At all times, people have had pets. Most often these are dogs or cats, parrots and fish, recently it has become popular to start decorative rabbits within the walls of an apartment or house. With minimal knowledge of their maintenance, caring for rabbits does not differ from caring for cats. Compared to domestic dogs, they have the advantage that they do not need to go out for a walk several times a day in order for the animal to relieve itself. Rabbits are very clean animals, they celebrate their natural needs in one and the same place. This feature can be safely used in order to teach the animal to go to the toilet in a special tray.

Features of training rabbits to the tray

At first, while the baby rabbit is very small, it is very difficult to teach him to go to the toilet in a special container. Very often he relieves his needs next to the tray.

Training rabbits

How to train a rabbit to use the litter box when he is not yet six months old? You need to be patient and wait until he reaches puberty. Castrated animals are the easiest to train. By the way, they are the easiest to tame. The castration operation can be carried out no earlier than the age of 3 months, just when the rabbit enters the age of puberty. During this period, the animal's body begins to produce a special secret that comes out with the urine and has a very unpleasant specific odor. If you skip the moment of accustoming to the litter box during puberty, then the rabbit will have time to mark all corners of the dwelling with this secret, and subsequently a huge amount of work will need to be done to teach him to go to the toilet in one specific place.

Tray selection

Rabbit dandruff

Choosing a litter box is a very important factor when toilet training your rabbit. He should like the little lot. In no case should this container be used for educational purposes or as a territory for punishment. The container should be with low walls so that it is convenient for the rabbit to go to the toilet and get used to this place.

It should also be made of durable, but thin material, so that the hand rabbit simply does not chew it. The container can be made with your own hands, choosing a material that absorbs odors well, or you can buy it in specialized stores. In veterinary pharmacies and pet shops there is a large selection of colors, materials of manufacture, tray heights. The prices for them are very affordable. The tray can be of any shape, the main thing is that the animal can comfortably fit in it. There should be a special hook on the closet, with which the toilet box is attached to the wall and does not turn over when the rabbit tries to learn to walk into it to relieve itself.

The bunny should like the tray

Also, special attention should be paid to the choice of litter for the tray. It should be borne in mind that the animal may try to eat the filler, so it should consist of environmentally friendly materials. In specialized stores, you can find granular filler, which is compressed sawdust. Such a filler perfectly absorbs an unpleasant odor, does not harm health, if it is accidentally consumed in food, it is easy to clean.

Both paper and sawdust can be used as a filler. This is a cheaper filler option. Thanks to the lattice that is present in the trays, the animal will not be able to pull the paper around the house. Paper absorbs urine well, the only drawback of such a filler is that it absorbs odors with difficulty. Therefore, it needs to be changed after each trip to the outhouse.

Toilet training process

Training rabbits and rabbits is not an easy process. The banal "poking" the nose into the container for the toilet and a strict tone will not help. In general, the methods that work on domestic kittens are not acceptable for rabbits. Fuzzies will not forgive such an attitude towards themselves, even considering that this is done with good intentions. Neutered individuals are much easier to tray train than small animals during puberty, since castrated individuals have no instinct to mark territory.

Training rabbits and rabbits is not an easy process

How to determine the gender of a rabbit

At the first time after acquiring an animal, you should not let it out into the open space of your home. For him, it is perceived as a wild environment and new territory. He begins to mark all the corners in order to somehow designate his personal space.

Note! Unlike most pets, rabbits never go to the sanctuary in the places where they spend most of their time. Usually in the wild, they go to the closet when they go out to get their food. This should be taken into account when choosing a location for the toilet.

How to train your rabbit to use the cage tray? For the first time, it is recommended to fence the trays in the cage in which the animal lives, and the place of its free time. During the first 10 days, track the movement of the animal, as it can satisfy its natural needs near the territory intended for the toilet. If such a fact has been identified, he should gently show where the closet is by transferring the stool to the tray.

Important! You can not create stressful situations for the pet. Because in such conditions, he will begin to defecate randomly, then you will need to wait a while for him to calm down, this may take several days.

Tray training methods

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There are several ways to train rabbits. One of them is to place several bunny toilets around the living area. The smell of the fillers that will be poured into each box will attract the animal. He will also be able to quickly relieve himself wherever he wants, and not run to one outhouse, which is at the other end of the house or apartment. This method should only be used during litter training. Subsequently, the crawl will go to one container, to its usual place.

As soon as he independently went to the place indicated to him, he should be encouraged

Another common method is to sit down frequently in the tray. This is done every 15 minutes. The exception is the time when the rabbit is sleeping or eating. As soon as he independently went to the place indicated to him, he should be encouraged with some kind of delicacy.

Tray sleep problem

If the pet goes to sleep in its toilet, the conditions in which it is kept should be reviewed. The fact is that, for some reason, rabbits become uncomfortable sleeping in their cage. Especially often, such a dream happens in the first year of life in a new place. It is necessary to check whether the cage is adequate for the size of the animal, whether the litter is clean and soft. Of course, this is not a big problem. The only problem can be the spreading of litter from the toilet throughout the home.

Rabbit defecating next to the tray

When a manual rabbit fulfills its natural needs, a strict tone can be applied next to the tray. All stool should be transferred to a tray so that he has an association that all waste products should be in this place.The most important thing is not to overdo it with severity, since the beast can get stress, and this is fraught with the fact that all the work will go down the drain.

Rabbit defecating next to the tray

You should also pay attention to the sides of the toilet tank. If they are too tall, the rabbit simply cannot get inside the toilet, so it relieves itself outside the walls of the tray. Another factor that causes the rabbit to go to the toilet two centimeters from the litter box is too much litter.

Change of toilet location

There are times when an animal accustomed to the toilet stops walking in it. There are also explanations for this:

  • The first factor influencing the fact that a trained rabbit stops walking in the tray is the beginning of puberty. During this period of time, the beast marks its territory, leaving its scent in every corner.
  • The second factor is the appearance in the apartment of a new smell coming from another animal. For a rabbit who considers an apartment his own, the appearance of an animal is stressful, because an animal of equal position can capture the territory of a rabbit. At such moments, the pet tries to mark as much territory as possible.
  • The disease can also provoke the fact of refusal from the permanent place reserved for the toilet.
  • Any stressful situation affects the place to go to the toilet.

    Any stressful situation affects the place to go to the toilet

Prohibited methods

There are techniques that are forbidden to use when introducing the rabbit to the place reserved for the toilet. You can not lock a pet in a cage in order to punish him for going to the wrong place. It won't help tame him. It is forbidden to beat and torture the animal. This will not only not bring a positive result, but will permanently turn the animal away from the owner.

Tray training a decorative rabbit is not an easy task. You need to be prepared for the fact that you will have to learn at least a month. But with a large supply of love, patience and minimal knowledge, this goal is quite achievable.