A young bunny and his litterbox

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 8sd replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 6 months ago by RabbitPam.

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- 09/14/2011 at 5:47 PM
  ipelow
  Participant
  17 posts
  Hey everyone, I’ve browsed around here from time to time without contributing anything of my own, and rather learning instead of attempting to teach. I finally decided to create a profile and ask a question (and probably brag about my bunnies, hah). Please forgive me if I should have seen an answer within another thread.
  
  Okay, I have a show quality Siamese Sable Netherland Dwarf doe who has been with me for about 2 years. Training her to use a litterbox seemed to come at the snap of a finger. She caught on to what I wanted her to do very quick. She was spayed a little over a year ago after she became aggressive and chewed 3 quarter sized holes in the brand new carpet of my apartment at the time. Everything has been perfect ever since, and I love her to death.
  
  I contacted a breeder this summer about getting my hands on a baby Flemish Giant. Well, I picked him up on Saturday and he has been with me since then (in his 5×3 ft. cage that he is spoiled with while he is still a baby). Okay, details: He is a black/blue, very handsome, eight week old buck. He is very, very loving and executes the greatest of bunny flops, haha. He has a huge litter box, but I have only seen him go inside of it to urinate one time (you know, the tail in the air thing). His water and food dish are on the other side of the cage, and he seems to enjoy urinating while he is eating or drinking. I have caught him a few times as soon as he starts and place him inside his litterbox, but he won’t even finish doing it in there, he just jumps out. When I find urine all over the floor of the cage, I sprinkle bedding onto it and scoop it up, then put it in his litterbox. I was hoping this would help him smell the urine in the litterbox instead of everywhere else, and make him realize “oh, that’s where it goes!” The only time he does seem to go in his litterbox, however, is to lay down and roll around.
  
  Is he simply too young to train?
  
  Is it possible, but more difficult with a very young rabbit?
  
  Will this continue until I can get him neutered in ~4 months?
  
  I think that is all for now. I may think of more and add it after I get some responses. Feel free to ask any questions necessary to help find a solution. And by the way, I plan to keep the spayed female and unneutered male apart until he gets his surgery and the hormones are all gone.
- 09/14/2011 at 6:17 PM
  Stickerbunny
  Participant
  4128 posts
  You could try positioning his food / water near his box so he stands in it to eat / drink. A few people have a set up like that since their buns have that habit. And yeah it is difficult with younger buns sometimes, so if he doesn’t quite get it until he’s neutered try to be patient with him. Make sure he has no bedding outside the box and doesn’t mind the litter inside the box (some buns are picky about litter, some don’t like pellets, etc).
- 09/14/2011 at 6:28 PM
  ipelow
  Participant
  17 posts
  Posted By Stickerbunny on 09/14/2011 06:17 PM
  You could try positioning his food / water near his box so he stands in it to eat / drink. A few people have a set up like that since their buns have that habit. And yeah it is difficult with younger buns sometimes, so if he doesn’t quite get it until he’s neutered try to be patient with him. Make sure he has no bedding outside the box and doesn’t mind the litter inside the box (some buns are picky about litter, some don’t like pellets, etc).
  
  My Netherland Dwarf seems to take food in her mouth and send it right back out of her bottom, and her food dish is right next to her litterbox, which works. She didn’t have a problem with the water. I think I will try putting his food and water close enough to the litterbox that he sits inside of it in order to eat/drink. I appreciate the response.
- 09/14/2011 at 6:58 PM
  bunnyfriend
  Participant
  2368 posts
  You could also try putting the food dish literally in the litter box or buy a food and water dish that attaches to the cage wall and position it over the litter box. Bunnies love to “do their business” while they eat. Neutering will really help with litter box habits and behavior in general (:
  
  My bunny Wilbur was 8-10 weeks old when I brought her home and fully litter box trained after about 3 days. She now is allowed to roam freely 24/7 because of this. I had prepared for it to be difficult but I set up the litter box with unlimited hay in the corner of it and attached her food bowl above it and she basically trained herself. It is important to clean up messes outside the litter box as soon as possible with vinegar (otherwise they’ll smell the urine and use that spot again), which can be tiring but it pays off.
- 09/14/2011 at 7:45 PM
  ipelow
  Participant
  17 posts
  I just rigged his food dish to be on the edge of his litterbox. I have it angled a little so he can access it easily while sitting on the toilet. He actually likes to put his hands in his food and stand in the food dish while he eats, so once he figured out how to put his little hands in while he eats, everything was fine, haha. His waterbottle and hay are also accessible while standing in the litterbox. Thanks again
- 09/14/2011 at 7:51 PM
  LoveChaCha
  Participant
  6634 posts
  how bout throwing in some hay in the litter box? rabbits love doing their business and eating at the same time.
  
  i litter trained my 7 week old dwarf and she is now almost 2 and has almost great habits except in my room haha.
- 09/14/2011 at 9:11 PM
  ipelow
  Participant
  17 posts
  I’ve been placing a nice big pile of hay in the corner. It seems like I turn my head, look back, and it’s gone. In case anyone was wondering — yes, it’s true that a Flemish Giant has a huge appetite. (even at 8 weeks old and only a little over 4 lbs)
  Haha
- 09/15/2011 at 6:22 PM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  Welcome I hope the changes you’ve made have solved the problem.
  
  Would love to see pics of your 2… : )
- 09/17/2011 at 4:42 PM
  RabbitPam
  Moderator
  11002 posts
  My suggestion is similar but opposite: try moving the litter box over to the area where he currently has his food dishes and is peeing. Sometimes a bunny prefers a certain corner over another spot that isn’t obvious to us, but makes them feel more secure. He may want to pee on that side of his house. But having it near his food dishes and soaking and cleaning the pee then tossing it in the pan is definitely the way to help him learn to use it. Hay inside the pan helps, though I would still keep the food dishes just outside the box.
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