Rabbits make fantastic indoor companions. We may be quiet but we are also expressive and affectionate. Did you know that we can even be litter trained?
As a house rabbit, I recommend keeping your bunny indoors. Rabbits are intelligent, social animals who need affection. We just need a chance to interact with our human families — which is hard to do if we live in an outdoor hutch, removed from the rest of the family!
When mom first brought me home, she put my cage in her home office on the second floor. I spent a couple of months there. Initially, mom was not sure if I was litter trained. I had been spayed, which makes it easier to litter train a bun. To mom’s delight, she quickly learned that I had exceptional litter box habits. However, because we were still getting to know one another, I was caged when she could not be in the room with me.
Each day, mom would let me out of the cage to play. But even then, I didn’t get to access to her entire office. Rather, she used an x-pen to give me a portion of the room. Over the next 6 months, I earned mom’s trust by using my litter box regularly. For the most part, I also avoided chewing furniture and base boards. Lucky for mom, wires and cords never interested me but she still kept them out of my reach.
When it became too hot to stay upstairs, mom moved me downstairs into the living room. Except for a book shelf, the living room was empty so I went from sharing mom’s office to getting my own room! My new room was next to the stairs but I didn’t get to use them right away. In fact, I had never navigated stairs before moving in with mom. Using an x-pen, mom kept the stairs blocked for about a month. She wanted me to get used to having my own room and she wanted to continue building trust between us.
When she finally removed the x-pen, I was nervous about using the stairs. I would look up at them but I didn’t know what to do. Mom hoped I would learn to use them on my own but when I didn’t, she picked me up and carried me up a few steps. She put me down and sat with me while I took tentative climbs up and down. I gained my confidence quickly and that same day, I was speed racing up and down the stairs until I was out of breath!
Fast forward — a year since I got my own room, I have access to the entire house. I am nocturnal so I spend my days sleeping under a bed upstairs. When I get hungry or need to use my box, I go downstairs into my room. Mom tried putting a litter box upstairs but I am a creature of habit — I prefer to have one box in my room that I always use. Some buns are different so get to know what yours would like.
Most people are surprised to learn that bunnies can be litter trained. I think they are astounded when they find out I am free range. Bunnies don’t have to be confined to their cages all the time. With the right training (and patience), your bunny can be free range — or at least spend a good part of the day roaming around with you and living happily as an indoor house rabbit.
After six months months of training, I became a free range bun in my new home.