Why does your Netherland dwarf rabbit sleep in his litter box?

Sometime it is hard to understand Netherland dwarf rabbit behavior, especially when it come to litter training your rabbit. You have tried everything to make it litter box the best place for it to litter including putting the litter box at the corner where you know your bunny like to litter. But instead of littering, your bunny is sleeping inside his litter box!

The litter box is not the most comfortable place for your rabbit to sleep, in fact there is another area in  the hutch that you've decorated with the most comfortable bedding you can afford, specially for him to sleep . So, what up will all this sleeping in the litter box? Why are your bunny doing this? Here's why.

To understand this behavior, you need to look at the type of box you're using as a litter box. In it nature habitat, rabbit hunted by all sort of predators including human. Because of this, they like to hide inside everything that make them feel safe from the predators.

They will even hide inside the litter box if the box can make them feel safe from the hunter. If the litter box have a high side where it can make your rabbit think s/he was hidden from predators, your rabbit are more likely to sleep inside it because that litter box make your bunny feel safe. Some rabbit will even eat inside their litter box too due to this. It's just a pure rabbit instinct.

But a litter box is still a litter box, and it is not OK for your rabbit to sleep in it. How can you fix this?

First thing you can do is to make the sleeping area(the area where you bunny suppose to sleep) a lot safer for him. You can do this by making the area hidden from predators. Beside that, the area must at least have two entrance so if predators is coming from the first entrance, your rabbit can use the second one to escape.

We all know your house is safe from predators and all but your bunny didn't know that. For your bunny to sleep in the area where it suppose to, you must make him feel safe to sleep in that said area. When creating a home for your rabbit, you must try to think the way your bunny did to create a safe zone for him to call home.

Understanding rabbit behavior can help you to become a more responsible and smart rabbit owner. Taking care of a Netherland dwarf rabbit is not so hard if you know the proper way of doing it. Remember to see things from your rabbit point of view to know why your rabbit is doing certain things that it do.

Further reading :
How to litter train a Netherland dwarf
How high can a Netherland dwarf jump?
Are you giving your dwarf rabbit a proper diet? find out more