Peeing outside litter box, but only at night?

[Bella Von Hoppenheimer]

I noticed a couple weeks ago that the bunnies had started occasionally going right next to the litter box. I had read somewhere that they can get confused by smells and "miss" the box, and the best thing to do is clean the area around the box and reinforce where they're supposed to poo. Their area needed cleaning anyway, so I washed blankets, vacuumed everything, and rearranged a couple things. Now, they go in the box during the day and whenever the light is on, but at night when the lights are off they still go right outside of it! Why only at night!? I'm pretty sure they can see in the dark, at least well enough that they shouldn't misjudge where the litter box is. It seems like an odd behavioral thing, so I was wondering if anyone has any idea or experience with this.

 

[JBun]

Maybe they're scared of the dark Ok, well if not that then maybe they have vision issues, or something about hopping into it in the dark is causing them to be nervous about doing it, or a bug/spider could have even scared them enough to be reluctant to hop in(happened to another member but with the water dish). You could always try leaving a nightlight on to see if that helps.

 

[healersheart]

My boy (neutered) does the same thing…only at night. It’s not like he misses; it’s intentional marking in certain places. Cleaning the spots and then spraying “Angry Orange” helps to prevent him from re-marking for a little while. I‘ve just given up trying to stop him from doing it.

 

[Bella Von Hoppenheimer]

The vision thing is a possibility. I noticed that one of Bella's eyes looks a little bit cloudy and I'm taking her to the vet this weekend to check it out. I am going to set up a night light tonight and see if that makes a difference.

 

[Bella Von Hoppenheimer]

Okay it's been a while and I've tried a few things including a night light, cleaning the spot every day, rewarding them when they go on the box, etc, but nothing has really worked. And then they started going outside the box during the day as well! So I didn't know what to do and I was ready to give up, but then I saw a rabbit YouTube video and in the comments someone mentioned that having multiple rabbits means having multiple litter boxes, even if the box is big enough to fit both bunnies. So, I'm going to try that now. Wish me luck!