Rabbits are great companions! They have wonderful, unique personalities, and are so much smarter than they are given credit. As with any domestic animal, the more time you spend with them, the smarter and more bonded and affectionate they will be.
It therefore follows, and there is abundant proof that the more time your rabbit can spend out of a hutch or other confinement, the smarter and more interactive they will be. So if you are looking for a companion who will respect you back, you need to think about what makes the rabbit healthy and happy. Before you even bring your rabbit home, you’re going to need to think about where to let your bunny go to the bathroom.
The Straight-up Poop
Boo, our domesticated rabbit, is a free range rabbit. I mean, he has his run of our house. We do not need to lock him up in a hutch, even at night. We have never had an instance of one of our rabbits going to the bathroom somewhere he should not.
Boo is a neutered male rabbit adopted from a local shelter. Neutered male rabbits and female rabbits are far easier to litter box train than un-neutered males. You should always neuter your pet rabbit.
A rabbit litter box makes so much more sense, given a rabbit’s natural instincts, than you may have guessed.
Rabbits are very clean, fastidious animals. They have to be to survive. If they were to be smelly, a predator could detect their scent! Rabbits, like other small animals, prefer to always defecate in the same place. They may have more than one location, but they always remember their locations and return to them over and over. Moreover, they like their toilet area to be regularly cleaned for the same reason! So making sure you select the right location from the start is important for both you and your bunny.
Where to put the Rabbit Litter Box
Choose a spot your rabbit will feel safe. A corner is a good choice, where your bunny can hop into the box and face the rest of the room to scan for trouble. The fewer sides the rabbit needs to monitor at her most vulnerable, the happier she will feel and the more likely she will be to use the box in that location.
In addition to a corner where bunny can look out into the room, another feature of a good spot is a smaller room (like a bathroom) where your rabbit can easily see the whole room. Or, if there is a large piece of furniture next to the corner which makes the corner itself seem protected or hidden, that could be comforting, too.
Remember that all rabbit personalities are unique and each will have different preferences.
In our house, Boo uses the cat door to go into a small, walled off area of the garage we use specifically for litter boxes. Boo has his own litter box and the cats and rabbits do not share. Boo leaves his fleece bed in the living room, crosses through the dining room, through the pantry, and then through the cat door to get to the litter room. He never forgets and he has never had an accident.
Introducing Your Rabbit to the Litter Box
You will also want to introduce your bunny to the spot. Allow her to sniff around a bit. It may be helpful to put in a few of her own pellets into the box to start things off.
Boo has never pooped where he eats. Many websites will tell you that rabbits poop and eat in the same place. We have not found this to be true for our indoor rabbits. A rabbit will go to his bathroom, a secure place he feels safe from predators. But he will eat out in the open, even alongside other animals in your household.
Litter Box Training
Choosing the perfect spot for your rabbit litter box is half the battle. It is impossible to train a rabbit who doesn’t like the spot you have chosen for him. He will just ignore it and choose his own location. Rabbits are pretty intuitive; his behavior is not because he doesn’t understand what you want, rather he is telling you that he disagrees with you. After all it is his bathroom.
If you adopt a rabbit who is already litter box trained, then you are a step ahead! Around here, most shelters litter box train any rabbit that comes through their facility. (They also perform spay/neuter services, which reduces the desire of a male rabbit to use poop to show dominance) This is not only better for the shelter and adherence to cleanliness standards, but it is much better for the adopters, too!
Often times you can let the rabbit do all of the work and your litter box training is over. Just put the litter box in the corner where he has chosen as his spot, and you are done. Not all of us can do that, though, especially if the rabbit has chosen a spot in a room where you don’t want a litterbox.
So once you’ve selected a good spot where the rabbit feels safe, add some of your rabbit’s poop to the box, so she gets a sense of ownership of the box. Make sure the sides of the box are not too tall. Introduce her to the new box. Sometimes, if the location is right, this may be all you need to do.
Start out by not providing too many options. It is easier if your bunny has a smaller area, so there are fewer suitable spots to make into his bathroom. This will increase the chances that your spot and his spot will be the same. Close off large rooms or hallways. Ifyou don’t have doors, you can use a short board that is hard for your bunny to hop over.
How Many Litter boxes do I Need?
While Boo uses this litter room 90 percent of the time, I do keep a second litter box in my office as a backup. Rabbits never forget their surroundings. They make a mental map and have a terrific memory. When he was young I used to keep him in my office with me. I kept his litter box in the corner, and Boo has never forgotten that. Although he rarely uses it now, I always have a fresh litterbox here that he can use as his backup if the litter room is not to his liking for whatever reason.
This brings me to my next point about litter boxes – it is always a good idea to have more than one box. This is also true for cats. In fact, they say you should have one more box than the number of cats you have. (if you have 2 cats you should have 3 boxes). This philosophy works for rabbits, too. Rabbits definitely do not need a second box, but if you have the room, you can ensure that your baby bun always has a clean spot to go.
Good luck and do let me know if you have any additions to this list!
