Pooping outside the litter box?

[R0se]

My floppy-eared bun-butt has recently started to poop outside of the litter box.

The first time it happened I thought it was just in protest, because I was sick and it took me an extra day to get to it. 
But then about a week later there were more pellets outside of the box.   So then I assumed that when he dose his bunny 500 around the house, he dose sometimes stop and take off from standing in the back of the litter box, so he just must be kicking them out when he is running around. 
But, then I started to find ‘nicely laid piles’  of them, that could not have been kicked out that nicely. 

Now with in an hour of a clean cage and little box, I find pellets in both the litter box and sitting around his cage.   At first it was only a handful of pellets, but now it seems to be about 50/50… 

This would not be a big stresser to me if it was not the fact that I needed to put in my contract for my apt. that I had 1 well trained bunny.  Who uses the litter box like a cat dose.  (Didn’t know much about bunnies other then they could be good at destroying things.) 

He only poops in his cage so far, nothing has been showing up around the house.  But I do worried that if she come by for some reason randomly and sees a ton of pellets around his cage, she is going to question weather or not I have a ‘clean bunny’ or not.   Its not a super big thought but it keeps making its way around.   OR that this is going to keep going and is going to start pooping in other places of the house hold. 

I have tried putting treats back in the corner of the litter box.  I would try to usher him in to the litter box if I saw him doing it, but it seems to happen when I’m not home or asleep. 

Help? 

[LongEaredLions]

How old is he and is he neutered?
He is probably marking his cage, which is a completely normal thing to do. Has anything changed in his environment that could have made him feel that he needs to mark it as his? Keep placing the droppings in the box, and place his hay in the box to encourage him to go in there.

[JackRabbit]

My lops poop 90% in their litterboxes and 10% outside the litterboxes but in their cage. I know part of the 10% is what’s being kicked out of the litterbox and we even get 4 or 5 that make it up to a foot outside the cage. In their case, I don’t think it’s marking so much. Moshi will drop one if he gets excited and takes off on a sprint, and he digs for gold in the litterbox flinging poops and litter.

Either way, a landlord who pops in and sees some poops in the cage, even if outside the litterbox really shouldn’t say a word. Now if your home has poop everywhere and reeks of pee then yes you could have a problem. As long as you aren’t harming the property, they can’t really say anything.

I do agree with LEL though about how to deal with it if it is marking (especially the poop piles). I only posted to add that even without marking you may still have a poo or three that get kicked out or “fall out” and that you shouldn’t let that worry you about your landlord.

BTW, if anyone ever does comment on rabbit poop to you, try breaking one open and show them what’s inside! Most non-bun people think bunny poop is just like dog or cat poop and don’t realize that it’s not stinky yucky poop but more like compressed ground hay.

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