One Bun Trained, One Not, Do They Both Get Locked Up?

[LaraK]

Hey everyone. So we have Frankie and Angie, and they’re both sweet bunnies. (Well, except, Frankie bites my husband and once my son, but never my daughter or me; but that’s another thread) … but Angie is perfectly littertrained, and Frankie (when out) pees on the couch and poops EVERYWHERE.  I keep him off the couch but he’ll hop up to pee really quickly … even if he just peed. He has an unlimited amount of pee and poop I think. Now, I know he won’t learn if he’s out, so I put him back. But then Angie, who is perfect with her habits, sits at the cage and looks at him. Should she have her out-time lessened because he can’t seem to learn proper bathroom manners?  

 Does anyone else have two bonded bunnies with completely different litter habits, and how do you handle it?  Thanks! (They’re both fixed).

[tophdade]

Posted By LaraK on 11/25/2014 8:40 AM

Hey everyone. So we have Frankie and Angie, and they’re both sweet bunnies. (Well, except, Frankie bites my husband and once my son, but never my daughter or me; but that’s another thread) … but Angie is perfectly littertrained, and Frankie (when out) pees on the couch and poops EVERYWHERE.  I keep him off the couch but he’ll hop up to pee really quickly … even if he just peed. He has an unlimited amount of pee and poop I think. Now, I know he won’t learn if he’s out, so I put him back. But then Angie, who is perfect with her habits, sits at the cage and looks at him. Should she have her out-time lessened because he can’t seem to learn proper bathroom manners?  

 Does anyone else have two bonded bunnies with completely different litter habits, and how do you handle it?  Thanks! (They’re both fixed).

Maybe a shot in the dark here, but if Frankie is biting/aggressive towards your male house inhabitants, he might be attempting to mark against them when he’s out. Like I said, shot in the dark but stranger things have happened. To combat this, your son and husband need to bond more often with Frankie (you can find threads on human>bunny bonding elsewhere). Either way, bunnies do not learn from punishment, and locking them up is the worst kind of punishment. They don’t get out to play, they get out because they need exercise and playing does that for them and also makes them happy. Put all of his poops in his litter box, clean his pee spots and place hand towels over them if he continues. I’m sure someone can give better advice on anti-urination strategies, but the absolute wrong way to fix it is to punish either of them. They simply won’t understand and will only become more upset, which may ruin Angie’s impeccable habits.

[LaraK]

Thanks for the answer. I don’t exactly ‘punish’ Frankie … I tell him he’s a good bunny but he can’t do that, and I put him back in the cage for a time-out (and all the poops do go in the litter, and I clean up the pee of course. When he’s in the cage, he knows where to go … mostly with poop, always with pee). In fact everything I’ve read says to put him back when he has a pee accident, especially, so that bad habits aren’t reinforced, and he learns he can’t just pee everywhere. He gets more time out, after a cooling-off period. Then he goes back in when he does it again.  Lol … surely I can’t be the only one who won’t let my bunny pee willy-nilly on the couch until he learns not to? It’s not exactly pleasant being on a pee-covered couch …

 

It might be a territorial thing, but my husband is not going to step up to any bonding time … he’s not really an animal person. He’s neutral towards them, definitely not a “I’m gonna get this bunny to like me” person. Just ain’t gonna happen.

[Hazel]

Is Frankie good about using his litter box when in his cage? Do you let them run around the whole house? If he’s good in his cage, you might want to restrict his free roam area for now. Just the room the cage is in, for starters (if that still doesn’t improve things, you could restrict him further by using an x-pen or something like that). Keep him in a small space until he goes back to his litter box every time to do his business. Then, gradually increase the area available to him. Too much room all at once can wreck litter box habits. I’m not sure about what to do with Angie though, maybe someone else will advice you there.

[LaraK]

Hey Hazel. Thank you for your response.

Yes, Frankie’s pretty good in the cage – all his pee, and 90% of his poop anyway. They only have the free-roam of the living room, and only when supervised; the rest of the house is too un-bunnyproof-able. And we’re mostly here anyway. Their pen is huge … it’s an x-pen, 4×4 with a second layer that’s 12 sf and a third layer that’s 6 sf …. He actually does little bunny 500s in there, so I know it’s roomy enough for play. The thing is, he NEVER when out goes back to the litter to do his business. So I can’t reinforce something that’s not happening. In the cage, he’s good. Out it’s where-ever with poop, couch with pee. I feel like there needs to be a starting point, and he doesn’t even have that once he’s out, lol.

[LBJ10]

Confining a bunny with bad litter habits is no punishment. Sometimes bunnies just can’t have that much freedom. They don’t know what to do with themselves. Bunny litter training 101 says that bunny should be confined to a smaller area during litter training.

Now the pooping and peeing does sound like it’s territorial in nature. The fact that he’s pretty good in his cage (his territory) only helps confirm this. I agree with Hazel. I would start with the largest area he can be in and still use the litter box. This may be an exercise pen around the cage or simply the room the cage is in. Offer a second litter box outside of the cage and just go back to the basics. Once he’s doing better, SLOWLY increase the size of the area he has access to.

Now should Angie be confined too? If they are bonded, then yes. The way I see it, it’s only fair. You wouldn’t want anyone getting upset because one bunny is running around where the other cannot.

[Author]

Messages