Should I be moving the litterbox?

[Niki]

Hi everybun! I’ve had Toby for about two weeks now and he has finally adjusted to living with us. He is our foster rabbit so I’m trying to instill the best possible behaviors in him in preparation for his forever home. In the last few days we’ve started to let Toby run around in our hallway instead of staying in his play pen (it’s fairly large, about 5 ft by 7 ft, so he does always have adequate room). The hallway and his playpen are not close to each other, so we pick him up to take him over there.  He hasn’t had any accidents in the hallway except for a couple of tiny poops, which I think might have been related to his “bonding” with his Hello Kitty dog toy. The last few days I’ve been picking up his litter box and putting it in the hallway with him. He notices that it’s there, sniffs it, sometimes hops through it while he’s binkying about, but never uses it. 

Should I be moving the litter box at all or will this just confuse him as to why the litter box is out of it’s normal position in his pen? He uses the box normally when it’s in his pen so far. If I shouldn’t be moving it, should I have a separate litter box just for playing in the hallway? 

[RabbitPam]

I think it’s fine to put it in the hallway with him. I would do that for Sammy, and since she was fastidious about using her litter box, she never used it when out and it was moved, but she didn’t pee or poop there either. Would only use it back in her house. If it’s their regular litter box, they recognize it, and know it’s there if needed.
Often a bunny doesn’t have to go while playing, especially if you let them out to play right after they’ve used the box. (Like after eating.) The poops become more territorial than necessity.

[Niki]

Thank you! I’ll keep moving it with him, then, just in case he needs it and it’s good to hear other bunnies don’t change their litterbox habits in the pen even though the box comes out during play time. 

[Author]

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