Litter training help

[charliebun_]

I know this probably gets asked a lot (Sorry for a lengthy post too!) but it would be great to hear other peoples experiences and tips that worked for  you!

So my partner and I recently (2 weeks ago) brought home a male mini lop. Huge learning curve for us as he is our first bunny! He is now 10 weeks old and we’ve tried litter training since the get go. 

He LOVES his litter box as his bed and spends a good amount of time in there but he will poop and pee just about all over his cage. Most of what I’ve read has said bunnies have a favourite corner, but he pees in every corner of the cage! so there’s no one spot I can really put the litter tray. Recently this week I’ve been waking up in the mornings and hes moved the litter box from the corner it would be in directly into the middle of the cage in-front of where the door is. 
We’ve been picking up his poop and making sure to put it in the tray, fresh hay, and any bedding that he pees on we put in there as well. 

He settled in with us quite quickly and he gets 4-6 hours of playtime every day when we get home from work right up until we go to bed, he poops everywhere but we don’t mind that too much as it’s easy to pick up and most of the time its sporadic and not all piled in one spot, but over the last two nights hes peed on the carpet 3 times. We have towels laid down for him to prevent accidents but he always finds the smallest area of carpet that is uncovered and he didn’t do this at all the first week and a half we had him. 

We caught him straight after a pee one of these times and picked him up and placed him in his litter tray saying “litter tray”, we think he knew he was in a bit of trouble at the time, but the other two times we haven’t noticed when he’s done it and only cleaned it up straight away upon finding it and telling him “No”. 

He’ll be getting desexed at around 4.5-5 months of age, will it matter if he still hasn’t quite understood what the litter tray is for or will all hope be lost once that happens and he still hasn’t learnt proper toilet manners? We want to let him roam much more freely all over the house instead of just all in the living room but we can’t until he at least learns where to pee. 

Is there a specific way they’ll sit or position themselves? he doesn’t seem to move any way out of the ordinary but once he moves there it is. Is there anything you did differently that you found worked or is all just about a lot of patience and cleaning up? 

[jerseygirl]

Hi, welcome to Binky Bunny. Don’t worry about it being a common question, that’s what the forums are for.

We’ve been picking up his poop and making sure to put it in the tray, fresh hay, and any bedding that he pees on we put in there as well.

The bedding is probably the main problem in his cage. You can take that out as it’s not necessary. And it will be less messy and less cost for you! It is so much like litter that a rabbit will think the whole space is a litterbox. Most actually prefer lying on bare flooring anyway.

You could add a 2nd tray in if there is room and not fill it with anything. Maybe he’ll take to using that as his bed. I dare say though that he’ll nap on the cage floor more once it is bedding free.

I think if you can get him trained in the cage, you’ll have more success when he’s out of it. So you could use his soiled box from the cage out in the bigger area, for example. Part of this is all age related though. There may be some marking tendencies at this age when the hormones are new.You may have to limit him a bit with his out of cage time while he is in this stage. Or set up a pen with a tarp underneath. 

He’ll be getting desexed at around 4.5-5 months of age, will it matter if he still hasn’t quite understood what the litter tray is for or will all hope be lost once that happens and he still hasn’t learnt proper toilet manners? We want to let him roam much more freely all over the house instead of just all in the living room but we can’t until he at least learns where to pee.

I don’t think it will matter. Even some perfectly trained rabbits may lose those habits at puberty or even for a short time after desexing. Good habits can still be established.

[charliebun_]

Thanks for a reply 

The cage we got is second hand and does have a crack in the bottom plastic so I absolutely have to have something there. 

There’s definitely no room in there for a second litter box but we always take it out of the cage and place it on the floor when hes out for a play but he gets so excited about everything else that he only stops past that to munch on some hay and then hes off again haha

I did a bit more browsing through the forums and I’m considering making half his cage a fleece blanket (is a polyester fleece one okay?) with an absorbent mat underneath it, and then just the one corner with his litter box and currently the bedding we have in there and plenty of hay. Do you think that might make it a bit easier?

[jerseygirl]

You could certainly try that but be aware, rabbits do have a tendency to want to pee on soft absorbent things like towels and blankets. Some won’t after they develop good box habits but some will always do it.

I did a bit more browsing through the forums and I’m considering making half his cage a fleece blanket (is a polyester fleece one okay?)

Yes, poly fleece is good as it doesn’t get loose long threads if chewed. Those can be a problem if a rabbit chew and eats fabric.

If you want to create a waterproof, wipeable surface, you could line the cage base with an off cut of vinyl, large enough that it goes up the sides a bit.

[charliebun_]

He loves the fleece blanket. I bought those puppy training pads to put between blanket layers however and during the night he’s dug them out and ripped them up so I don’t think I should be putting those back in as my absorbent layer unless I just need to try and hide it better. Or should I just not worry about anything there?

A quick look this morning he didn’t seem to pee on the blanket though! So fingers crossed this will help give him better habits. He still has a tendency to move the tray front and centre rather than just leave it in the corner where it belongs though.

[charliebun_]

Update: it’s worked! It’s been almost a week and so far he’s only peed in his litter tray and he’s now realised that when he’s out for a play that’s where he needs to go to do it! thanks for helping me figure out what I was doing wrong !

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