Carpet litter training problems.. progress after 3 weeks!

[Crystal]

Hi! I recently bonded my bunnies. Of the pair, one bunny is absolutely perfect with her litter box, but the other is really stubborn! He uses the litterbox often, but also uses the floor outside the litterbox at times in random places. I’ve spent several days watching him constantly and immediately wiping up urine with a paper towel and placing it in the litter box. He’s not getting better. Is this the best he will ever be with the litter box? Are there any other tips or tricks I can use? Also is it ok to separate the bunnies and let my other bunny play by herself while I confine him to train him with the litter box? 

[Sarita]

Hi Crystal, moving this to the Behavior Section.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

I would try adding more boxes in the play area in the places he prefers, slowly remove them.

[Crystal]

Thanks I’ll definitely try that!

[RabbitPam]

LOL @ Sarita: I was debating whether this should be moved to the Bonding section.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Any improvement?

[Crystal]

I think so.. they like to pee in different places so I think I will have to use 2 litter boxes at the very least. Right now I have 3, and they seem to be doing ok with that.. I plan to take one away later if I notice neither is using it. Bailey likes to pee in the corner and Oliver likes to pee in the middle of the cage. It’s a little annoying because multiple boxes take up more space and clutters up the cage. Oh well!

[Crystal]

I found a stain right outside one of the litterboxes, so I added a fourth. Now the boxes take up half the cage.. I wish there was a better way to rearrange them. I also have a jumbo pan which I’m not using. I’ll see how things go over the next few days and if I can take any of them out.

[tanlover14]

How big are those litter pans? I would suggest getting a bigger one – it looks pretty small compared to his size. That may be the issue he’s having! I would definitely try with a bigger one that he can fit comfortably into. We have an XL one that we bought at Target or Wal-Mart that works perfectly for our little rascals.

[Crystal]

They are medium and small ones. I also have a jumbo one that I’m not using right now. I noticed they hesitate to jump into it. But I’ve been thinking about adding it too

[Crystal]

I don’t think it’s working.. he’s still peeing outside the boxes.. should I start over on a hard floor?

[tanlover14]

I can’t tell what you have on the floor — are those sheets? Is it a possibility that he’s still smelling his scent on those?? If so, that may be why he’s choosing to do this. I have had this horrible litter habit when one of my buns lost their litter habits and it escalated into three losing them for a small time. It just takes a lot of work and retraining. Is there any way you could possibly just change their set-up so everything is situated in different spots? For the life of me I thought I was going to go nuts with my buns peeing and so finally I just switched the levels in their house to the opposite side (so everything was opposite) and low and behold — It worked! Starting over in a new (COMPLETELY VINEGARED AND CLEAN SPACE!) and nipping the problem in the butt as soon as it happened stopped the problem rather quicker than I imagined. There were a few more accidents but we quickly cleaned them up (completely again! no scent can be left) and they soon figured it out. I would try doing something like that and then putting the BIGGER litter box into your set-up.

If you can’t get them to go in — maybe lure them in with some treats or put a trail of their favorite things around it? We also watched our bun VERY closely and gave him a treat every time he went pee in the litter box. He soon caught on that it was what we wanted. Except now he goes and is always sniffing around for treats but we still give them to him every so often when he does it now (not every time) which has helped ensure he didn’t lose the habit again.

[tanlover14]

I would also suggest not getting too frustrated with your bun about it (not saying you are!!) BUT when we were dealing with this with our little boy — we all became so frustrated that it actually began to hurt our bond with him when it came to the litter. He refused to go in and when we would try herding him in he’d get really aggressive and wouldn’t come near us until he peed somewhere else.

So I REALLY really caution against anything but total patience with your little guy. My boy is stubborn too which is the only reason I’m adding this. It was like he could sense our frustration and made him very stand-offish from us. I wouldn’t wanna wreck anything you’ve built with your bun over something as dumb as litter habits! So I’d figured I’d put in some moral support on that ground too!

[Crystal]

Thanks for the advice I will wait until the weekend when I can watch him and keep giving him treats when he does the right thing

[Crystal]

I vinegared the entire space but he still urinates outside the boxes I think this is just the way he is.

[Deleted User]

Hi! I had to create a new account b/c I couldn’t remember my old username or password.

Anyway this whole process has been a disaster. None of the steps that I’ve read online are working for my rabbits and everyday is a frustration. I’ve gotten used to it, but I’d still like to ask for some more advice. Luckily, I don’t have to worry about them urinating and marking up my whole room when I let them out to play. Their cage however is a whole different story. Their cage is an x-pen set-up and the floor is my carpet with sheets over it. Although they use their litterbox(es) for the most part, they will also still urinate on the floor and there will be a new stain everyday. I’ve been spraying each new stain with vinegar solution, and then placing a litterbox over it. The litterboxes have litter and hay inside. I will also change the sheets every 2 days or so. I’ve read online that rabbits like to urinate on soft, abosrbent surfaces, so maybe I should try placing a hard surface in their x-pen for litter training? What do you think? Is there anything else I should try first? I’ve spent a lot of money on litter boxes already, but I would be ok with buying a computer mat type thing for their cage if it will be worth it. Thanks for your help! Sometimes I regret getting a second rabbit, because my first rabbit used to be so perfect with her litter box. That made owning a rabbit a lot more enjoyable.

[Crystal]

woohoo.. they have gone 2 days without urinating outside the litter box so I really hope they keep this up. I have a really good feeling about this Right now I only have 1 large litterbox and I keep it covered with hay. I’ve stopped using the hay bin.

[tanlover14]

Thank goodness. Any number of days with no accidents is good process! If one of them takes a small step backward and has an accident don’t freak out, just clean it up as quickly as possible and make sure the scent is gone.

My little ones still sometimes have accidents but usually after re-doing everything again they are quickly back to normal.

[Author]

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