Friday, January 22, 2010

How do I get my house rabbit to use her litter box when she does cluster poop?

She uses the litter box for urinating and the pill like poo, but will not use it for the large cluster poo.How do I get my house rabbit to use her litter box when she does cluster poop?
To add to Kellye B. If your rabbit is producing a lot of cecotropes then the diet maybe too rich and you should adjust it.How do I get my house rabbit to use her litter box when she does cluster poop?
positive reinforcement and gratification
I have two rabbits. They are pretty good about using their litter box when it is clean. If I don't change it daily or every other day they tend to get the rest of their cage messy. I have read that no matter how often you clean out a rabbit's litter box it will always leave droppings in its bedding. It's a territorial thing. To litter train them all I did was put their litter box in the corner of the cage where they usually did their business. For bedding I just use some of their bedding.





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I haven't really noticed my rabbits having large cluster poo, so I don't really know how to answer. I guess it could be a matter of what you feed them. When I got my first rabbit I researched their needs. Almost all of the sources I read said that rabbits should not have many store bought pellets because it can cause obesity, but rather vegetables should be the main part of their diet. I also read that carrots are okay to feed rabbits in small quantities, but they are not the healthiest choice for rabbits. Kale, spinach and endive are all okay to feed rabbits but shouldn't be given to them more than 3 times a week. I usually give them a mix of at least three kinds of veggies at a time including red and green romaine and leaf lettuce, collard greens, dandelion greens, cilantro, mustard greens, and parsley. I also give them fruit on occasion as treats. I still give them pellets, but I usually feed them their pellets in my hand as treats and they really love it. I also give them lots of Timothy hay. I read that Timothy has specifically is okay but alfalfa and other hays may be bad for their digestive system. On occasion I buy my rabbits granola bars, but I don't do this all the time because they are very fattening.
There's actually a very good reason for why your bunny won't use the litterbox for the clusters...it's because the clusters actually aren't poo. They're called cecotropes, and bunnies are supposed to eat them...they give them necessary vitamins and minerals that they can't get anywhere else. Rabbits being as clean as they are, will not eat out of their ';bathroom';, so it makes sense that your bunny wouldn't want these to go in her litterbox. Rabbits will sometimes produce more cecotropes than they need in one day, and those are usually the ones that get left on the floor...just make sure to clean them up too, or your bunny might start thinking that she can get away with not using her litterbox.
I have 2 rabbits, and sometimes they get the large cluster poop, too. Is that normal? Sometimes they get it if I give them a bit of apple or carrot, so I don't give it to them very often. My rabbits are not litter trained, and I don't know how to start to train them. I'll be interested what answers you get.
classical conditioning read up on it!
Maybe you should try making it more comfortable for her in there. try putting the hay in there. http://www.rabbit.org

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