New bunny, pooping all over!

[msarro]

I got Layla, my first bunny, on sunday. I know its been a very limited amount of time, but most of the resources I’ve read on litter training say that rabbits tend to defecate/urinate in a single spot. However, this does not seem to be the case. She’s basically gone everywhere in her cage, even though I’ve been picking up everything I can find and putting it in her litter tray. Is this a territory marking thing which will stop when she feels more at home and safe? Should I be removing the excrement or leave it in place until the cage smells like her?

Yesterday we put her cage on my bed and let her run around between my girlfriend and I so she could get some exercise, and I noticed that unlike the first night we had her there were no accidents. As long as she keeps going consistantly in the cage I’m not too worried, though I would really prefer that she use her litter tray.

[Sarita]

Do you know how old she is?

Are you putting hay in her litter box?

[msarro]

I’m actually not sure how old she is. The pet store knew very little other than, “they just got them in last week.” When we asked about the sex they said they weren’t really supposed to tell us (apparently petsmart has gotten angry customers for telling people they had a male who ended up being pregnant), but their manager said she appeared to be female. I tried to determine myself but I’ve only ever sexed rats.

Right now there is a hay traugh clipped right next to her litter box, plus there is always a handful of hay in the litterbox itself.

[Sarita]

She’s probably very young then and they are a little more of a challenge when they are babies to litter train because they are more focused on exploring and playing than anything else.

That’s odd about them not knowing or wanting to tell the sex and pretty bad policy in my opinion.

When you find a vet I would have him/her sexed – females should not be spayed until they are around 6 months old if you can wait that long – males can be neutered as soon as their testicles descend.

If she’s indeed a baby then I say just be patient and persistent about cleaning up after her and moving the box eventually where she wants to use it which might be all over for awhile.

Do you have a litter box for her? You aren’t putting litter in the bottom of her cage are you like bedding? That can confuse them as well.

[msarro]

Right now she has a corner litter tray in her pen. Its filled with a little bit of bunny litter (recycled paper pellets). The rest of the pen is bedded with other recycled paper bedding which is much softer and fluffy, kind of like wadded up tissues. I wanted to make sure to use two different types of bedding so she knew what was going on.

Here is a picture of her with my girlfriend to give you an idea of the size, and a picture of her in her pen so you can see the bedding and size.

 

 

ps: excuse the mess in the first photo, we’re packing stuff to move it out of the room so its a bit more bunny-proof.

[Sarita]

She’s beautiful.

I would take the litter out of the bottom – even though you are trying to distinguish the two, it’s really not necessary and it’s confusing to her and more work for you.

I would put down some grass mats or some carpets you can clean and put a litter tray only in one corner. What size is your cage – it looks like a Marchioro – these are nice cages but eventually you are going to have to build something larger or use an x-pen (or puppy pen) to house her in.

[TARM]

Shew! My bunny boys poop EVERYWHERE! I just shop vac their cage twice a day. They’re only going on 8 weeks old so I’m not really concerned about it yet.

That looks like carefresh in her cage. Most people put that in the litter box. My boys were living in aspen bedding but now they’re in their big boy cage. The aspen is in the litter box and the floor of their cage is covered with a blanket that I can throw in the wash until they learn to pee and poop in the litter box.

[msarro]

http://www.shop.com/Marchioro_Starter_Kit_For_Rabbits_Green_Large_35424-98860693-p!.shtml

Thats the cage I’m using, it is a Marchioro. Its dimensions are 32″x20″x17″ My plan is to only use the cage for when I’m out of the home, and get her litter trained so she can roam the bedroom as long as I’m there. Think I’d still need a larger pen? My parents breed rats so I’m sure I can find a larger cage if needed without much trouble, especially since they demo custom cages at rodent shows.

I’ll check out the grass mats that they had at the pet store. I’ve also seen suggestions about covering the floor of the cage with sheets of newspaper so you can easily identify any wet spots, tear them off and put them in the litterbox so they know where its supposed to go. Have you tried this?

I’ll clear out the carefresh that is in the bottom of the pen in a couple days – i figure that its there for now, she may as well use it, haha.

[Sarita]

Yeah, that cage is pretty small once she gets larger. It’s hard to know too how large she will be so even if she has free roam but is caged when you aren’t home it’s better to go bigger or use and x-pen if you can eventually.

I haven’t tried newspaper but I say give it a try to see how it works – as long as you are diligent in cleaning. I’m not a big fan of newspaper but it might work.

[msarro]

Thanks again for all of your help
I’ll leave the bedding out next time I clean her cage, and I’ll give the grass mat a shot since they were really cheap at the pet store. I’m guessing she’s just a baby still and that might be why she’s going all over. I’ll just wait and see what she does in the future

[Deleted User]

msarro, I did the EXACT same thing with CareFresh litter all over the bottom and a different lavender scented paper pellet litter in the litter pan thinking they would learn the difference, but it didn’t matter. They peed in the pan, but pooped EVERYWHERE! The bedding that they turned into litter would be very expensive to replace every week so I just keep the litter in the pan with a cover of hay and an old towel on the cage bottom. Now they just leave a couple poops here and there when eating, but they’re still young. Outside of the cage, no accidents as of yet!

Such a beautiful bunny!  Congrats on being adopted by Layla!

Sometimes I wonder just who’s training who? Them or us!

[Cassi&Charlie]

Another Layla, I think there’s three here now. I just got my Layla last Thursday and she’s pooing everywhere too. I think she’s just marking everything because no matter where she is, carpet, floorboards, grass mats etc she poos. Lucky for us it’s as simple as vacuuming the little stray presents up. I bet your Layla is just so excited to be out of the pet store that she’s forgotten about pooing in the litter tray and will get better in a few weeks Congrats on getting a new bunny, and wonderful name selection!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

CUTE!! And I think your a great bunny dad already! Let us know how it goes when you stop the bedding on the floor!

[JackBunny]

My 6month old rabbit named Jack has a large pen ( only four pieces ) and he has a 2 litter boxes with hay in them. He IS neutered. But the problem is that he pees in his litter box perfectly ( only 2 mistakes so far ) but he poos ALL OVER and I’ve been doing everything. We really want a house rabbit, we have had him for almost a month but he doesn’t catch on. We have considered even RABBIT DIAPERS but then, cocotropes. He is super tame and smarter than ever! In the matter of a few days, he has mastered 2 tricks, Target and Up. I know he is smart but I do not even know what to do next. I love him very much. PLease help me!!!

[LittlePuffyTail]

Hi and Welcome to BB! We ask that members please not respond to old threads (this one is from 2008) as it can cause confusion. Please start a new thread with your questions. You will also get more feedback. Thanks

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