Bunny pen is a poopfest

[Krys]

Hi, I’m new to this forum. We have 2 neutered male lops, brothers together since birth, who share a pen with a cage inside it. They also get free run of the room their pen is in, when we are home. They’re pretty good about peeing in the litterbox now that they’re neutered, but my oh my their pen always looks like they had a pellet-fest! I have to sweep up poopie pellets morning & evening or the floor of their pen would be covered. So far they’re pretty good about not dropping very much in the outer room when they’re out (and they’re out more often, even when we’re not home). Are they super-marking their pen? How can I get them to poop more in their litterbox & less in the rest of the pen?  Thanks.

[Deleted User]

It does sound like a new rabbit bond’s ‘poowar’, or it could be that one of them does not get to use the litterbox due to the other rabbit claiming it. Is the box inside the cage? You could try supplying more litterboxes, a small one in every corner instead of the cage.

[Krys]

Thank you. I’ll try adding another litter box. We have one in the cage, a large one outside in the pen, and a small one beside it in the pen (where one of them kept peeing, just outside the big litterbox). Their pen is only 4×6 feet including the part taken up by the cage, so it’s going to be mostly litterbox for a while! There doesn’t seem to be anyplace in the pen they don’t poop, though they’re pretty good about peeing in the litterbox.

There seems to be a lot of chatter in this forum about poo & pee, so at least we’re not alone. But the other photos I’ve seen of bunny pens seem so much … cleaner.

[MayaConsuelo]

I think the people with clean bunny pens happened to sweep the area right before taking the picture
No bunny is going to poo in the boxes 100% of the time. I have heard of some rabbits mainly going in their boxes but mine sure doesn’t. I sweep out his cage twice a day, plus clean stray poos all over my house constantly. I don’t think he was properly litter-trained (I got him at a little over 1 year old.) Not sure how to go about doing that now, or if it’s a battle I’ll constantly lose because he’s also trying to mark territory (with my two cats.)

[Monkeybun]

Maya, my boy Moose only goes in his box, never had an accident anywhere. Including poos. The one time I saw a poo outside was because t flicked out when he jumped out, I saw it happen

[Lintini]

My bedroom is just one huge poopwar zone if it helps. I pick up about 30 poops a day. Sigh.

[Beka27]

Posted By MayaConsuelo on 11/19/2010 02:28 PM
I think the people with clean bunny pens happened to sweep the area right before taking the picture

Absolutely!!!  We prefer to show off the best side of our bunnies!  Just like how you get your children’s professional photos done when they’re clean… not right after a trip for ice cream! 

We did actually have a thread awhile back with pics of UNTOUCHED bunny pens!!!  No cleaning up allowed prior!  You wouldn’t believe (or maybe you would… lol!) the number of poos and the piles of shredded cardboard EVERYWHERE!!!

No bunny is perfect.  But the majority should be going in the litterbox.  Depending what kind of box you have, there’s also a chance some are getting kicked out, so you might also try a high-sided litterbox, even a covered cat box.  With two buns, I think two large cat boxes are adequate.  You don’t want too little litterbox space (and as an added bonus, in my mind, it’s easier to clean two boxes every four days, rather than one box every two.)

Let us know how they do.

[LBJ10]

My rabbits are like that. Their play room always has stray poops and I am always picking them up. It’s weird because if they come out of their room and into the living room, not a stray poop anywhere.

[Lintini]

Ooo we need to start another one of those threads!

[jerseygirl]

JBJ10, I notice that too. Certain areas are poop zone and other rooms there is rarely a stray.

I’ve been meaning to post in BEHAVIOUR about something that *may* be connected to this. Will do that shortly.   It’s in relation to natural instincts perhaps? Though I’m really unsure.  It’s like your boys Krys (my rabbits too!)  might view the cage as the burrow so don’t litter it. The pen as their homebase / home range, so they’ll graze and litter it – keeping it fertilized. The rest of the house the wider range so they’re less likely to litter…maybe as survival instinct? No needing to define their boundary here?

I know this rambling doesn’t give you any clue as to how to stop them from pooping up the pen – sorry!  If I knew how to do that I’d be posting it everywhere!

 

[Beka27]

Posted By LBJ10 on 11/20/2010 09:41 AM
My rabbits are like that. Their play room always has stray poops and I am always picking them up. It’s weird because if they come out of their room and into the living room, not a stray poop anywhere.

Have you watched them purposely leave poops in the pen?  My guess would be that many of them might be kicked out, or if they have longer fur, they might get carried out of the box on feet….

[LBJ10]

Posted By Beka27 on 11/21/2010 05:26 AM

Posted By LBJ10 on 11/20/2010 09:41 AM
My rabbits are like that. Their play room always has stray poops and I am always picking them up. It’s weird because if they come out of their room and into the living room, not a stray poop anywhere.

Have you watched them purposely leave poops in the pen?  My guess would be that many of them might be kicked out, or if they have longer fur, they might get carried out of the box on feet….

Oh no, it’s completely on purpose. The floor won’t have a stray poo anywhere. I let them out and next thing I know there is poo everywhere. But only in that room and it is mostly concentrated in the immediate vicinity of the cages. But if they come out into the living room, they don’t dare leave a “trail”. It just must be a territory thing.

 

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