# HELP! Bunnies Making a Mess of the Litter!



## fatnhappy (Feb 27, 2015)

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this forum. My girlfriend and I adopted our bonded pair of bunnies (one male and one female) both neutered and spayed. They are about 1 1/2 years old. We recently tried switching their litter from care fresh to yesterday news and they didn't seem to like it and made a mess by digging everything out of their litter boxes whenever we changed it. So we then bought new care fresh gave that back to them with hay on top of it (we do not have a hay rack) so they eat and potty in the litter box. We actually give them 2 litter boxes but recently reduced to one. They were fine after going back to the care fresh for a while but a week later, they are digging again. We usually change the litter every other day to keep it fresh and they are house bunnies so they roam around freely and have plenty of space to run around and play. Not sure what is causing this case of naughtiness from them suddenly. Our bunny also has a case of freight and is easily scared. We try to sit down for hours just to bond with them or play with them when my girlfriend and I get off work and for some reason it seems that the female still can't feel safe around us. 

So in short, we have 2 problems and need help ASAP!

1) Digging in the litter box with care fresh 
2) Female bunny being scared of us 

Please help!

I thank you in advance!

:happyrabbit:


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## pani (Feb 27, 2015)

1) Welcome. To. My. Life.

Rabbits are natural diggers, so it's not uncommon for them to dig in their litter boxes. There's a couple of things you can do - set up a dedicated dig box for them, perhaps with higher edges, filled with things like hay and safe paper (like phone books, since they use soy-based ink). You can also look into getting a grate to separate the rabbits from the litter itself, like this kind of setup:







2) What does the female bunny do that makes you feel she's scared? I've had my female lop for about 13 months now, and I used to think she was scared of me - turns out she's just a big pile of sass. She'll hop over to say hello and will accept pets on her own terms, but she's definitely not a 'people bun'. 

If your girl is scared of you, just make sure she knows you're a safe person to be around! Sit with her quietly while you read a book or play on a laptop or something, feed her food (even just place it on the floor near you) so she associates you with safe things that make her happy. Slow and steady. Rabbits take time to warm up but it's worth it.


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## ShreddersMom (Feb 27, 2015)

I recently changed by bunny from shredded newspapers for his litter to the Yesterday's news. If you find that they don't dig with the carefresh but make a mess of the Yesterday's News then try to transition them slowly. Put Yesterday's News in the bottom of the litter box and then add some carefresh on top. Every time you change it put less and less Carefresh in it. If they start digging again then put more carefresh over the Yesterday's News. I don't know if that makes sense but basically do a slower transition between the two litter types!


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## Nancy McClelland (Feb 27, 2015)

Solved my problem with mine by putting the litter in a pan with high sides and back--they stopped digging and making messes.


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## fatnhappy (Feb 27, 2015)

pani said:


> 1) Welcome. To. My. Life.
> 
> Rabbits are natural diggers, so it's not uncommon for them to dig in their litter boxes. There's a couple of things you can do - set up a dedicated dig box for them, perhaps with higher edges, filled with things like hay and safe paper (like phone books, since they use soy-based ink). You can also look into getting a grate to separate the rabbits from the litter itself, like this kind of setup:
> 
> ...



^Thanks Pani for the response. Where did you get your grate? I can't find those in pet stores.

Now that you have mentioned how your bunny reacts, mine seems to be about the same. I can pet her when she wants to be but when she doesn't she'll run away. But she'll come by and nudge me or hang around me when she wants. Didn't know they had that kind of personality. 



ShreddersMom said:


> I recently changed by bunny from shredded newspapers for his litter to the Yesterday's news. If you find that they don't dig with the carefresh but make a mess of the Yesterday's News then try to transition them slowly. Put Yesterday's News in the bottom of the litter box and then add some carefresh on top. Every time you change it put less and less Carefresh in it. If they start digging again then put more carefresh over the Yesterday's News. I don't know if that makes sense but basically do a slower transition between the two litter types!



^hmm we tried the slow transition and it didn't work. Just ended up tossing the whole bag of yesterday news as a whole and went back to getting the more expensive care fresh (we spoil them). 

We are looking to get a hay rack and separate the hay from the litter box completely


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## JBun (Feb 27, 2015)

Link for that grate and other litterbox screen ideas here.
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=83822

This link has tips for bonding with your bunny, but it sounds like your bun may just be the independent type.
http://www.flashsplace.webs.com/bondingwithyourbunny.htm


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## pani (Feb 28, 2015)

I've not got a grate yet, but I'll be following some of the suggestions in the thread JBun linked to above (actually a thread I began on the same topic!).


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## fatnhappy (Mar 6, 2015)

Couldn't find the grates at any local stores =[


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## JBun (Mar 6, 2015)

Most of them you either have to make yourself or get online, though you can sometimes find the corner litter boxes with grates, in stores like petsmart and petco.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=17020&cmpid=08cseYY&ref=XXXX&subref=AA


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