Hi I’m new to the bunny world… litter questions

[Ruffles&Daisy]

Hiya,

I just got a new rabbit (well, he’s about 5 months old), Ruffles, male neutered lilac colored rabbit.  The rescue said he is litterbox trained, but he isn’t and I’m frustrated.  He doesn’t go pee in his cage, he waits until he’s out and then pees…. grrrr….. So, we put a box where he urinated, and then he found a different spot to pee.  What should we do?  I want to be able to trust him so that he can have many hours of free time.  He’s so good otherwise, he doesn’t chew on things, he doesn’t bite.  He’s very cute and we are committed to solving this problem, but how?? I don’t want his cage to be a prison, but I think we gave him too much freedom too soon.  He never found a corner in his cage where he will urinate.  Should we leave him in there until he consistently urinates in his cage?  I feel so bad doing that  but I can’t constantly clean up bunny pee. 

[kimberleyanddarren]

Hi, (hopefully one of the admins will notice your double post and remove it) anyway my first question is is he neutered? if not this could be a huge benefit in him learning to pee in his box, however you could still try using more than one litterbox, ie put one in every corner he is peeing in and then removing one by one until eventually he is just using one, also try soaking the urine up with a paper towel and placing that into one of the litterboxes, do you have hay in each box? if not try this as they like to eat and pee/poop at the same time.

Here is a link which may help you to look over.

Litter training Tips

[Sarita]

Welcome and congratulations on your new bunny.

It is possible you have given him too much freedom too soon. How long have you had him?

What type of litter are you using? Maybe he doesn’t like the litter. Also are you putting a handful of hay in his litter box? Try that to encourage him to use his litterbox.

You can remove your own double post too – the admins don’t have too – just push the delete button.

[Ruffles&Daisy]

Duh… sorry about the double post…. Anyhow, yes he’s neutered and I’ve been using yesterdays news (the paper pellets), then hay on top. As far as catching him in the act, I will say NO and then shuffle him to his cage. On Thursday, we will have had him a week (so less than a week).

Also, different question: Do rabbits mind if you change their cage configuration? I know they are creatures of habit, but I’m trying to rethink his living arrangements. Thanks, this website is very useful. I will try to get a pic of Ruffles as soon as I figure out how…

[Alicia Conklin]

I think changing the cage around depends on the bun.  Mine doesn’t really seem to mind too much..he gets a bit huffy during the actual change like when I’ve taken apart the enclosure to redo the design of it..but he actually seems to LIKE when I rearrange things…gives him new stuff to explore and play in

[JK]

Edson doesn’t care what I do.  I just recently completely changed it and he just followed me around being completely nosey and getting in my way.  He’s very happy with the new arrangement.  I moved his maze to a different area and now he sleeps all day in it.  Didn’t go in it much before. So cute.  Some buns may have a fit but they’ll get over it!

[kimberleyanddarren]

mine like it when i change it around as they are right nosy buggers and love exploring what their silly bunny mommy has done now

[Alicia Conklin]

I rearrange the stuff in mine nightly That way he has something to do all night while I’m sleeping. I put all his toys in places that he won’t want them in and then he moves them all back and I do the same thing with his grass mats lol..I’m probably annoying the heck out of him every night but atleast it gives him something to do hehe

[MarkBun]

You may also be giving him too much freedom to begin with. When I get a new bun, I keep them just in their cage for 48 hours. Let them get to know the sights and sound while feeling completely safe in the cage. Then a couple of days with them just having a small area to romp around in (about the size of an exercise pen). Then slowly increase their range. Too much room could have them thinking that they have too much area to mark with just the poos and decide for the stronger stuff.

You can also check with the shelter as to what they used as litter. Maybe he prefers to poop in one type – I know that Maryann does.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Welcome!! Lots of great advice already.

For litter training, I’ve found there are only a couple of things you need to tweak to fix it. Litter type. Placement. And adding poop and pee to the box right from the start and keeping it dirtier then you plan to in the future-just for them to get the picture.

Rabbits mind their cage configuration in that they like things the way they like things, and they like to get used to things. That being said, they don’t really (usually) get mad, but I change stuff around all the time-that way they have to check it all out all over again-it gives them exercise and keeps them engaged and playful. Rearrange away!

[Ruffles&Daisy]

Update on Ruff: Last night he had a lot of running time and we blocked off one of the areas where he liked to mark. Anytime he went near it, we said Litterbox Ruffles, and he shuffled himself away from that area. We also have a box set up in a corner of our family room and he would poop outside it, so I would put them in the box and say Litterbox, I think he got the message. He also peed in the box. So that’s all going well, but he has not urinated inside his cage. I think that can be a potential problem. He does spend a lot of time in there and I want him to use his cage as his bathroom. I thought to switch out the boxes so that the one he’s been peeing in will go inside his cage. Do you think that would work? I don’t want to overwhelm him or confuse him more than he already is…. He’s only been here about a week.

[Alicia Conklin]

How big is his cage?  Does he have a section in there for lounging and a section for litter box?  If the whole thing is covered in litter he might get confused..he also might not want to pee where he sleeps either. 

