Problems Litter Training AFTER Neuter

[mcoral]

My two and a half year old rabbits got neutered two weeks ago. They have never been 100% with their litter box, always peed in it though, no issue there. But they leave droppings ALL OVER. The one (Henry) doesnt even seem to be trying to poop in there. The other one (Ollie) poops in his about 30% of the time. They are still separated and I have within the last few days let them play together before I leave them overnight together just so I know that they wont fight. The two times that I have let them run around my basement they started off with humping, the running around chasing each other, and then CONSTANT EXCESSIVE humping so thats when I decided to separate them. I feel bad because they look so sad but they need to chill it with the humping. They didnt poop everywhere too much when they were out. Any tips on reiterating the potty training? My coworker has two neutered bunnies and they are 100% litter trained so Idk what I am doing wrong. Ive had them for a year and am not sure what their previous home was like. Also maybe diet has affected them? I changed their diet to less pellets and more veggies and hay. However I did this before they were neutered and they were fine with the pooping (fine for them that is).

Litter training tips?

Re-bonding tips?

Not letting them be so sad tips?

[DanaNM]

This post isn’t so much a litter training post as one about bonding, so you might want to change the title to get more help, and maybe the moderators can move it to the bonding section.

First, they need more time for their hormones to settle.

Once this happens, you need to properly bond them after a pre-bonding period. This means cage swaps for 3-4 weeks until the don’t show territorial behavior towards each other when you swap cages.

They should not have any play dates together, as they are obviously not bonded (chasing and humping are both dominance displays).

Once their hormones are more settled and you’ve done pre-bonding, you can do supervised dates in neutral space. The space you use is very important, it must be some place that neither rabbit has been before.

I recommend reading some bonding journals to get a better sense of the process.

Litter habits should return once they are bonded, but will probably continue to be bad until that happens.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

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