Litter Training Tips
Personally, I can't imagine having a pet bunny and NOT wanting it to be litter trained. I can imagine not wanting to litter train an entire herd and navigate the constant marking that comes with owning multiple bucks. That I get. But as I started selling down my herd in 2016 and now find myself with just three bunnies, I ran out of excuses for not attempting it. So, months ago I purchased three jumbo sized corner litter pans and started going through the motions of litter training. While I am far far far from an expert, I finally feel as if I some valid ideas to throw in the game. Here they are:
1) Do yourself a favor and get a litter tray with a wire bottom. Yes you can put an absorbent material in the litter tray, but if you don't want yellow fur on the bottom of your bunny's feet, you will be changing that material multiple times a day. That is tedious, and can get expensive.
2) Use multiple litter trays. One for inside the cage, one for outside the cage. I would prefer for my bunny to use his litter tray IN his cage so his cage stays neat and clean. I would also prefer that he feel compelled to use a litter tray when running around a room so that my house stays neat and clean.
3) Limit available space. If you are serious about litter training your bunny, limit play space. Once your bunny has mastered litter training inside his cage, add a tray in his play area. Consider limiting the size of this space until your bunny proves litter trained within it. Then gradually increase the size of the space, repeating the process. In this way, you give your bunny time to comprehend and acclimate to the space around it and feel confident within it. The confidence and comfort level should negate the need to mark, and also continually reinforce the location of the litter tray.
4)Positive reinforcement works great, but it's hard to catch a bunny in the act of peeing. If you do, make the most of it and heap praise and petting on your bunny. If you happen to have a treat nearby, use it.
5) The reluctant or stubborn bunny. My sweet Spring was not buying the litter training concept. At first she did nothing INSIDE the tray. Cleaning her cage became time consuming. We were continually putting the poop back into her tray, and sopping up the pee and adding the paper towels under the wire. I'm convinced she found this amusing. About a week later, she inexplicably started pooping in her litter tray, but still hopped out to pee. We upped the ante and added some of the soaked pine pellets from Cosette litter tray to the bottom of Spring's. I think Spring viewed this as an injustice, but it worked. She stayed in her tray to pee. (A side note. Prior to this victory, Spring was peeing in front of her litter tray. We started stuffing paper towels underneath it, out of her sight. This made clean up much more manageable and gave us a soaked paper towel for the next litter round.
6) Clean the tray less. That's right. Stifle the need to clean it - just for training purposes. When your bunny starts to get the hang of litter training, it's tempting to think - "Great! We got it down." And then you go to clean the litter tray like you normally would. This is a problem. You just convinced your bunny that this tray was his to use. You just acted proud of him for using it. If you clean it, you are taking away the very thing he is proud of doing. Hold out friend, and gasp, after you do clean it, put some waste back in. Continue this process until your bunny does this out of habit, and in spite of himself. By then he will be too busy with other things to care if you clean it. Take heart. That day will come.