bedding?

Question
QUESTION: Hello Dana,

i was just wondering if it's okay to use pine bedding? i was given a rabbit about a month ago and there is a huge bag of pine bedding that they gave me as well but i was just going to throw it away because i know a while bak when i had a guinea pig the vet told me the pine bedding can be dangerous and even deadly to the animals. so i was just wondering what your opinion is on this? thank you! have a great day!

Sincerely,
Olivia

ANSWER: Dear Olivia,

Throw that pine in the garden as mulch.  It's not good for bunny.  

We have our bunnies in large, spacious pens with litterboxes and soft, cotton mats for bedding.  These can be laundered when soiled, so get plenty to swap out, as needed.  For litterbox filling, I'm a big fan of *pelleted* pine litter.  It doesn't have the surface area of the shavings, and because it's been extruded at high temperature it doesn't exude volatiles.  We've used it for years with excellent success, and it makes great compost for your garden.

For the cotton mats, I hit Marshall's and TJ Maxx to see what they have each week, and stick to the 100% cotton mats, preferably with traction backing.  The pen can be equipped with play boxes, ramps and ledges for sitting and jumping, and all sorts of fun for the bunny.

You can get some good ideas here:

http://tinyurl.com/7aj639m

Hope that helps!

Dana


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thanks Dana, it does help! but do you have a picture of the cotton mat so i kno what it is or what it looks like. i have litter boxes for my 2 rabbits, i bought them from walmart...they are made for cats but the smaller ones, they are plastic and they chew on them. i took them out because i wasn't sure if that is okay or not, is it??

Answer
Hi, Olivia

If you're using plastic litterboxes, they should be big enough for the bunny to stand inside without scrunching.  A spacious litterbox makes for good litterbox habits!  We use pelleted pine sawdust litter (not the same as pine shavings, which are not recommended), which work very well to absorb odor and moisture.  Makes great compost, too!

Fill the litter tray about 1" deep with litter pellets, then cover with a layer of soft hay, with a big pile in the outside corner for munching.  Bun will sit in the box and munch while doing his business.

Cotton mats I use for bedding outside the litterbox.  They look something like this:

http://tinyurl.com/8427vcs

But there are lots of different kinds and colors.  Marshalls usually has a good selection. Just check the labels to make sure they're 100% cotton (rayon is okay, too, as it's made of cellulose).

Hope that helps!

Dana