavings as they dig about in the litter trays. I definatley think its worth investing in a bit of vinyl just bigger than the bed then if they widdle in the wrong place its nice and easy to clean up. Try a local carpet shop, probably one of the smaller independants might be more willing to help and tell them you only need a small bit, give them the sizes and ask if they ever gets scraps left over around that size? if so would they let you have it for free? Worth a try!
I keep missing your litter training questions as I gave up on this a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnngggggggggggg time ago :lol: hopefully my lot piddle in the right place 1 in a bluemoon so I can't complain :lol: :lol:
As for cheap bedding hmmm megazorb is the best value but you might have a problem getting it delivered and the only online source is bunnymail at £15 a bag including delivery. If you can get it local its about £5 a bag!

Angela
 
I agree with Thumps about the Megazorb being the best value for money.
You get a huge bag for such a small price, unlike the Carefresh costing £2.99 for a tiny amount. Megazorb costs me £4.50 a bag and it lasts ages.
 
Yea, I'm sick of the Carefresh, it's over 3 pounds and it doesn't last very long at all!

I've decided to make "Blackie's bunny condo" from one of the links, with some improv with the fact that it'll be housing 4 buns...

I'm still deciding what to do with the litter area, as there's going to be 4 buns. I think I'll make one of those correx liners as explained on that website, and then just fill it with cheap litter, I'm thinking of getting some of that megazorb, and then supplementing with straw. No shavings as I've got a long-haired boy coming...then I'll see where they "go" as time goes on, and then place a big litter tray in that area eventually...

Now, where can I get that correx stuff?!
 
When i made my cavy cage i rang round local sign writers in the yellow pages,some only had small sheets but i found a place that had 8ft X 4ft sheets only £10 so i bought two sheets,for the cage i made i used a full sheet with a few odd ends left over.
ended up swapping the other sheet and some panels with my friend for the dog cage lilac and shadow have now
 
Hmmm...I vaguely remember a sign maker's sign (ha ha) on the way home from Uni...but that would take a while...hmmmm...

Lemme see if I can dig up a temporary solution...*thinks*
 
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