Leaving poops by the entrance of their room

[narkut]

Hi! I have 2 bunnies, a male and female, both nearly 5 months old and both spayed/neutered. They’ve been bonded since birth and are cage free. They own the living room!

They’re both litter trained and never wee outside of their litter trays. However, recently they have been leaving piles of poo just by the entrance of the living room (there’s only 1 door/entrance to the room). What could be the reason for them doing this?

I’m assuming this is territorial marking? Although I am surprised because they’re spayed/neutered and there are no other animals around they could possibly be smelling! I thought another reason could be that the bunnies have learnt that I keep their pellets outside of the living room. Could this be a reason? Has anyone noticed their buns poop near to where their pellets are stored?

Unfortunately I cannot put a litter tray in the area they have now chosen to poop in because it’s in the middle of the entrance and in the way. I would rather find out the cause of it and deal with that.

I look forward to reading your thoughts x

[Bam]

I’d say it’s territorial marking and the poop-barrier marks the place where their territory ends (or start, depending on how you look at it). My bunnies live separated by a gate, and they both poopmarking along the gate on either side. They are both neutered. I obviously can’t have litterboxes there because it’s a gate that gets opened many times a day – so I just sweep up the poop, often 2-3 times a day. It’s annoying, but I do see their point of view, so to speak.

[narkut]

Oh I see! I never thought of it like that, thanks for letting me know. I guess it is something I will have to deal with.

[flemishwhite]

Over the last 12 years, we’ve had three house bunnies.  Two of the three are living with us today, they’re 11 months old. Our previous bunny lived to be 11 1/2 years old.  All three bunnies probably got 99% of their poops in the litter box.  There was and is now a sprinkling of a poop here and there near the litter box. I don’t regard it as a problem. Bunny poop doesn’t stink, their pellets that are hard and dry and don’t stain.  Bunny poop has a herbacious smell with an overtone of onion or sulphur. Bunny primary gut bacteria is a bacteria that changes cellulose to glucose.  This bacteria is completely harmless to humans. 

On a few occasions, I’ve been in our kitchen and have been alarmed at what I thought I saw a bunny poop in the kitchen floor! Far away from their litter boxes. But on all occasions, IT WAS A COFFEE BEAN!

My experience with house rabbits is that litter box habits is not a problem. The problem is chewing!   Our first rabbit was an adult when she moved into out house. She weighed about 8 pounds. Providing her chewing substitutes worked out and with age there was no chewing problem. Our now Flemish “babies” when they passed through the age of 6 months or so, they were the size of most adult rabbits……..BIG chewing problems.  Actually, the solution to rabbit chewing problems is not that much of a problem. If you don’t respond to their chewing instinct they will chew carpets, drapes, furniture, upholstery, etc.  To prevent them from chewing carpets, drapes, furniture, upholstery, etc…just give them something to chew that tastes better.!!!  For our three rabbits, it’s been oat hay.  They really love to chew this, especially the oat kernels.  At 11 months old, our past terrible chewing problems with our Flemish babies, is no more.

After you’ve settled the litter box issue, and they aren’t no longer trying to chew your house down, the next problem is shedding.  For shedding, combing them and vacuuming the floor works. We really love our bunnies.  

[narkut]

I just wanted to update for anyone who may have been looking for answers to my question.
It has now been 3 months since the problem started and somehow, naturally, they have been decreasing the amount of pellets they leave at the entrance. Maybe their hormones post neutering/ spaying are starting to settle or maybe they have realised it is definitely tholeir territory. Either way my advice would be to just keep putting the pellets in the litter tray and let nature take its course.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Glad you situation is better. My 10 year old bun leaves a little line of poops all along his door and when he’s out, all along the pen of his neighbour, Sterling. They can be such stinkers….

[Author]

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