As pets, rabbits and cats have a lot in common. They’re at risk for similar health conditions, and their pet accessories can be shared. So a cat litter box works well for an indoor bunny. But pet items can be pricy, and you may want to craft a cheaper version at home. Let’s look at simple but effective ideas you can experiment with as you try to make a DIY rabbit litter box.
1. Rabbit Litter Box Set-Up & Routine – Lennon The Bunny
Would you want to eat in the toilet? It’s a question that gets tossed around a lot when people fight about public breastfeeding. But unlike humans, bunnies need to eat on the throne. The snack of choice is hay. Since it’s high in fiber, it makes their digestive process more efficient.
But this also means they poop as they eat, so place the litter box below or next to a hay box, or put some hay on one side of their litter box. You can get a strong plastic storage container and cut out an entrance. Line the box with disposable pee pads and paper-based bunny litter.
2. How to Make a Litter Box for Your Rabbit – WikiHow
Did you know kitchen utensils can make a good DIY rabbit litter box? But you don’t want to use the household ones, so grab some spares at the store. Better yet, pick up some old ones at a garage sale. You want a plastic colander and a matching bowl. They’re often sold as a set.
You can line the bowl with a plastic bag if you like. Place the colander on the bowl, then fill it with rabbit litter. You can use crumpled newspaper or commercial newspaper beddings. You could try newspaper pellets or livestock pellets. Wash the bowl once a week with dish soap.
3. How to Make a Grid for your Bunnies Litter Box – Lopsicles
Some pet owners worry about putting hay in the litter tray because the rabbit may pee and poop in it. Especially if they sleep in hay as well. But as long as you keep the hay to one side and replace it often, your rabbit will be okay. Besides, they do need that grass as a toilet aid.
On another note, some furrents (fur-parents) worry about housing their rabbits in metal cages because the wire may hurt their feet. But in a litter box, that wire grate can be helpful for hygiene. Grab an egg crate louver panel from the store. Install it in a plastic storage tray.
4. DIY Litter Box Setups – Coding with Bunnies
For owners that feel squeamish about putting hay inside the litter box, a hanging hay feeder is a good idea. Your rabbits will still pull some of the grass into their litter box and pee on it, but you can dump all that wasted hay out with the poop and not worry about them eating it.
In this setup, the wire hay feeders are suspended above the DIY rabbit litter box. The litter box itself is a shallow under-bed storage box. You’ll need hardware cloth for the grate. Bend the corners to fit it in the box. You can add plastic canvas on top to soften the grate’s effect.
5. Rabbit Litter Box-Custom-made/ DIY Scatterless with Grid/Grate
Ordinarily, a wire grate may chafe your rabbit’s hocks, so it’s a good idea to have a solid section of the cage where your rabbit can rest its feet when it needs to. This could be a slab of stone, tile, wood, or a grass mat. But your bunny only spends a few minutes in its litter box.
So those brief toilet sessions won’t do much damage. For this DIY rabbit litter box, bend the cookie cooling rack to make it fit. Cut notches in the plastic bin to hold up the wire rack, and secure it with binder clips. Line the litter box with old newspaper and add wood stove pellets.
6. DIY Bunny Litter Box Easy Steps – Here Bunny
Are you familiar with the different types of pellets? Rabbit pellets are for food, and are mainly made from compacted hay. But the pellets that go in the litter box are different. You can use firewood pellets or livestock pellets – the kind used to feed horses, cows, or chickens.
These livestock pellets contain grain, nuts, and additives, so rabbits don’t eat them. But because they’re absorbent, they keep your bunny’s litter box dry and reduce any unwanted smell. This DIY rabbit litter box here is a rectangular colander and its matching boxy bowl.
7. How To Set Up Bunny Litter Boxes – Friends with Bunnies
You might go to the pet store in search of items specifically made for rabbits. But once that ‘bunny’ tag is on them, the price shoots up! So consider crafting a DIY rabbit litter box using other pet supplies. Think puppy pee pads and cat litter boxes, which are both way cheaper.
You can get a hooded cat litter box if your rabbit doesn’t mind having its head covered. Line the bottom with the pee pads then add your chosen litter and place hay in one corner. Mozzy here prefers a hooded litter box and pine pellets. They’re great at absorbing aromas.
8. DIY Rabbit Litter Box Without a Grate – Code of Alice
If you’re still unsure about laying metal grates in your litter box, you can use a plastic grate instead. You can cut one out from the bottom of a vegetable storage rack. Or you can just use plastic canvas without any supporting grates. In both cases, place pellets or hay underneath.
For pine pellets or wood stove pellets, it can be useful to prime them with water. You don’t need a lot. Just quickly dunk them in a bucket and instantly sift them out. Or use a spray bottle to spritz them. This touch of moisture helps the pellets absorb the bunny pee better.
9. How to Make a Grate for a Rabbit Litter Box – Jennie Masanz
You may have seen the words ‘egg crate louver’ earlier in this article and wondered what that was. It’s the type of plastic grate that’s used to protect overhead fluorescent lighting, and you can buy it at Walmart, Home Depot, or any grocery store. It’s effective for DIY litter boxes.
You can snip the grate into the size you want, then slip it inside your rabbit’s litter box. Place hay or litter pellets under the plastic grate. For the litter box itself, use an uncovered cat litter box. It doesn’t have to be new, but be sure to wash off any cat scent that might scare bunnies.
