Behavior change after moving into a new apartment

[elikbelik]

My beloved bunny used to walk freely in my apartment and kept the environment clean, making his poop and pee inside his litter box.

After moving to a new apartment, everything changed:

First, he started peeing in different places (litter training did not work), but more problematic - he started making cecotropes (the "eating-type poop") in different places in the house, leaving many leftovers on the floor that I needed to scratch every time. I tried to put the cecotropes inside his litter box, but instead, he became more fanatic with his cecotropes and started resting on top of them as if he was guarding or hatching on them. This made all the fur of his stomach dirty from cecotropes, and he doesn't bother to clean it.

I don't know what to do, currently, he is on the balcony and is not allowed to the rest of the apartment, but I want to change all his behavior back. What should I do?


Many thanks!

 

[JBun]

How long have you been in the new apartment? Are his litter habits at all better on the balcony where you're keeping him? Where there any pets in the apartment previous to you moving in, that you know of?

 

[elikbelik]

We have been here for a few months now; the "balcony segregation" is new as I was tired of keep cleaning after him. On the balcony, his litter habits are still bad; he uses his litter box but also the rest of the balcony...
There were no pets previously, we were the first to live in the apartment after the owner died (sorry for the morbid response...).

 

[Nancy McClelland]

When we moved here, 600+ miles, our avatar bunny Nikki, took 4 months to go back to "normal" for her. The others only took a couple of days--one thing I do know for sure is that they are creatures of habit and some just don't take to changes too well. Maybe bunny a proof an area inside that is easier to clean and start there. Good luck with all of it. I change their food too, with some of ours that were messy to an all timothy based pellet--that also helped greatly, getting rid of the Alfalfa component.

 

[JBun]

You likely will need to essentially start from the beginning, with all new litter training. This involves sectioning off a smaller area for your rabbit, and only expanding as litter habits are improved. You may also need to temporarily add additional litter boxes

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/litter-training.html

 

[MeggyM]

When we moved here, 600+ miles, our avatar bunny Nikki, took 4 months to go back to "normal" for her. The others only took a couple of days--one thing I do know for sure is that they are creatures of habit and some just don't take to changes too well. Maybe bunny a proof an area inside that is easier to clean and start there. Good luck with all of it. I change their food too, with some of ours that were messy to an all timothy based pellet--that also helped greatly, getting rid of the Alfalfa component.

I'm curious, how did getting rid of the alfalfa help? Im having similar issues.

 

[JBun]

I'm curious, how did getting rid of the alfalfa help? Im having similar issues.

Alfalfa can result in a diet too rich in protein, which can cause an overproduction of cecotropes and the rabbit leaving the excess uneaten. Which then can get smooshed on the ground or into their fur. This is normal fully formed cecotropes, which is different from semi-formed or unformed pasty cecotropes caused by an imbalance of the microflora in the cecum. Presuming this is what Larry(Nancy McCelland) is referring to occurring with their rabbits.

 

[MeggyM]

Alfalfa can result in a diet too rich in protein, which can cause an overproduction of cecotropes and the rabbit leaving the excess uneaten. Which then can get smooshed on the ground or into their fur. This is normal fully formed cecotropes, which is different from semi-formed or unformed pasty cecotropes caused by an imbalance of the microflora in the cecum. Presuming this is what Larry(Nancy McCelland) is referring to occurring with their rabbits.

ohhh, ok gotcha! Thanks for explaining.

 

[elikbelik]

Thanks for all your suggestions! I'll try everything and update you with the results!