My rabbit won’t chose a corner to use the bathroom… Help!?

[NewBunnyOwner123]

I need some litter training help! I have a litter pan in one corner of the cage with paper pellets and a nice stack of hay to munch on. But he never intentionally goes to the box to pee or poop. He will poop in it if he so happens to be in the box while munching on hay. But my main concern is I want them to PEE in the box! There are little round wet pee spots randomly throughout the whole cage. They don’t just chose a corner they just kinda pee wherever they are when they have to go! I don’t mind the poop as much but it would be nice if they peed in the box because changing the whole cages bedding every couple of days will get expensive. 

My main question is this, I have care fresh bedding for the bottom of their whole cage and have the paper pellets in the box. Is the care fresh confusing them? I don’t want them peeing just on the plastic and then their fur soaking it up… I don’t know what to do! They are about 10 to 11 weeks old but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were a little older. I thought litter training was easy?! 

[Sarita]

You don’t want to put any litter at all in the bottom of the cage – this can be confusing for rabbits. Litter training isn’t always that easy – it takes patience and persistence many times with younger rabbits.

[Beka27]

Yes, the Carefresh is confusing them. Part of it is their age and the fact they are not neutered yet, but the best thing you can do right now is to remove ALL bedding from the bottom of the cage. No Carefresh, no litter, no hay, no blankets/towels, no pet beds. Only have litter and hay IN the litterbox.

I’ve used this analogy before… Imagine being in a room with a dozen toilets, but you’re only allowed to “use” one. And no one has told you WHICH ONE! This is what you’re doing to the bunnies… you’re giving them a dozen toilets and then getting frustrated when they don’t choose the “right” one!

They are still going to pee on the cage bottom from time to time. Newly weaned bunnies are basically like a 2-year-old toddler who is just starting to learn potty habits. There will be accidents. Just clean it up and drop the wet napkin/paper towel in the litterbox. They’ll catch on eventually.

Also, make sure to limit out of cage time right now. They’re not ready for an 8 hour free roam session. Have them out for 30 minutes or so and return them to the cage for a bit. They need to start associating their cage (and then the litterbox) with where they’re supposed to go.

[NewBunnyOwner123]

So if I remove the care fresh they will automatically want to go to the litterbox to pee? I just don’t want them soaking up pee with their fur if they still chose to pee wherever whenever…

[NewBunnyOwner123]

Ok thank you! I will remove the care fresh now.

[Sarita]

There are never any guarantee’s unfortunately – wish there was though! What you will want to do is to use toilet paper to soak up the pee on the bottom of the cage and put it in their litter box so hopefully they get the idea. Another thing is to watch them and if you see they are urinating – place them in their litter box right away.

[Beka27]

They may step in pee now and then until they catch on, but there’s no other way for them to learn. After they’re neutered and firmly established in their litter habits, you might be able to give them pet beds or blankets to comfy their space up. Some rabbits will always pee on soft surfaces, but some can have blankets and pet beds and are just fine.

[NewBunnyOwner123]

Omg you would not believe what just happened lol I was scooping up the care fresh and there was still some in the corner and the girl went to the corner and peed on it! So I guess I was confusing them because she definitely had to cross the cage to get to that corner and she didn’t just go wherever she was! Thank you guys so much! I was contemplating taking it out because I felt like they might prefer the comfy care fresh over the pellets.

Would it be best to leave some care fresh in every corner at first? Kinda like giving them the choice of their bathroom and then moving the litter box to that corner?

[Beka27]

You can put a thin layer of carefresh over the pellets in the litterbox if you want. Maybe that’ll help them associate the litterbox with where they need to pee if they prefer carefresh. After a bit, try to reduce the amount of carefresh to break them of needing it (carefresh is really expensive to use long-term.)

Get all the bedding out of the cage, just have the one box and encourage them to use that. How big is the litterbox, it’s not one of those “corner” boxes, is it?

[NewBunnyOwner123]

It is a corner box to save space. I have been adding pee soaked care fresh to it from them going on the floor of their cage. The cage is just a temporary set up until we get the bigger one built for the kitchen.

[Sarita]

Probably once you get the new cage and a bigger litter box that is going to help since you have 2 rabbits sharing one box – bigger is always better for litter boxes.

[CharleyBunn]

Remove all the bedding except for in the litter box. Also use a larger litter box, not a corner one. That’s what worked for my baby bunny, he’s about 2 months old.

[NewBunnyOwner123]

Thanks guys. They have made a dramatic improvements since removing the bedding. Sure I was cleaning up pee the first two days but the girl seems to be consist with her litterbox and the boy was choosing a corner and so I moved it to that corner and he used the box! There are still accidents but at least they seem to get to their boxes half the time. Bigger than before on when the litterbox was cleaner than the rest of their cage :p

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