My rabbits are toilet snobs!

[neejchee]

Hi all, I'm after a bit of advice/suggestions for convincing my rabbits to do all of their business in the litter trays.

I have 2 mini lops, nearly 3 months old, and they poop EVERYWHERE. They pee out of their litter trays as well. At first I thought they just weren't getting the idea yet and that they were just young and would take time. Then I started paying a bit kore attention. Tudns out the little buggers ALWAYS use the trays for their first pee and poop after it has been emptied. If I clean it out after every pee and poo they'll keep using it, but once it's been used they switch to the other one, and once that's been used they go on the floor. They flatly refuse to use a tray with any pee or poo in it already.

That's all good and well in theory, because I can clean it out fairly regularly, but they're total **** machines. I swear they damn near crap their own weight in the time it takes me to blink, and with the weather warming up they're drinking more and therefore peeing more too. I can't spend all day cleaning out litter trays, even the cheapest of litter would cost a fortune doing that, and there's only so much room for extra litter trays.

I want them to be proper house bunnies - at the moment they're in an outdoor hutch with a big run when I'm not here and in a playpen inside (or climbing all over my daughter and I) when I am - but until they can consistently use the litter tray I can't give them free reign.

Any suggestions on how to make my babies less snobby about their toileting habits?

 

[whiskylollipop]

If you just got them recently, it means that they are scent marking their new home. It can take a couple months of marking everywhere before they stop and settle down. 3 months is also about the time puberty is starting to hit, which makes their instinct to mark even stronger. I'm afraid there's nothing you can do about this until you get them neutered/spayed. My buns didn't become properly toilet trained house bunnies until they were 5 months old.

In the meantime, perhaps you could scoop out the little pee spots in the litterboxes each time instead of changing it entirely, that might persuade them to re-mark it while saving you heaps of litter.

 

[samjo08]

I agree with scooping out the litter boxes. That's how I do it with my bun to save money on litter while still giving him a cleaner box to go in. I try to scoop it out every day, and change out the litter completely every week or so. As for your problem, I'm no help :/ Good luck!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Also, ours have the hay rack and water bottle right next to their pan. One thing to remember is that they are trained if they pee in the pan--poop will continue to be left everywhere--that's why we have a gigantic shop vac.

 

[JBun]

Baby buns can sometimes take a while to catch on to the whole litter training thing. If a litter box is too small, that can sometimes deter a bun form using it. So having a nice big litter box may help. As well as the hay rack above it or a pile of hay in the corner, since buns eat and poop at the same time.

 

[honeybunnies]

I'm new here & I have mini lops too :hearts I agree with what the others have said here, about just scooping out the wet corner of the litter tray each day. I use the recycled newspaper pellets. They swell up when wet & absorb odour well. I also keep their water bottles just above the litter trays, so that way they have a drink & then they turn around & have a wee in the corner, just before leaving the tray :great: