new cage- i may need to re-litter train?!

[doodlebut88]

 Hi friends!

 

My mom and I built a bunny condo for Reese about 2 weeks ago and he adores it.

It’s 3 stories tall and we’ve made a lot of changes to it, including changing the original carpet in it, putting bedding on the entire bottom floor, then taking that away and putting down vinyl- all kinds of changes.

Now we have vinyl on most of the bottom floor and carpet that starts around the ramp leading to the 2nd and 3rd floor, both of which are carpeted. This is great because my bun loves it. BUT he was being so good about going to the bathroom ONLY in his litter box in his old home and with his new home, not so much.

I know there was probably some confusion on his end because his litter box and bedding was the same material for a while, even in the new home (the litter box in the corner, made of plastic and a giant wooden “pan” with bedding in it for sleeping that ultimately became a more giant litter box). 

Now Reese uses the bathroom everywhere in his condo which, ultimately, rolls out of the wire and onto the floor EVERYWHERE around the cage. I know he’s gotta be making some connection between carpet and the litter box- same types of material, I guess. But I realllyyyyy need to get him back to JUST using his litter box. He still uses it, especially to pee, but he also uses the rest of his cage too and this is becoming really problematic and a multiple-times-a-day chore for me, which I don’t really have time for. 

Also, I was not the original litter trainer; he was a foster and I only recently adopted him, a little over a month ago.

 

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks,

Alexa

[jerseygirl]

Did you change the type of litter or box when he got the new cage? Sometimes they can protest too many changes. Though it sounds like he loves his new place, maybe the litter changes he’s not so wrapped about. With litter training, so helpful things to do are put a bit of urine soaked paper towel into the litter box to put the smell there and sweep up all poops and put them in there also. Clean up the rest of pee with vinegar water solution to neutralise the smell. Putting some hay or other munchies in one end of the the litter box can help also.

There’s some litter training tips under BUNNY INFO tab top of page.
Also at http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/litter.html

Loss of litter habits can also indicate a health issue so watch carefully. If he was trained before, it shouldn’t take too long to re-train him.

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