Training

Rabbits are much smarter than most people think, and can be trained to use a litter box and/or to do tricks!

Getting your rabbit to use their litter box is usually relatively easy. Iitter training your rabbit makes cleaning up after them much easier! Instead of having to clean the whole cage everyday, you can just clean out the litter box then clean the whole cage once a week. There are a couple of things you can do to make litter training much easier. The first thing is to get your rabbit spayed or neutered. Unfixed rabbits will mark their territory with feces and urine. The way to avoid this is to get your rabbit fixed. Doing so usually greatly improves their litter box habits.

Keep in mind that baby rabbits, like baby humans (or any other animal), are messy. You shouldn't bring home a rabbit that's only a couple of months old and expect it to use it's litter box right away. As your rabbit gets older, it should pick one (or a couple) spots in it's cage to use as a bathroom. When it picks a spot on it's own, usually in a corner, put the litter box in that spot.

The litter box should be fairly large, with a low edge on the front so it's easy for your rabbit to get into. Rabbits don't usually like smaller boxes and sometimes won't use them. On the bottom of the litter box you should put something absorbent. Things like Carefresh, Yesterday's News, wood stove pellets, and even old newspapers work well. Don't use cedar or pine wood shavings, they contain phenols that are toxic to small animals. Just breathing in the fumes from these litters can cause irritation to the nose, throat, and lungs, and have been shown to cause pneumonia and other respiratory infections. Also, phenols have been shown to negatively effect the liver and kidneys of rabbits. Another litter to avoid is clay cat litters. Clay litters are dangerous for rabbits to ingest.

On top of the absorbent litter, put hay. Most rabbits like to snack on hay while they're "taking care of business". Put hay only in the litter box, because if it's all over the cage, your rabbit will probably go to the bathroom all over the cage. If you don't like the idea of your rabbit eating where it goes to the bathroom, you can get a hay rack to hang the hay over the litter box.

However, rabbits will not eat dirty hay. For this reason, you should clean your litter box out very often - everyday or every other day, and provide them with fresh hay when needed. Cleaning the litter box often will keep the cage smelling fresh, encourage your rabbit to keep using the box, and keep the bottoms of your rabbits feet clean. You may think it's annoying cleaning the box out so often, but cleaning the litter box out everyday is better than having to clean the whole cage.

Just setting your litter box up correctly will probably be enough to get your rabbit to start using it. If your rabbit is having accidents, try picking up some of the pellets and putting them inside the box, so that your rabbit can smell where it's suppose to go. If your rabbit has accidents outside of it's cage, make sure to wash the area really well, because if your rabbit can smell that he went to the bathroom there before, he will probably go there again.

Getting your rabbit to use his/her litter box outside the cage isn't always easy as inside. Start out by only letting your rabbit play in a small area. Once your rabbit can handle playing in that area without having any accidents, you can start making the area bigger and bigger. If the room your rabbit plays in is large, you may need a second litter box for outside the cage. If the area is small, your rabbit should return to the cage to use the bathroom. Use the same basic steps you used to train the rabbit to use the box in the cage.

Rabbits can also be trained to do tricks and listen to commands. Always remember that you should never yell at or hit your rabbit, all that will do is make your rabbit frightened and distrustful. If your rabbit does something you don't want it to, tell it a command like "no", "stop", "down", etc., and reward it with a treat when it does the right thing. Healthy treats like fruits, vegetables, and papaya tablets work well. Similarly, treats can be used to teach rabbits basic commands like to come when you call it, beg, return to it's cage on command, etc.