Hi

[hsandage]

So hey guys. I would like to introduce myself. I'm hunter, and I've owned rabbits before. But never in my life have I had a rabbit self train itself to use the litter box on his own with out using positive reinforcement. I got Buckeye from 50 phantoms in New Orleans. And after learning his bathroom habits for a few weeks I started using a low sided litter box. Then very slowly i transitioned him to his cage in his play pen. Now today i took his cage out and now I'm barely picking up stray pellets around his new Set up. And he only poops when he's eating hay in his corner. I know its kinda bare but I'm still tweaking his enclosure to make it better. Slowly but surely he's gonna get an extension to the play pen. It's a xxl dog kennel with rods and I tweaked it to fit his accommodations. The good thing is after we move to our new house I can extend it. But the house I'm living in now has limited space. But I'm happy if he's happy with the new update.

But I would love to join the community and still larn more about rabbits.

 

[Blue eyes]

Glad you had an easy time with your rabbit. How old is he? Is he neutered?

Generally neutered rabbits do train themselves. All that is needed is an enticing litterbox setup. It is a natural thing for rabbits to choose one location to do their business-- especially for urine. However, as far as their fecal pellets, it is the rare rabbit that is 100% with those. That bonus seems to be luck of the draw. I've only had one or two that were super good about pellets. @Nancy McClelland has had dozens of rabbits and I believe they also have only rarely had a rabbit 100% with pellets in the litter box.

You mentioned that you will be moving. Bear in mind that even a well-trained rabbit may do a few weeks of territorial marking when moved to a new home. So be prepared for that possibility

 

[hsandage]

Glad you had an easy time with your rabbit. How old is he? Is he neutered?

Generally neutered rabbits do train themselves. All that is needed is an enticing litterbox setup. It is a natural thing for rabbits to choose one location to do their business-- especially for urine. However, as far as their fecal pellets, it is the rare rabbit that is 100% with those. That bonus seems to be luck of the draw. I've only had one or two that were super good about pellets. @Nancy McClelland has had dozens of rabbits and I believe they also have only rarely had a rabbit 100% with pellets in the litter box.

You mentioned that you will be moving. Bear in mind that even a well-trained rabbit may do a few weeks of territorial marking when moved to a new home. So be prepared for that possibility

No. He's not neutered but working on getting that done. Yea I'll find a few here and there but most are in the litterbox.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We have had 2 out of 58 rescues that only used their pan in their own hutch--the rest like to mark their territory which by necessity we have a large shop vac.

 

[TreasuredFriend]

We have probably taken in or cared for 50+ rescues, also. All get sp/eutered.

Ditto on @Blue eyes input wrt only a few having meticulous box habits with marbles. Marking will occur. I walked the neighborhood keeping an eye on the two humans w/leashed dog who sniffed at each pole or tree, and lifted his leg. I stopped counting after 7 marking pees and proceeded on.

Our sanctuary home can verify that some buns go directly to the community litter box in designated corner spots. None of our buns are bonded; All sp/eutered, though. Marbles will also inadvertently drop when they jump out.

Cute story wrt one rescue intake, 4 yo unaltered male when we took him in from the home where young person no longer wanted. The large dog in the home did not help this scared boy's demeanor. They gave him a 9x9-in cake pan to potty in!
He peed in the cake pan w/shavings routinely. He was not a high-lifter to pee over the edge.

A cordless rechargeable sweeper (Sharkie) works well to clean up stray/errant marking marbles.
https://bunnylady.com/litter-train-your-rabbit/

 

[TreasuredFriend]

@hsandage , your boy has a nice playpen area and he's got two options of using which restroom corner to output.

I try to give each of our sanctuary residents a hidey box yet again, some buns from our experiences will be A-OK laying in the open, others feel more at ease with a covering overhead or hidey box.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/odor-free-home.html

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We have some pans in the open, some inside an apple box with the top on, and we have a large "Cardboard Castle" ( large box with smaller boxes with holes) so they can move thru and go up 2 or 3 levels and get on top. Most lay out in the middle of the room and one loves digging/chewing in and on the castle.