[kAtHrYnLoVeSdAiSy]

Help me please!! I am a new bunny mummy and I feel so alone!!!

I am trying to litter box train my bunny. She’s about 14 weeks old and has a good sized hutch which I am keeping in the living room at the moment until I move to my new house next month. (where she will have her very own room!) I have her out of the hutch most of the day. She only goes back in when I can’t watch her.

So far, she has been doing #1’s in the secluded part of her hutch right next to the corner litterbox I put in there for her. She mainly does her #2’s  in the liter box when in the hutch.

BUT when I let her out, she does #2’s everywhere! And I mean e v e r y w h e r e!! They just seem to fall out of her bum as she hops around! I swear, half of my life is about picking up her poop! Everytime she does them, I scoop them up and put them in the litter box outside of the hutch but she doesn’t bother to do it in there. When it comes to #1’s , she seems to be getting the hang of the box. She does it near the box or just beyond it, so I have put paper down around the box to catch any little mistakes, but I am proud of the efforts she has made so far!

But how can I stop her doing her #2’s everywhere?? Any advice would be so welcome! Thank you so much!!!

 <— This is my little pickle! Her name is Daisy Boo!

[Alicia Conklin]

Bunnies poop to mark the area as theirs so that could be what she’s doing. Mine does that sometimes still and I just vacuum them up later. 

What kind of shavings are those in the hutch?

[Lightchick]

KathrynLovesDaisys post is almost another thread….

If anyone has an answer to her question, I’d love to hear it! Lizzy is perfect about her litter box training…unless she wants to make a point, then she hops up on the bed and pees with an evil look in her eye! Or she hops over to Thumper’s doorstep and poops on it. Definitely about territory and marking. I get that.

Thumper is just a creature of routine. Before BF and I took him, he always went in one corner of the cage. So when we took him, we got rid of all the nasty pine shavings, gave him a litter box in the same corner that he used to go in with some soiled bedding inside, and OILA! Litter-box trained unneutered male! Even when he’s out of the cage hopping around!

Then there’s Flower. Poor Flower is a sweet sweet little girl. She’s not nearly as bright as the other two, though. She’s a little spacey, and a little unpredictable, in that she doesn’t have any routines/habbits/quirks. It’s very hard to tell what’s going on in her little bunny brain, because she doesn’t react to much. She cowers when the dog barks outside. Eats when we feed her. Poops and pees everywhere whenever the mood strikes her. She does the same thing as Daisy…leaves a steady trail of poos as she moves around the room. No organized little piles for her! Litter box training is, thus far, a dismal failure because she just doesn’t REACT to any training techniqes. I’m not sure she understands what they mean at all…. Argh! No, she’s not spayed, yet. But we’ve been going through this with her for 3 weeks, with no improvement…

So I’d love a response to KathrynLovesDaisys question, too!

Ruffles, I responded to your other thread… I agree with everybody that it might be a case of too much space too soon. I know you want your bunny to have freedom, but they don’t really understand how to regulate their behavior with that much freedom, until they are familiar with their own personal space…I let Lizzy run rampant too soon, and she turned into a tyrant! When I took some space away from her, LOTS of her behaviors improved, and now she gets free-reign when I’m home. (Of course, she still pushes the boundaries when she thinks I’m not looking…which is why she goes back in the pen when I leave! I found her in the fireplace the other day…don’t worry, it’s just an empty brick hole-in-the-wall. But still, she knows she’s not allowed in there!…She got a “roasted-rabbit” threat for that one!)

[kAtHrYnLoVeSdAiSy]

Thanks for your responses guys!

TuckerBunz, I have her in a hutch at the moment (it’s only temporary until I move to a new house next month) and so I line the hutch with newspaper (which she shreds if I haven’t been able to have her out for a while – have a feeling that’s due to boredom) and I cover the paper with a few wood shavings. Not a lot, but enough to soak up any mess etc. In the secluded part of the hutch I have a corner litter box and plenty of hay as I was told to put the hay near to where she does her “business” She does her #1’s next to the litter box and most of her #2’s in the box itself.

I think you’re right about her marking her territory. Everywhere she goes, she rubs her chin on every little thing! I have noticed that when I am on the floor playing with her, she forgets to poop. It’s only when she first gets out of the hutch that she does them everywhere. At first, I thought she wasn’t aware of doing them, but since she stops when pre-occupied, I don’t think that’s the case.

As for her #1’s outside the hutch, she has been brilliant! As soon as I let her out, she runs straight to the litter box and goes. There have been a few “accidents” but nothing I can’t handle. The worst of which is when she does what I call “binky-wee” which is where she does a binky and pees a little at the same time. Anyone else’s bunny do that, or is it just my crazy Daisy??

Lightchick – how did you get Lizzy to learn that the litterbox was the place to go? I have been sweeping up her poop and puting it into the box to give her a subtle hint! It might be working, I’m not sure. She does do a lot of poops near the litter box (rarely actually in it though)

Sorry for all the questions! I’m so new to this and I want to get it right!

KLD xx

UPDATE: She’s been out for the last hour and hasn’t pooped once!! She did a few in her box and then nothing!! Progress!!!

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