~ LITTER BOX TRAINING ~
* Start off by confining your bunny in just one room (even if you intend to give him/her the run of the whole house). A tiled floor is best to start
(kitchen/bathroom).
* Make sure that the litter tray is easily accessible on at least one side, but with high enough sides all the way around so there is no spillage.
* For the litter itself, avoid clay, clumping litter (toxic), and cedar shavings. Pine shavings are highly recommended.
* A standard cat litter box works well. For bunnies that kick litter out of box you can use a covered box.
* Confinement and supervision is critical for the early stages. (Its much kinder to go through this for a few weeks early on in a bunny’s life so that it
can have a lifetime of roaming about and interacting with the family). So you should start in one room, and confine your bunny to its care (with the litter
box) for a bit until you learn where the bunny likes to do the business if its in the litter box great! If not, no worries, just move the box over that way.
* After you’ve achieved success in the cage, its time to provide freedom. The key here is to do it only a little at time, step by step (and be willing to go
back a step if bunny makes a mistake).
*So give bunny a limited area of freedom in the room, and make sure he knows where the litter box is. (spend sometime getting bunny to come to the box with
treats and praise.)
* Watch for signs that “the business” is going to happen soon, get the bunny to the box when tits going to happen, and give ample praise and treats when it
does.
*Just like you did in the cage if bunny is making mistakes, think of it as his or her way of telling you “the box belongs over here…not where you put
it”…and just move the box for the bunny.
*Sometimes you actually need to have two or three litter boxes in a larger space for a while…Then you remove one at a time.
*Punishment is NOT a good idea for mistakes with rabbits. Its better to simply withhold the rewards and treats and praise until you get the behavior you
want. (and use a lot of patience).
*Some people have trouble because they re not really sure how to know when their bunny is about to go. Establishing regular feeding times, and other
routines will help with this problem. (mostly though, you’ll get used to your bunnies signs if you pay attention for a few weeks)
* Once your bunny is using the litter box outside of the cage the idea is to slowly expand their allowed roaming area, until you can confidently see your
bunny anywhere in the house with out worrying about accidents.