Casper Is A Bad Bunny!

Question
How are you?

Thank you so much for your advice the last time about Casper and his change
of eating habits and lack of sleep. I've come to realize his love for hard rabbit
foods and disdain for leafy veggies. He has also been sleeping quite a bit, and
he is starting to feel comfortable sitting on my lap. He even nuzzles his head
in my embrace all the time!

You probably would think that all is well now, but now I have more problems!
Casper stays in a cage with a floor & corner litterbox made of blue plastic,
and lately he has taken it upon himself to turn over the litterbox with the
contents inside. He's been doing the same with his food bowl, taking a few
bits out to eat first before capsizing it and continuing to eat.

I also didn't realize until yesterday that he's been chewing the ends of the
litterbox too. I don't think he's consuming them since I found them with the
soiled "Yesterday's News" pellets.

Also, I put the pellets in a dispenser he has hanging in the cage, and he has
eaten all his hay and not the pellets now. I don't know if he doesn't see them
or if he doesn't care for them now.

Please help me!  

Answer
Hi Carol,

well, bunny behavior can sometimes be very 'mysterious'.

The litterbox issue:  why, I can't really tell you.  If it's because it's not changed as often as it should be, sometimes they stop using it, or possibly do what he's doing.  Other times they may just think it's fun to do.

Solutions:  people sometimes poke little holes (2 on the long side, one on the short side) and secure the litterpan using re-usable tie wraps (plastic tie strips).  You can also get some litterpans that are designed to be able to do this without custom modifications (but most are small corner pans so they may not be ideal for you).

Tossing the food:  he may enjoy eating it off the cage floor.  One of my guys sometimes does this.  It's not big deal as long as they don't fall through floor grating, and it sounds like he doesn't have that problem.  So if he tips it over, he should still be able to eat it.  I'd go back to doing that and let him toss it.  If it's just a passing thing, he'll get tired of it and stop doing it.  Or you could just offer it to him on the floor, but I am thinking he likes to tip it out of his food crock.

You could also try making sure to pet him before giving him food.  Some of our guys expect a pet in the morning before they eat their pellets, perhaps as he is getting closer to you he may want some extra affection before you 'leave' and he's showing displeasure that way.

Chewing the litterpan:  again, that's okay if he's not eating it.  I'd try to make sure he's got a hay source around him when he's in the litterpan, so if it's just a boredom/chewing thing he can eat hay instead.

And as I mentioned above, I'd nix the dispenser, go back to the old way of giving him pellets and let him 'hoover' up his cage floor.  

Glad things are getting better with you and him, thanks for the update on your success.

Lee

PS - take a look at my reply to your prior question, I had added a couple things to it after you read it and I don't know if you ever saw my update.