Behavioral question

[Alice-Bea-Goode]

I have a 4 month old Dutch female who recently started pooping near her food.

She lives in a two story outdoor hutch. Her pellets, hay and water are all together on the second level; just a wall away from her litter box which is located in her spacious hidey hole(part of the second level blocked off by wood board w/a hole at one end for her to enter). She picked up on litter training really quickly, though she does still sometimes leave a pile of nuggets next to it and maybe one or two by her feed. (fine by me because it's an easy clean-at least she pees in the litter pan)

In the past couple of days, however, the amount of nuggets near her food has increased. I've also noticed an increase in them on the lower level as well (her play area).

My question is this: As I understand it, rabbits don't like to defecate where they eat, so is this a hormonal change? Is it a behaviour issue?

Thank you in advance for your response.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

could be hormones and territorial marking.

 

[Alice-Bea-Goode]

That's what I thought. She is only 4 months. I just didn't think she would go anywhere near her food. Thank you.

 

[tonyshuman]

Bunnies like to eat hay while they poop. It sounds gross to us, but it's normal for them. A good way to litter train them is actually to put the litterbox next to the hay.