Mary Allen
As almost the only small animal, the rabbit can be house-trained. The upbringing is not that difficult, since the long-eared people are naturally clean. We’ll tell you a few tricks for implementation.
How to House Rabbits
Wild rabbits are very clean animals. They spend a large part of the day caring for their own fur and also helping their fellows with cleaning. They mostly live in underground caves and keep their sleeping and resting places clean. They leave their burrows to defecate or urinate and do their little business outside. Our rabbits, which we keep as pets, also follow this instinct. These are ideal prerequisites for house-training your rabbits. In this post, we’ll tell you how to do it.
Young Animals Learn Faster Than Adult Rabbits
Basically, rabbits and dwarf rabbits can learn to be house trained at any age. As so often, however, young animals learn faster than adult fur noses. House-trained in pet ownership means that the rabbits use the toilets provided to pass their feces or urine. They are mostly flat bowls filled with litter that look like litter boxes. Rabbits don’t like to sit in a wet litter to shed, and this is exactly what helps you teach your rabbits to use the bowl.
Young rabbits in particular are particularly curious and want to explore their surroundings very carefully. That will also help you with your project. You need to be a little more patient with adult rabbits, which may take longer to understand where to put feces and urine.
Get Rabbits Used to the Toilet Bowl
If rabbits are new to you, it is better for them to stay in their cage or stall for the first few days so that they can settle in and settle down in their new home. This does not mean that they move bowls or houses, but rather they choose their preferred areas within the small animal shelter for resting, eating, or doing business. Even if it looks a bit haphazard at first, because the round manure beans are distributed over the whole floor of the barn, especially at the beginning, you can still observe that your animals always retreat to the same corners when they have to detach. In doing so, they imitate the natural behavior of their wild relatives.
The same observation can be made if they are allowed to explore their outdoor enclosure a few days later. By then, some rabbits have become so used to their cage that they keep coming back when they have to loosen up. Others open up new corners in the enclosure for their legacies. You can take advantage of this habit by placing the rabbit toilet right there.
A few droppings that are placed on the litter with a dustpan help you get used to it. Once the rabbits have got used to the toilet and use it diligently, you can even move it to a different location. For example, near the enclosure entrance, where you can get better off. As a rule, the fur noses also accept the new position. In slightly larger outdoor enclosures or in group housing, it is better to set up two to three rabbit toilets.
Little Tricks Help With House Training
In addition, you can of course encourage your rabbits to use the toilet. Since the mummel men always need something to nibble and chew, you can also place the toilet box under or next to a hay dispenser. This allows the rabbits to grind hay and sit in their toilet at the same time. You can also use other little tricks to get your rabbits used to the bowl. You lure them, and if they hop in the box, they’ll get a little reward. This can be a chunk of food or a species-appropriate treat.
Rabbits who like the sound of a click can also be praised by the click-clack. The clicker can of course also be used in toilet training itself. Of course, you should also praise your furry friends with your voice and, if they like it, with pats.
And If Something Goes Wrong Anyway?
In the event of an accident, you should stay calm and not react angrily, as this will only scare off the rabbits who do not understand the reaction. For the same reason, ranting doesn’t do any good either. If you catch the animal in the act, you should pick it up calmly and carefully and put it in the toilet box immediately. You can also turn the action into a positive experience for the rabbit by petting and praising him or giving him a treat while he is still in his toilet. Sometimes you have to repeat this action a few times before the rabbit understands, but it usually learns in a short time.
Are Rabbits 100 Percent House Trained?
Once they learn, rabbits mostly use their loo. In extreme situations, however, small accidents can happen. As escape animals, the rabbit-like ones are sometimes frightened by loud noises and can then forget themselves. This is then not an intention, but rather an overreaction.
Unclean behavior can also occur when rabbits dispute each other’s territory and the order of precedence among each other has not yet been fought. Then droppings are also often deposited to mark the area. For the same reason, rabbits or uncastrated bulls sometimes squirt some urine. In a group setting, this is completely normal and can never be completely avoided. If you keep a pair of rabbits, i.e. a female rabbit and a neutered buck, territory markings are rather rare. However, you should not keep an animal alone, as rabbits are very sociable and need other animals so that they can feel safe.
What Bedding is Best for a Rabbit Toilet?
A large selection of different types of litter is available from specialist retailers. Not all species are good for rabbits, however. In addition, some Hoppel men don’t like certain products at all. To find out which is the best strain, it’s a good idea to try a few. Of course, it is also important to clean the toilet regularly. The wet spreading areas should be changed daily.
Classic cat litter, which consists of calcareous granules, is only recommended to a limited extent. Although it has the best absorbent and odor-binding properties of all types of litter, it can, under certain circumstances, be harmful to the health of rabbits. Young animals, in particular, like to take the chunks in their mouths, chew on them, and also swallow them. Depending on its nature, potted litter tends to generate dust and irritates the sensitive mucous membranes of the eyes and nose. But if you have found a variety that generates little dust and is not eaten, you can use it. You can also test natural products such as wood pellets, fine straw, sawdust, or hemp litter.
Conclusion: Almost every rabbit can be house trained. Older rabbits may need a little more patience to get them used to the rabbit litter box. But after all, it’s well worth the effort, you have less work to do and your rabbits will always be kept nice and clean.