Bonding rabbits - litterbox training out the window!

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 6sd replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 9 months ago by Stickerbunny.

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- 07/14/2014 at 1:10 PM
  Leeza
  Participant
  12 posts
  I started bonding my two rabbits, Tibby and Iris (the new girl) a little more than a week ago. It has gone extremely well, so far. I wouldn’t say that they’re completely bonded yet, but they have not been aggressive towards each other at all, there has been mutual grooming, and they’ve been choosing to spend more and more time close to each other even when they are allowed to run in a large space. So basically, I’ve kept them together constantly for the past 4 days or so. No problems except…
  
  Their housing set up is an extra large dog crate with an Xpen attached to the outside. There is a litterbox inside the crate and outside in the Xpen. Now, I know it’s normal for more poops to appear outside of the box when introducing rabbits, but it seems to just be getting worse. I woke up this morning, and there were PILES of it everywhere! From what I understand, poos for marking come as singles and are scattered around, while you only see piles if they’re actually taking a dump? I could understand Iris doing this because I don’t think she was litterbox trained in her previous home (although she caught on in a couple days after I brought her home), but Tibby is doing it too, and he’s been well trained for years (you know you love your rabbits too much when you can tell their poops apart).
  
  So… I’m not really sure where to go from here. The crate is too small to use without the Xpen, but I doubt this is an issue of too much space too soon anyway? Even if one of them is being a “bad influence,” I don’t want to separate them and put one in Tibby’s old cage because Iris seems to get upset now when Tibby is too far away.
  
  Thoughts/suggestions? :S
- 07/14/2014 at 2:50 PM
  toujours_melissa
  Participant
  20 posts
  Sounds like your bonding is going great! I have the same understanding about singles vs. piles. However, I’m working on bonding my two rabbits (it’s not going nearly as well as yours, though, and one bunny is ill, so we’re on a break) and I’ve seen some of this same behavior with the litter training seeming to just be…forgotten! It’s frustrating, but just put the poops in their box, encourage them to use the box, and if you only have one box, maybe get a second one to see if that helps them? Maybe Tibby or Iris is kicking the other bunny out of the litter box, or hogging it? Our buns spent the first week or two not being as good about their boxes (they’re still separated) but recovered by week 3. We’ll see what happens when we start bonding them again!
  
  Good luck!
- 07/15/2014 at 8:25 AM
  ohbonobogirl
  Participant
  59 posts
  Ahhh…the poop wars. When I first bonded Minerva and Bandit, I was convinced I’d never have a clean floor again. I’d get up in the morning and there would be poop EVERYWHERE. After about 2 months, it really started to go away and now, 8 months later, they’re pretty good about their boxes again. I did add another box in to see if it would help, and it did, somewhat, but I think they really just needed time to get over it. At least it wasn’t pee everywhere!
- 07/15/2014 at 9:42 AM
  LauraBunny
  Participant
  31 posts
  I’m curious about this…..with or without bonding does the poop marking ever stop? Is there ever a time where you can let them run free and never find poops outside the box?
- 07/16/2014 at 1:47 AM
  Leeza
  Participant
  12 posts
  Thanks, everyone! That’s a relief. Good to know that this is still considered in the realm of normal. They do have two litterboxes right now, and I keep finding piles right next to the box outside the cage. Little punks… It’s interesting that they’re not pooping too much inside their cage or in their run space. It’s mostly just right outside their cage.
  
  @LauraBunny – Well… “never” is a really strong word. You will probably always find the stray poop here or there. Tibby poops a little bit when he’s surprised and when he’s mad at me for picking him up, he’ll start to poop in my arms.
- 07/17/2014 at 9:57 AM
  LauraBunny
  Participant
  31 posts
  Lol surprised and mad……surprise poop!
- 07/18/2014 at 12:00 AM
  Stickerbunny
  Participant
  4128 posts
  My two never got their litter habits back after I bonded them really. They poop all over their floor, but mostly pee in the box. When they were solo, they were great. When I had to separate them due to fighting, they instantly went back to being great. Together, they poop in the floor. I just live with it and sweep up daily. Only happens in their space, not the rest of the house.
  
  But, mine is the rarer pair. Usually they give up poop wars after the bond is good and cemented.
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