Messy Bunny Problems (Litter Training Help)

[Isabel]

I know bunnies are supposed to naturally be clean, but not my bun! Although he spends a good amount of his time cleaning himself, that’s the only thing he keeps clean. I guess he didn’t get the memo that bunnies naturally do their business in one corner.

 

My bun does it everywhere. And I mean everywhere. I’ll come back from going out to dinner for an hour or so only to find a spread of cocoa puffs all over my floor –obviously not in his cage, never in his cage. In fact, I think he saves it until I let him out in the morning, because he’ll have an absolute bathroom frenzy for the first fifteen minutes.

 

The only correlation between the different places he poops is that they’re mostly all soft surfaces (carpets, towels, etc) and they are NOT in his cage lol. He’s not nearly as picky when peeing– that can be anywhere.

 

I’ve tried all the usual things: I have pee-soaked paper towels in his litterbox, I put all the cocoa puffs in his litterbox. The litter box is quite large (two of his lengths). Even when I restrict the areas he can go in, he litters everywhere.

 

He is a 9 1/2 week old holland lop male who is (obviously) not fixed. I know males are supposed to go everywhere before they’re fixed, but isn’t he a bit too young?

 

Any advice is appreciated!

[jerseygirl]

No, he’s not too young for this behaviour. I think this would certainly be age related. The smaller breeds start to develop at earlier age then the average. One of the forum leaders has a holland lop and his testicles had already descended at 8 weeks!

It’s really time to limit his time out to only when you are at home to supervise. Even then, I wouldnt allow to much space atm. Its good you’ve already started restricting the areas he is allowed. Try not feel too badly about it – it’s not forever.

Do you put a litterbox in the areas he comes out into?

What is his cage set up like? Does he use the litterbox when caged or just toilet all over the base?

[Isabel]

Wow, really? I didn’t realize smaller breeds develop so quickly. I’ll have to keep an eye out for that.

Even when I supervise, it’s not very helpful. He tends to poop when he runs around and binkies, like he’s too excited to keep it in. I try to catch him in the act of peeing so I can pick him up and move him, but it’s hard to catch him every time.

Does the limited space help keep him less distracted? Help keep the litter box in sight? Just out of curiosity, why does limiting space help with litter training?

I bring the litter box downstairs when I let him out in the living room and keep it in his opened x-pen. He goes all around the x-pen and then sprinkles poos all over the carpet. When I let him run around my bedroom (with the cage in it), I simply open the cage up for him to come and go as he pleases and keep the litter box in there.

In his cage, he has a ledge on the left that keeps his water and food. On the floor, his left is empty (he just likes hanging out underneath the shelf) and on the right he has his litter box with half hay and half bedding. When he gets a bit bigger, I’m planning on making his x-pen his cage and giving him more space.

He’ll go on his shelf sometimes (understandable as that’s where his pellets are kept), and then will go in the right half of his cage. For some reason he will not go at all underneath the shelf.

I feel so badly about keeping him confined! Ugh. He loves running back and forth so much. I guess it is just temporary… hopefully he won’t get too mad at me, as we were just starting to really get along lol.

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