10. Simple Plastic DIY Rabbit Litter Box – My House Rabbit
When you’re in a pinch, don’t stress too much about your rabbitat – you’re rabbit habitat. As you can see, bunnies are just as happy in simple surroundings, as long as they get glorious food, have space to exercise, and are handled with love. This setup is the perfect example.
There’s no cage, but the bunny corner is designated by a wood frame lined with newspaper. The baseboards are bunny-proofed with pine covering boards, and a waist-high hay feeder provides the grass. For the DIY rabbit litter box, use a simple storage tray loaded with hay.
11. DIY Bunny Litter Tray – House of Nums
Once you’ve made peace with the idea of a litter tray grate, you can stroll through the closest grocery store, dollar store, or office supply store. Since you know what to look for, you’ll find tons of options for a plastic DIY grate. This video uses a mushroom crate to make the grate.
It’s a tall crate, so cut it to the height you want and neaten any jagged edges and burrs with sandpaper. Then you simply slip it into your litter tray with wood pellets under it. You can also use shredded office paper as litter, and maybe an office in-tray or out-tray for the box.
12. DIY Litter Rack – Bunns
To set up a grate in your DIY rabbit litter box, you can place it directly over the litter itself, whether you’re using paper or pellets. But if you’re worried about the poop and pee pushing up onto your bunny’s feet, you can raise the grate. One idea is to slip tall screws through it.
The screws should have plastic guards or metal washers on top and flat bottoms. The guards stop the screws from sliding through the holes. Or cut a plastic pipe into two-inch bits then use zip ties to attach these makeshift rack raisers to the grate. Put aspen chips under this.
13. Cheap/Free Litter & Litter Boxes – 101 Rabbits
Everybody has to start somewhere, and long before Haley was building luxury condos for her bunnies, she was seeking cheap-to-free bunny litter, just like you! And since almost every house has a random drawer full of lidless Tupperware and mismatched covers, start there.
These two dish pans are perfect for DIY rabbit litter boxes. If the sides are too high for your rabbit, you can snip them short. Just be careful to smooth out the upper edges to avoid cuts. As for the litter itself, consider buying horse bedding – typically pine pellets or aspen chips.
14. DIY Sifting Litter Boxes – Good for Cats and Rabbits
Poking holes in plastic can be tricky because the surface might warp or crack. It helps to use a heated tool so the plastic melts as you slice. If you’re using a drill, use low power settings and work slowly to avoid errors. Other than that, making this DIY rabbit litter box is easy.
You’ll need stackable storage boxes that fit snugly into each other, leaving two or three inches between them. Look for containers with decorative ridges, since they’ll have stacking gaps built in. Drill holes in the upper box and put your litter on top of this perforated box.
15. How to Build a Litter Box and Hidey House | The Honey Bunny House
Suppose you have superior woodwork skills and you want a challenge. This DIY rabbit litter box with a ramp and a hidey hole could be just the thing! It’s made of chipboard, and since the design was fairly elaborate and accurate, they could get the wood pre-cut at the store.
Most hardware stores will do the large-scale cutting for you, but make sure you have the right dimensions or you’ll have to buy more wood! You can do the detailed work yourself – that includes cutting out the stars, joining the boards, and screwing the ramp into position.
16. IKEA Hack – Litter Box from Byholma Chest
Lots of plastic DIY rabbit litter boxes were once cat litter boxes. So it makes sense that this rattan idea was built for cats as well. But it has an extra benefit because bunnies love wicker. This could be a downside too, since your rabbit may soon chew through all the willow reeds!
This probably means you’ll need to replace the litter box regularly, so consider buying your IKEA basket boxes in bulk! To make the box, open one side by snipping reeds or removing the spring hinges. Put shelf liners at the bottom then slip your plastic litter box in the basket.
17. Cheap Rabbit Litter! – Jessica Rae
A lot of us grab stuff from the office for our craft projects. Pencils, glue sticks, paper clips, staples, that kind of thing. And you can raid the office supply closet when you’re working on a DIY rabbit litter box as well. The office shredder is a useful source of litter, so that helps.
As for the litter box, grab a stray in-tray or out-tray with a solid bottom. They’re generally deep enough for bunnies, and you can line them with a plastic bag. Also, if you need some emergency pee pads, large extra-absorbent disposable diapers will effectively do the trick.
18. DIY Litter Box – Two Broke Bruces
Your rabbit’s personality can dictate the type of litter box you set up. If your bunny likes to chew fabric or plastic, then bin liners won’t work. And if s/he’s on the shy side and prefers privacy, they need a hood over the box so they can do their business. Does s/he like noise?
The kind of bunny that enjoys scratching cardboard might like the rattling noise on this cat litter box, and the design works just as well for a DIY rabbit box. You’ll need large foil baking tins. Stack two or three together, poke holes in them, then set them up in a larger plastic bin.
19. The Perfect Litter Box & Hay Rack for Rabbits Vlog – Peg Parade
If you’d like a DIY rabbit litter box that’s a little more stylish, use a shapelier container. This video uses a pretty oval one, but you can buy any design you like – as long as it stays cheap! Use an egg crate louver for the grid – simply snip it into a silhouette that fits the litter box.
To raise the grate to a suitable height, use elongated bolts, the kind used to set up a (human) bed. The bottoms of these bolts are flat so they stand upright. Use nuts and washers on the underside of the grate to maintain its level. The bolts should be galvanized to avoid rusting.
What is your rabbit currently using as a litter box? Show us some photos in the comments!
