Your Rabbit's Litter Box - Tried & True Methods
Litter box training your rabbit is a lot easier if you use the proper set-up. Most rabbit savvy people will use a generous amount of timothy hay in their rabbit's litter box to encourage them to spend time foraging inside. While they are in there eating, they will also do their business and make training them to the box so much quicker.
Your rabbit's litter box needs to be cleaned at least every two days, but preferably daily. Only very small rabbit's can tolerate an every other day cleaning schedule. If your rabbit is medium to large in size, then it will definitely need daily cleaning.
To clean your rabbit's litter box you must use ONLY water and diluted vinegar solution. Never use household cleaners in your rabbits litter box or abode area. Most are quite toxic for him.
It is best to dump the whole box out in order to clean the inside of the litter box. If you dump into another container, you can separate the urined soaked absorbent material from the clean stuff, so it can be returned back into the bottom of the litter box when you are done. Spray it with a 50-50 water and vinegar solution to break up some of the calcium that will build up in the bottom of the box. Rinse it thoroughly and scrape any build up that occurs.
Put a layer of absorbent material at the bottom of the box. Most people use a paper pulp product such as CareFresh or Yesterday's News, but some people just use discard newspaper. Put enough in the bottom to absorb a day's worth of your rabbit's urine.
Never use pine or cedar shavings, even though the packages at the store have pictures of rabbits on them. These things are toxic for your bun.
We like to use a grate in between the absorbent material and the hay that will fill the rest of the box. This keeps your rabbits feet from coming in contact with his urine at the bottom of the box, reducing staining and urine scalding. It also keeps him from disturbing the absorbent layer when he digs down deeply in his hay while foraging.
Be generous when filling the box with timothy hay. If you fill it overflowing, when your rabbit jumps inside it will smash down. Replace this hay daily because whatever your rabbit does not eat in one day will not usually get eaten the second day. Plenty of fresh hay available for your rabbit to graze on all day is very important to a healthy happy rabbit.
Having a big deep box to dig and eat in will also help keep your rabbit from wanting to dig in other places in his abode area. Rabbits have an instinct to dig, so give them a big litter box to dig in and they will not feel compelled to dig on your carpet or some other place.
