Litter Training Advice Please

[Firsttimer]

Hi there, I’m on holiday in England just now and my rabbits are being cared for back in Scotland where I know they will be having a great time.  The time away is making me think about Pepper and Dylan’s terrible litter habits, they are definately getting worse as they are using their litter tray less and less!  Anyway, on my return to Scotland next week I would really like to try and retrain them.  If anyone can provide any suggestions I would really appreciate them.  Has anyone had to do this before? 

[jerseygirl]

Has anyone had to do this before?

You’d be surprised how often a retraining is required. Rabbits can lose their habits for many reasons and so need a refresher as Binky Bunny calls it. It’s just going back the original training, restrict their space, mop up any accidents and neutralise smell, sweep up poop and put it into the litter box. Even reward them when they do use it. (That is, reward them at the time they are sitting in there using it.) When they improve, you can increase their space again, if they revert, back to smaller space.

Sorry, didn’t ask, are they already penned up or caged? Are the litter habits bad here or elsewhere in the home? What sort of litter box do you have?  You know sometimes it can be as simple as providing a different style litter box to have them back using it. Or refreshing it more regularly.  AND sometimes, for some, a new litter box can cause a lapse in habits or a box that’s too clean. Talk about contrary!

Enjoy your holiday btw!

[BinkyBunny]

Thanks jerseygirl! Sooooo glad you are here!

I have had to do litter training refresher courses – usually when something sets them off. A petsitter, the cat got into their area – they..Jack doesn’t like him in his space. Usually if I let it go on for too long, it takes a longer time to retrain, so if they’ve been like this for awhile, be prepared that it could take a month if they are stubborn.

Also, many times rabbits have poo more during part of the day than the others. For example, Jack usually poos in the evening and throughout the night because that is when he eats the most. So if you can figure out their poop schedule and then be there when they are pooping or peeing in the wrong place and catch them in the act and get them to their litterbox – that will have the fastest impact. I also cut treats into tiny itsy bitsy pieces and scatter it throughout the hay (usually opposite of the corner that that they normally pee in in the box) This helps entice them in too.

Jersey is so right about a box being too clean too or too dirty. You can find what your bunnies prefer. Jack prefers to have poop and pee in there. If it is totally clean, he won’t go in there.(So when I clean the box, I always put back some of the urinated/poo litter (not much, just like a 1/3 cup) Rucy, however, was just the complete opposite. So I kept two boxes – one to suit her habits, and one to suit his. Of course, Jack always got into Rucy’s too once she had gone in there, but I just was much more diligent about her box. Scooped up the poo/pee every day in her box.

[Firsttimer]

Thanks for the advice, I’m relieved to hear that this is normal and doable! I think I have every type of litter box under the sun now, having just bought one of those cat litter boxes. I thought Dylan might be more likely to use a cat box because he likes to hide.

I have tried various different methods, clean, unclean, daily clean, lots of litter, thin layer of litter, no mats for traction, hay in the litter box etc. but was really starting to pull my hair out because nothing was working. I will take it right back to basics. I thnk what phased me was that before it was just one rabbit at a time and now there’s two to work with, also I feel guilty that I can’t let them out to play.

They are in a pen in my living room. I have moved meal times to tackle the mess they leave when they are out of their pen which has helped but somehow Pepper still manages to keep a store of pellets to use on the rug. She will pee on the sofa if left unattended but apart from that they both keep their pee to the pen. Dylan is the better of the two but I’ve noticed he’s getting worse.

[Author]

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