New- need help with my rabbits.

[MommyL]

Hi All!  This is my first time here and I am excited.  Here is some history:

I have a lionhead rabbit who is a female (unspayed, 7 months old) and she has lived in our house in a cage and was a bit difficult to litter train at first but then was great and got to run around the basement and would always go to her litter box. 

 

Recently, about two weeks ago, we got a 7-month old rex rabbit from our local humane society that is spayed.  They said she was litter trained.  That weekend we made a nice hutch for the outside and put the rabbits in there.  They have got along great, however litter training has went out the window! I have three different litter boxes in there hopeing they like one of the locations or litter boxes and they do use it some but sure not much.  When it is bad weather I bring them both into the inside cage but then they don’t do well with litter training either.  Even when they are in the living room hopping around they are still hardly using the litter box.

 

At first I thought this was all some kind of territoral behavior they were displaying but now after a couple weeks I don’t know what to do. I love to have them out with us in the house but they are constantly pooping all over.  I try to put treats in their litter box and put them in it right after they poop but doesn’t seem to be working. I would love your advice!

[Sarita]

It is territorial and also it’s hard to train rabbits who are outside in a hutch. You can’t see how they behave. The lionhead you will need to get spayed.

Can you consider bringing them in full-time where they can be more socialized and also where you can watch their behavior to see how they care getting along and what is causing them not to use the litter box – generally a hutch outside is a big litter box in my opinion.

[MommyL]

Picture of the girls:

[MommyL]

Posted By Sarita on 08/18/2011 06:28 PM
It is territorial and also it’s hard to train rabbits who are outside in a hutch. You can’t see how they behave. The lionhead you will need to get spayed.

Can you consider bringing them in full-time where they can be more socialized and also where you can watch their behavior to see how they care getting along and what is causing them not to use the litter box – generally a hutch outside is a big litter box in my opinion.

Should I get them in the same cage or seperate cages? We have them out quite a bit during the day but dealing with poop all over has been tough.

 

[Sarita]

Well if they are getting along and are fine together, keep them together. A large cage or an x-pen (4 feet x 4 feet) would be a good alternative to house them and easy to clean.

[Bunzilla!]

Almost the EXACT same thing happened to us.  We had an unspayed female that was 7 months old and we adopted a 2.5 year old male rex rabbit who was fixed.  Both were previously litter trained but, alas, they started peeing everywhere and my life suddenly transformed into pee-cleaner-upper for a good month.  They were moved into separate cages except for occasional interactive/playtime with each other.  The behavior stopped while they were separated (but resumed when they were allowed to play).  After getting our female spayed (an ordeal in and of itself), the behavior in both bunnies stopped.  Today, they are happily and cleanly living together – even sharing litterboxes.

 

Edit:  I misread your post and thought they were peeing everywhere!  Well, the widespread pooping stopped too  They tend to leave them all over the floor in their cage, but almost never anywhere else in the house.

[Elrohwen]

Some good advice all around – I think it’s definitely territorial and getting the lionhead spayed is the first step. I would also bring them inside, since it’s nearly impossible to keep them litter trained in an outdoor hutch when you can’t watch them and clean up messes immediately.

[Beka27]

I agree with the previous replies! You’re getting double the territorial marking at this point. Rabbits mark their territory against other rabbits (especially when one or both are unaltered), and they mark territory when brought into a new space. Constantly switching them between the outdoor hutch and the indoor area is too confusing and will only hurt their litter habits.

Bring them in permanently today, and call to schedule an appt to spay the unspayed bun ASAP. Once this is done, that’s when the real littertraining can take place.

[LionheadLady]

 Hey Mommy L., This is the one and only owner of your lionhead daughter’s parents. I want to thank you for showing me this forum. It’s pretty neat. I hate to say it, but you might end up having to get Miss L. (not sure if you want me to share her name) spayed. Hopefully the behavior will stop on it’s own, but she is probably pretty hormonal at the age she is now. I know Miss L. thinks she’s a princess to begin with, but without getting her spayed, my best suggestion right now would be to bring Miss B. in the house and leave Miss L. in the hutch for a week or two. Then bring Miss L. in the house and take her back out to the hutch if she can’t learn to act like a lady with her new friend. I imagine if she eventually sees that you are seriously favoring Miss B’s behavior over hers, she will try to straighten up her act a little bit. Don’t be surprised if she tries to take advantage of the indoor situation in the winter though. As picky as she was about litter in the beginning, I could just see her being that way if she knows you won’t put her back outside. I think for now she probably needs a little reality check on rules of the house and better to start enforcing them before winter hits. Hope this works! ~Mandy

[Tate]

The lionhead definitely needs to get spayed asap and both should be in the house, especially to monitor them more closely (for litterbox training). They are much more fun when you can see those little faces anyways.
Your unspayed female is doing exactly what she needs to be doing right now- and that’s to mark territory. She isn’t doing anything in spite of you and this is very far from a learned behavior. It will not stop on it’s own, nor will she pick up on the good litter habits of your new rabbit. Rabbits just don’t “think” like that. You may as well ask her to stop pooping and peeing altogether, as it’s not going to happen . The only remedy is to get her spayed, allow her hormones to die down a bit (takes a month or two) and then start litter training again. Plus, spaying has more upsides! Most importantly, you’ll eliminate the 80% risk of getting reproductive cancer by the time she is 4 years old. Here is a link to some sites that list rabbit savvy vets by state: https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/116849/Default.aspx
Welcome to BB! I’m looking forward to more pictures!

[Sage Cat]

Sounds like you have gotten lots of great advice.
Welcome to Binky Bunny!

[Author]

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