How to teach a rabbit to a tray?

Many owners of rabbits are faced with the problem that the animal fulfills its need anywhere in the apartment. No need to make hasty conclusions. With the right approach to the problem, everything is easily solved. After spending a little time, you can train a rabbit in a pot. How to do this, later in the article.

Is it possible to accustom a rabbit to the toilet?

The rabbit living in the apartment is not only possible, but also needs to be accustomed to the pot. Before you start learning, you need to find out some information about the life of the eared in the wild. In the natural habitat, rabbits live in holes and do not equip them with a special place for the toilet. If they need help, they just leave their home.

A rabbit that has fallen into home conditions perceives its cage or aviary as a hole. Your apartment is for him this space outside the house. Therefore, it is not surprising that he marks his territory around a hole. Based on this, you need to properly work out a plan for taming a pet to a pot.

Did you know? A rabbit weighing 2 kg can drink the same amount of water as a dog weighing 10 kg.

How to choose and prepare a tray?

When choosing a tray, you need to consider that eared people like to delve into something. Therefore, the tank should have a high rim, on the back side, so that the filler is not very scattered beyond its limits. You can buy a special tray at the pet store or use a cat, but not with very high sides. It is important that the container is stable and durable, and it cannot be turned over and gnawed. It is also important that the material is easy to clean, resistant to disinfectants and hot water, not absorb odors.

When you decide on the pot, you should choose a filler. It must be safe for the animal. Perfect paper or aspen sawdust. You can use fillers for a cat's toilet, but not those that are collected into lumps and made of clay, since if they are accidentally eaten, the intestines will be blocked.

When preparing a toilet for a domestic rabbit, first cover it with a newspaper, and then sprinkle it with filler (2.5 cm layer).

Important! As a filler, you can not use products obtained from conifers. It contains many essential oils that are harmful to the animal.

How to train a rabbit in a tray

It’s easy to train a pet in a pot. The main thing is to be patient and follow the recommendations below in the correct sequence.

Basic Rules

You need to start training with accustoming to relieve the need for a certain place in the cell. During training, you should be consistent, do everything regularly and control the process from beginning to end. Then success is guaranteed.

Here are a few rules that you can teach your pet how to relieve in the right place.

  1. Observe the behavior of the animal in the cage. It is necessary to notice the place where the rabbit most often fulfills its need.
  2. Prepare the tray and place it in the selected location. Put a couple of pea rabbit excrement in it. The smell will allow the animal to take a new object faster, and will also tell you that it is advisable to do “things” in this place.
  3. As soon as you notice that the pet has taken a “special” pose or is hiding in a corner, transplant it into the tray, saying: “toilet” or any other phrase indicating that you need to go to the toilet here.
  4. When letting out an eared one for a walk, do not let him walk around the apartment. It is better to equip a small aviary for him and put an additional tray in it.
  5. During the walk, every 10 minutes, put the pet in the toilet, accompanying the action with the desired phrase. If the body cleansed in the right place, praise the eared, giving him a treat.
  6. If that doesn't work, don't despair. Some rabbits learn everything at once, while some have to repeat it many times. Usually, if everything goes well, then positive results will be noticeable in a week.

Important! Stress, puberty, pregnancy can cause the rabbit to lose the acquired skills. When his hormonal system returns to normal, it will be necessary to repeat the training again.

After the big-eared learns to walk on the pot in the cage, it will not be difficult to teach him to walk on the tray outside of it. To do this, you need to stock up on several pots and arrange them in those places where the rabbit most often fulfills the need. If you ignore a tray, but walks nearby, rearrange it. When the pet decides on the trays, choosing the most suitable for emptying, remove the excess.

What can not be done

When training a decorative, dwarf rabbit, in no case should:

  • screaming and scolding an animal (this is useless, you can also scare him, and he will do a “thing” outside the proper place);
  • let go of the cage and not follow it (if the pet relieves the need for the wrong place and it is not transferred to the tray, then he will get used to always do this and it will be difficult to retrain)
  • hurry (training requires patience, regularity, consistency).

Reasons for failure

Training may not produce the desired results for the following reasons:

  • the capacity selected as a toilet is inconvenient or does not fit in size (tight);
  • uncomfortable filler;
  • the tray is not set there (you chose the place, not the pet);
  • misplaced animal housing.

Did you know? There are about 150 different colors of the rabbit fur coat, while the eye color can only be brown, blue-gray, blue, pink, marble.

Why the accustomed rabbit stopped going to the tray

Rabbits are clean animals. By learning how to manage “things” in the right place, they will do it regularly. But it so happens that a previously obedient pet suddenly refuses to go to the toilet in the tray. This phenomenon has several reasons:

  1. The animal is not comfortable. It can empty the intestines in the tray, and urinate beyond. Most likely, this behavior is caused by mistreatment. If the pet does not feel like a master, then it will regularly mark its territory. To solve the problem, you need to change the attitude towards the animal. To be affectionate with him, not to force him to something, not to cram into a cage or to take an eared out of it against his will.
  2. The rabbit decided that the tray was in the wrong place. It is difficult for us to understand by what principle one or another angle is chosen to cope with needs. Therefore, let the rabbit choose the right place for the toilet. To do this, arrange more trays. Unnecessary over time can be removed.
  3. Your pet recently turned three months old. During this period, puberty occurs. They begin to mark territory constantly. The solution is castration or sterilization. After that - again training in going to the pot.
  4. Used to defecate in a specific place. Often, breeders from an early age teach rabbits to walk on the potty. Therefore, when they get to a new place, it is difficult for them to get used to the new situation. To do this, take a little old bedding or filler from the breeder. A familiar smell will allow the animal to feel safe.
  5. Guests came to the hosts. Rabbits are fearful animals. Strangers cause them stress. Being in this state, they forget everything that they had been taught before. Therefore, after the guests leave, they need to be reminded how to go to the toilet in a pot, encouraging them with caress and goodies.
  6. New animal. The appearance of another rabbit in the house makes the old inhabitant begin to mark his territory. The solution to the problem is patience. When the animals find a common language and get used to the presence of each other in the same territory, the old skills will immediately be remembered.

Additional tips

Some more useful tips:

  1. Do not hit the animal if it defecated in the wrong place.
  2. A more adult rabbit is easier to accustom to the tray than a baby.
  3. Training will be easier if a clear schedule of all procedures is drawn up. You need to adhere to it daily.
  4. Good fillers: sawdust, shavings, scraps of newspaper, straw, oats.
  5. Change filler daily.
  6. The cage should be selected so that it fits the pot.
  7. So that the rabbit does not have a desire to mark the territory, let him feel like the owner of his house.

Learn how to keep decorative rabbits in the apartment.

As you can see, accustoming the eared to the pot is a necessary and uncomplicated task. With patience and persistence, a positive result can be achieved after a week of training.

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