Litter training and weird noises

[YandereCapybara]

Our bunny, Gary, is two months old.
However, he’s already honking. Is this normal?
Also, he literally climbs out of his litterbox to pee.
He does everything in his litterbox, except for peeing and pooping.
Despite the fact that he has a bed, he chooses to sleep in his box.
He keeps it pristinely clean.
When we saw a poop pellet coming out, we put him into the box, and he jumped out.
He normally twitches his tail when he’s about to pee, and we put him in the box when we saw this.
Again, he jumped out.
Why does he do this?

[bunnytowne]

I am wondering if he is not neutered and his testicals have descended yet?  If so and not neutered I woudl think a neuter is in order.  It may be he is marking his territory and the honking the desire to mate?  Usually males descent their testicles at 4 months tho.   And want to hump your feet lol

[YandereCapybara]

He’s not neutered, but his testicles have not appeared yet.

[Wick & Fable]

Litter box training is a human-created concept. Naturally, a rabbit may not want to go to the bathroom where the owner has designated “should be the toilet”. In terms of him hopping out when you out him in, imagine someone lifting you away from toilet when you’re about to pee, and they put you on a random table. You’re probably not going to pee, because to you, you don’t want to pee on a table. You want to pee in a toilet. To your rabbit right now, the litter box isn’t a place to go pee, so you need to be more patient in order to make your rabbit comfortable with that connection. If he jumps out, put him back in before he pees.

Honking at that age is uncommon, but not unheard of. Can you confirm it’s honking and not clogged nasal passages, possible from a stuffy nose?

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.

[Rio and Buns]

Instead of picking him up and putting him into his litter box (or maybe in addition to that), try sweeping up any poop that he leaves outside of the box and dump them in there. Soak up his pee with paper towels and put those in there too. He’ll smell his poo and pee in there and be inclined to go in the same spot. My bun picked up on this in less than a day but it could take a few days for your boy.

Are you leaving hay in the litterbox, or in a rack by it that he can reach while sitting in there?

[Sirius&Luna]

Could you try a different litter box too? It sounds like he’s designated his litter box as his favourite place, so no wonder he doesn’t want to ruin it by peeing in it! Perhaps you could try a different shaped one, like a corner one, and put it wherever it is that he’s hopping out to pee.

Two months is still very young though, so part of it is just patience until he’s older and neutered.

[YandereCapybara]

I’ve tried putting in pee stained toilet paper as well as giving him a different litter box.
He pushes the paper out, and he refuses to pee in the other one as well.
He has hay in a rack only accessible from his litterbox and on his litterbox as well.
I can confirm that his nasal passages are clear (no drippy nose, no sneezing, only honks when he’s eating/being pet)

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Woops, this does sound like an early-onset puberty. Is he a dwarf or dwarf mix by any chance? They tend to mature faster than larger breeds.
Litter box training is going to be difficult as long as his hormones are still up and running, but I’ve already seen that you’re doing everything as adviced. I’d take him to the vet to get him assessed for neutering.

Do you have a rabbit-savvy vet around to neuter him? One way to find one is to look at our Vet Resources topic: https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/116849/afnp/276220/Default.aspx
A good vet has exotic animal experience, regularly does neuters AND spays, and gives your rabbit a proper check-up before doing any surgery.
How to spot a bad vet: any vet which advises you to bring in a rabbit sober before surgery should keep his/her hands off your bunny. If a vet or vet tech comes up with this; run! Humans, dogs and cats have to go under sober because we can vomit and choke on it during anaesthesia. A rabbit physically can’t vomit, and fasting will likely cause them digestive upset. They’re also going to need the energy to recover quickly.

Rabbits make a lot of different noises which can be just at the edge of hearing. The meanings can vary from rabbit to rabbit and some rabbits will become more or less vocal over the course of their life. Breintje has become very vocal since he’s been living with me, he has learned to communicate many of his wants and needs. This is what we could distinguish from our Breintje so far:

– Purring: soft tooth clicking when we pet him. Oh yes!
– Moping: soft grunts in a row, sounds like someone exhaling from a blocked nose. “Njeh! Njuh Njuh Njuh!” Too cute ^_^ He does this when he’s a bit impatient: when we’re late getting him his dinner or he’s been waiting to get out of his hutch for ages.
– Honking: when he still had all his gentleman bits and was making advances towards every object within reach. I lost many balls of fine knitting yarn those weeks…Yuck! In exchange we made the vet take his
– Loud grunt: Hrrrmpf! You’ll know immediately that this is one p-ed off rabbit. He rarely makes this sound, except right before he attacks something. Something like the vacuum cleaner or other things which startle him. A friend of mine was hugging him on the floor and she was wearing a bandana. It slid out of her hair and fell on Breintjes nose. He jumped up, grunted loudly and attacked it.
– Thumping softly: Tap! with the front of his foot. Wanting attention, no chance you’re going to ignore me, I’ll continue to tap-tap-tap at you until I get my cuddles. He does this when he thinks it’s cuddle time. He’ll sit on the couch next to my spot, and he’ll stare at me and tap! until I come over. Well-trained eh?
– Thumping loudly: TAP! with whole foot. Extreme excitement, extreme anger or extreme fright.

[Rain]

Your rabbit may be honking at you as a sign of anger. Rabbits honk to indicate that they are upset with you for doing something, such as putting him in the litter box when he doesn’t want to, or because of hormones and the desire to mate. In this situation, it seems most likely that your rabbit is doing it because he’s angry that you’re bothering him. I’m not sure I can offer any advice on the litter training though. As said above, neutering is helpful.

[sarahthegemini]

Honking is definitely normal, although a little early at only two months! My boy honks at my girl occasionally and runs in circles around her. It’s definitely a hormonal mating thing.

[Author]

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