How to know when potty wars are over?

[Lykan]

Hi, all!

Thank you so much for your advice regarding Gideon and Tess so far! They’re taking to each other really well, and I’m especially surprised about it given Gideon’s initial grumpiness over having to share the house. He’s always been very good with litter training and the potty wars already seem to have subsided — at least on his end. Tess, on the other hand, seems to be only 50% litter trained. When I adopted her I was told that she had taken well to training before, and I know that bunnies can sometimes lose their training when they move locations. But when do I change strategies? I’ve been allowing it to happen (cleaning up after her, obviously, but still letting her take a turn free roaming pretty often) because I figured that she was just taking longer to feel established in this territory, especially with Gideon having been here longer. At what point should I stop writing this off as part of the potty wars and start focusing entirely on litter training her?

[Wick & Fable]

Unfortunately, there is no clear way to identify what is “potty wars” versus lack of litterbox adoption, and arguably, it is impossible to separate the two as well. Perhaps you can just line the border with litter boxes to address both matters at once?

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Lykan]

Thanks for the response! She seems pretty random with when and where she potties — I’ve put litterboxes in every place that she seems to have a “collection” going, but there are random droppings here and there in every spot in her cage. She’s happy to sit in her litterbox and munch on her hay, and unless she’s free roaming she’ll hop in the box to pee most of the time, but it doesn’t look like she’s taking to it very well. I’ll try lining the border like you suggested. Wish me luck!

[DanaNM]

Are they bonded yet?

A lot of times things wont improve fully until they are completely bonded, and sometimes even a few weeks after that. With mine it’s usually been a gradual improvement once they were bonded and living in their final home. Sometimes there is an uptick in marking right AFTER they are bonded, as though they are marking their new turf as a couple.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Lykan]

They are not yet bonded! This is very reassuring, thank you!

[Author]

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