Pls help me potty train + picture + explanation

[NunusOwner]

I love animals. I saw a bunny in a petshop that was horrendously kept. She was starved, her poophole area is/was covered in poop etc. I bought her immediately.

Despite what the picture indicates, her current place is 100% better than the small, dark, dirty cage full of pine shavings she was in.

DISCLAIMER: Hold the gasps. The picture shows a temporary setup. My entire room is made bunnyproof and she is free to roam, she just likes to hang out there so that’s where I put her stuff.

Now, my question is: As you can see by the litter box in the corner, I try to potty train her, and as you can see by the dozens of poops all around her she has made in only about 4 hours, I fail. It was even me who threw the feces in the litter box.

How?

[Flopsie]

first question, is your bunny spayed.

This is a key component in getting her litter trained

[NunusOwner]

She is not. I plan to do so after I notice her marking her territory everywhere with pee. Should I do it sooner? Can’t before Christmas though, I don’t have money until then. Also, she’s about 3 months old.

[Sarita]

She looks very young – maybe too young to be spayed at this point. You have to start out in a small area and expand it. I would start with a proper litter box too and you want to put hay in it to encourage her to use the litter box.

[kathybunny]

I got both of mine fixed (male was around 3-4 mo, female around 5), I gave them a couple weeks, put them back together and almost immediately they started using their box! I was amazed.

[LBJ10]

I agree with Sarita. Confine her to a smaller area during litter training. Don’t expect things to be “perfect” until after she is spayed.

[Flopsie]

Well you’ll need to get her spayed eventually. She is too young now, but when she is of age consider spaying her. My bun was impossible to train until after getting her spayed and then it magically worked haha

As far as the actual litter, I would put hay in the box where you want her to go. Bunnies tend to poop as they eat. Literally in one end, out the other. Having the hay in the box will encourage this. I line mine with newspaper, put half bedding on the side she’ll pee and poop in and the other half hay. You can ask others or search to see how other members have their litter box set up.

[Stickerbunny]

If you notice in the picture, most her poop is over by the hay. That’s because bunnies, unlike humans, like to eat and poop at the same time. Moving her hay into a litter box and having an actual litter box, not a shoe box, will help. Bunnies also like to lay in their litter box, so you want it to be large enough she can stretch out if she chooses. Letting her free roam will also make litter training difficult, as the larger the space to start, the harder it is to train them. An x-pen setup would help in training.

And just a note: If that’s pine SHAVINGS in her litter box you probably want to switch litters. Pine shavings have dangerous phenols and can cause issues with bunnies. Aspen shavings are fine, or pine pellets (the pellet process removes the phenols).

[Author]

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