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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.
I need your help! If I do not find a solution to this, the bunnies and I will have to move out. My boyfriend cannot live with their litter habits any longer and I will not give them up.
I wouldn’t spend money on a new cage, especially not a hutch, right now unless you were getting an xpen (which can be easily stored and used for other pets over the years). Do you have an xpen now or is it a traditional plastic bottom cage? They are going to need to be confined until the litter habits get better, but you’ll need a large enough space for three. As you know, you have a couple things working against you… new territory, new bunny. I think it’s really just going to take going back to the basics and being diligent with cleaning (which I know is hard when you’re gone most of the day!!!) If you have them in an xpen, you could try to do a larger litterbox (maybe even a plastic under-the-bed storage container?) so they have a large litterbox-to-floor ratio. Are they in a linoleum or tile area right now? If not, you can lay down a scrap of linoleum to make clean-up easier.
Unfortunately, there’s not always an easy fix with buns. Especially when you get into larger groups, poop marking will sometimes happen forever. You may have 2 perfectly trained buns but the dynamic of a third is enough to send everyone reeling (even if they get along!) If you can get them all peeing in the box exclusively tho, that’s going to be a major help.
I use a traditional plastic bottom cage – just big enough for one rabbit! I don’t think I actually understand the idea of x-pens though I know the majority in here use them.
They have a room of their own now and the floor is wood. I did put black plastic bags around the cage, which works fine…but it is not a permanent solution. Anyways, the vinegar soaks up urine from the wood really well.
Okay, so I might just confine them as you suggest. Get the second cage back in and put Karl and Molly in one cage and Jack in another and then have them in there for a couple of days. It is easier now to do this as I am away all the time – then I can easier ignore how miserable they must be.
I can do it!
So, are they free roaming then in the room? I think that may be part of the problem – too much space.
Obviously you cannot put all 3 rabbits in one little cage either – I think I would totally eliminate this – I’m not sure why if you have them free roaming you need a cage at all…they just need a large litter box – the bigger the litter box, the better.
An x-pen would provide much larger space too than a cage if you decide to confine them to a smaller space until you can get them using their litter box properly.
They are free roaming in the room when we are not at home. When we are home, then they have the whole apartment. They used to have the whole of the old apartment to run about and that was no problem. It is not as if they are marking the room – they are only marking right outside the cage and on top of it. So clearly it is their own personal area they are marking.
I use the cage for food, toilet and mostly…for the water bottle. Karl cannot drink from a bowl and I cannot find a good way to hang it on to something. And then they have quite a few cardboard boxes scattered around where they sleep. I tried taking away their cage once and they started peeing all over the place – obviously, they are very attached to the cage
Karla, your trio is new and the space is large and new —littering would be logical, you know? (sorry, I think I am being patronizing with my bolding)
I would turn that cage into one litter box for them and leave it open for them just as a potty house. You can put that inside a pen. You can make a pen by using a corner of a room as two sides of the pen and then using xpen panels for the remaiining sides. Make sure to bunnyproof the walls with cardboard. They don’t need that much space while you are away. They probably just loaf around all day.
With three buns regular litterboxes often don’t work. You need to have at least two litter boxes for them and large. Put fresh hay into the litter boxes daily to munch on while they potty. Diligently pick up and wipe up after them. Show your bf you’re really trying. Littertraining of bonded multiples takes time. The most important thing is that you get the peeing under control.
I will attach a photo of another member’s trio setup, (I hope it’s ok, mrmac!)
(I love this setup. )
courtesy mrmac.
Once you change them over into their new setup, there will be marking but it should be temporarily.
Stay away from rugs and cardboard houses in the beginning as they will likely pee those up, too. Make it bare for the first little while. This is really important. Keep at it!
My trio still leaves poos in the morning and they have been bonded for a few months. I will say the number of poos has lessened. Adding two large rectangle litterboxes really helped alot with mine. My trio has issues at first peeing ouside the box too. This stopped once I got the two new boxes. For a while we had no house of any kind in their pen, except for the little itty bitty one, but nothing “sharable”. I have since then been building them cardboard houses as they eat them.
Posted By Petzy on 11/18/2009 10:00 AM
Karla, your trio is new and the space is large and new —littering would be logical, you know? (sorry, I think I am being patronizing with my bolding)
I would turn that cage into one litter box for them and leave it open for them just as a potty house. You can put that inside a pen. You can make a pen by using a corner of a room as two sides of the pen and then using xpen panels for the remaiining sides. Make sure to bunnyproof the walls with cardboard. They don’t need that much space while you are away. They probably just loaf around all day.
The thing is…I have all the time in the world. Someone else in my household doesn’t I am well aware of poop war, et.c. and that it is a matter of time. My own theory is that it is stress because it is only around the cage. I just have a reason to push the bunnies a bit faster towards the goal. So I use this thread to sort of think aloud and hear if somebody else has ideas. All ideas are welcome
Anyways, I did turn the cage into just big litterbox by placing to two new big litterboxes inside. Hasn’t worked. But the cages have been prepared for them, so once I say goodnight to them in a few hours, they will be confined for the next few days. At least I may find the culprit that way.
mrmac, so you found that not having anything in their pen helped? They don’t pee in the cardboard boxes, but only play with them and sleep in them, but I have thought of washing the floor with vinegar and baked soda as I have read in other threads, and then perhaps remove all their stuff for a while.
