New bunnies and Litterbox chaos

[Seripa2]

Hello,

My family recently adopted a bonded pair of bunnies from a shelter, Soba & Edamame, both estimated to be 10-12 months old. It’s a female/male pair and both are spayed/neutered. The shelter did tell us they both had great litterbox habits when we were meeting the bunnies. Since getting home with them their litterbox habits have become pretty rough. They share a 12-16 square foot pen with 2 large litter boxes. We also give them 6-8 hours to run around our downstairs each day.  They do not pee or poop outside of their pen at all, but in the pen they are peeing all over the floor. It seems to be around the edges more, not confined to the corners, but I’ve also cleaned spots in the middle of the pen floor. We know a little bit about Soba’s past and she was kept in a pen with barely enough room to move and no litter area. The shelter thought they would have to amputate her tail because she lost the ability to move it, but with treatment and good care she regained control and is fine now. The shelter did not have any details on Edamame’s past. The bunnies I’ve had in the past always just peed in the litterbox with no effort from me so I’m at a loss on the right way to proceed. Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[DanaNM]

How long have you had them home? Sometimes bunnies take a while to get organized, and it’s common for them to mark a lot at first in a new territory (but that’s great they seem to only be going in their pen). It can help to restrict their space a bit at first, and experiment a bit with litter box placement to see if they prefer one area over another.

What is the flooring like in the pen?

. . . 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.  

[Seripa2]

We have had them for about a month now. The pen floor is a piece of linoleum with some texture to help prevent slipping. It makes the pee easy to clean as well.

We did restrict their freedom quite a bit the first 2 weeks, which proved quite challenging as my house is an open floor plan and Edamame is a curious explorer who will go under/over/around to keep going. We allowed more freedom downstairs when we saw that they weren’t using the bathroom outside of the pen and Edamame wanted the space to run and jump. If it would be helpful we will try to limit space again.

[DanaNM]

I would try confining them to their pen for a few days and see if that helps.

You might also try to see when they pee outside the box. Some bunnies cannot have access to any hay outside their box or they will just pee/poop where they are.  Or maybe they pee after cleaning to try to remark the area as theirs?

. . . 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.  

[Seripa2]

Thanks, I’ll confine them tomorrow and sit close to them to see if I can figure out when they are peeing outside the box.

[LBJ10]

Definitely sounds like territorial marking to me. It’s understandable, as they are wanting to claim the pen as theirs. The rest of the house, at the moment, is probably neutral-ish to them. I agree with Dana. Confine them and experiment to see if anything seems to be amplifying it.

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