toilet training

[mandala1111]

Hi there.This is my first post on this sight and I hope someone can help.We have a 4 1/2 month old male rabbit that roams freely around the home and keeps leaving his droppings everywhere he roams.We toilet trained him at around 2 months of age with his urinating and he still is great with that side of things but has never gone just to his litter to poop.At first he seemed to do his droppings in one spot near the back door where he hangs out quite a bit so we put the litter tray there but he does only use it to urinate mostly,he does poop in the tray but it seems only when he hops in to urinate.He even poops all around the outside of the tray.Can a rabbit be trained to poop in one place.We are not too fussed most of the time due to the dry poops rabbits do but then there are still the soft ones that get a little messy on the jute rug.Any advise is greatly appreciated.
Regards
Shane

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Is he neutered? Intact males can be tricky to litter train once they hit puberty. This usually happens around 4 months of age, but can vary for some rabbits.
He is pretty much marking his territory. Pooping around the cage and when he is out is him saying that it is his. Getting him neutered should help this.

You can train them to poop in one area, but most rabbit, even if spayed or neutered, will leave some around. Some are better than others. I have rabbits that are much better in areas that they know compared to new places.
Some rabbits are just easier to litter train than others, they seem to more naturally pee and poop in one area and take to litter training really easily. Others may totally refuse litter training. Generally spayed or neutered rabbits are easier to litter train, but even they can have some issues. It does seem to be a bit easier to start when they are young.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Read this artilce:

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/litter.html

I use the house rabbit society for all my bunny info. lol

Also, its always best to introduce them into a large area slowly. Be sure they are still using the litter. Maybe limit his area of freedom till keeps finding his way back to the box.

 

[mandala1111]

Thanks.He is not neutered yet but we will get him done soon.Hopefully it will help but he has been pooping everywhere even before his testes dropped.
Cheers

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We've only had one out of thirty two that didn't leave beans every where. Some have been neater than others, but most seem to leave a pile wherever they stop for any length of time. Why we have a shopvac.