If it’s only around the cage, I don’t understand why you conclude it must be a stress reaction. If they only litter around the cage, a larger, maybe more easily accessible litter box might do the trick. — hey Karla, I didn’t mean to say you’re not aware of the dynamics, it’s the nature of the forum to re-iterate those things over and over when the topics come up for those lurking readers
Having no house specifically, made them alot closer to eachother too. I could tell who was leaving the poos. They do not pee at all on the cardboard, they lounge but no pee. Washing the floor may help but then they will just re-mark everything. The litterboxes I got, one is big enough for two of them to sit in it together and the other is big enough for all three.
My trio never pee or poo outside of their pen. They spend most of the day under their favorite chair in the living room, but they still leave me poos in the morning to be swept, but ONLY in their pen.
The two litterboxes are quite big as well. They can sit two in each. I guess they could sit three as well if they really wanted, they don’t like it crowded. Also, since I feed them in the litterbox Jack has to have his own, so I know that he gets enough to eat. So Molly and Karl share one, and Jack has his own.
I will take some photos tomorrow so you can see and comment on it. It might make it easier.
Some pics might help. Are they caged or in a pen?
Again, I’ll be watching this thread with interest. “Karla”, you know of my woes and it’s similar to yours. And No, I have shut them up for litter retraining yet!!! *roll eyes* so I only have myself to blame. I’ve noted the same thing though post bonding. The marking of their space is persistant. Nowhere else, just the bunny area. Mainly Jersey. I sort of wonder the more a warren (or rabbit family forms) the more they feel the need to mark their home?
btw, I think it’s a bit unfair of your BF – for what it’s worth. Wasn’t it a joint decision to get the 3rd rabbit? And obviously he knew that you all moving into this place meant you, him and 3 rabbits… and it’s a pretty big deal that you’ve sold your own place. Ok, finished now.
Have you thought about removing the small cage altogether? If they are only pottying around the cage, maybe there’s something they don’t like about *THE CAGE*. If they are used to be free roam in a room, they don’t actually need to have a traditional cage in there. Ideally, they would be confined all together. I’d hate for their bond to break at this point because then you’ll just have another issue.
Bean has free-run of the living/dining room except for at night. We bought an xpen, an LG “Animal Exercise Pen”. For one small bun, it works great. Another thing we did was to buy an inexpensive carpet; a carpet remnant would work, too. It goes underneath his xpen and that’s where his food and water dishes, hay, bunny bed and litter box are. He can dig at it, chew on it, and have an accident on it without harming anything. Would your boyfriend be more comfortable if the buns had the occasional accident on an easily replaced carpet rather than all over?
Posted By jerseygirl on 11/18/2009 07:59 PM
Again, I’ll be watching this thread with interest. “Karla”, you know of my woes and it’s similar to yours. And No, I have shut them up for litter retraining yet!!! *roll eyes* so I only have myself to blame. I’ve noted the same thing though post bonding. The marking of their space is persistant. Nowhere else, just the bunny area. Mainly Jersey. I sort of wonder the more a warren (or rabbit family forms) the more they feel the need to mark their home?
btw, I think it’s a bit unfair of your BF – for what it’s worth. Wasn’t it a joint decision to get the 3rd rabbit? And obviously he knew that you all moving into this place meant you, him and 3 rabbits… and it’s a pretty big deal that you’ve sold your own place. Ok, finished now.
Thank you – yes, I think it is unfair as well. So now we are two! Living alone with animals is just so much easier.
I like your idea, Quantum. I might do that. We have some carpet in the basement, I could use.
Just as an update. Well, they have been caged since Wednesday evening, and only been out for 20 minutes in the morning and then again for 3-4 hours in the evening. Today they have been out all day though seeing it is the weekend, and I am home. So far, so good. There have been no problems with the litterboxes at all, which I thought might happen. Molly has however proved to be the great Houdini reborned! So actually, she has not been caged that much as she seems to have magic powers and can bend the bars. I had to get up twice last night as I could hear someone chewing cardboard boxes = out of the cage. And there was a huge pile of poop. But nothing today or the other days. At least, I think she sort of gave herself away as the culprit last night.
But I think caging them works (come on, Jersey! You can do it ), though I have to admit it is only because I am so much away, that I have the strength to do it. I think I will have them caged as well for the next three days. I swop cages between them as one cage is for one and the other for two. Their bond does not seem affected at all, but I do also keep their cages close.
It worked! I rather not say it aloud as I am scared to jinx it, but so far so good. 2½ days without any problems now and they haven’t been caged at all during this time. I guess if they start doing it again, I may just cage them again at night time perhaps for a few days.