We're going backwards on the litter box training.

[Space Monkey]

We've had our 4 1/2 month old Mini Satin for 2 weeks. At first she was mostly pooping in her litter box, but now she's opting to mostly poop on the towel on her cage floor, on the rug in her pen, and all over the room that she gets to free roam for about 8 hours a day. Other than occasionally spraying us inbetween binkies, she mostly pees in her litter box, thankfully. I don't know what's gotten into her or what to do to correct this issue. Her hay is only above the litter box in a hay manger, so it's made clear that that's where she's to poop; and she's aware that this is the bathroom since she goes there to pee.

Does this all revolve around not being spayed? I do realize that the marking will stop or at least improve after spaying. We're not getting her spayed until she's reached 6 months old for a variety of reasons. We want her to be of a good weight (she's very small, maybe 3 pounds); we want her to be completely comfortable and used to us (she already more than appears to be, but more time is always good) so she trusts us to get her through it and to have her cooperate when giving pain medicine; and to have a nice, healthy diet for a prolonged period of time beforehand (She was on Muesli from the breeder and clearly underweight as well since we could feel every rib and every bump on her spine, which has already improved a lot. She's accepted Romaine Lettuce, Dandelion Greens, and Rosemary so far and has done well with it; she gets a 1-1 1/2 cups per day right now, on top of 1/8-1/2 cup of Alfalfa Pellets and unlimited Timothy and Orchard Hay.) Basically we want her to be in the best condition mentally and physically beforehand while also not waiting too long.

So is there anything we can do or does it all revolve around spaying?

 

[odyssey~]

I'm pretty sure most of it revolves around her being unfixed.
There's not much that you can do other than picking up poops and putting them in the litterbox so she could get the message to go there, but even then it may not work since she's unfixed.

 

[JBun]

Rabbits are considered litter box trained if they pee consistently in their litter box. Poop is a whole other matter. Rabbits in a new unfamiliar place, that they don't yet feel comfortable in, often won't leave any poop around as they're starting to explore and get used to their new place, and determining the boundaries of their territory. But once they do, watch out! She's marking her territory now that she feels completely safe and knows it's 'hers'. You also have hormones working against you. And she's also becoming a teenager. So hormonal teenager, in a new home she now feels safe in. Yes, poop marking isn't unusual to occur at this juncture.

Scooping up those poops and depositing them in her litter box will help reduce the marking for some rabbits, or for some it just sparks new poop marking. Shooing her to her litter box will help for some rabbits, some not, and with her she might decide to leave a mist of sprayed pee in her wake As your rabbit gets used to her new environment, the poop marking can subside some over the next few weeks, as she feels comfortable that her territory has been adequately marked. How much it subsides varies for each rabbit, and you have the hormonal teenager thing working against you.

Spaying can help. How much, is different for each rabbit. Some it only helps a little, some it makes a significant difference, and some it will stop the poop marking almost completely. But it should also be noted that any time her environment gets changed(new area, new person, new pet, new furniture, moving things around in her environment, etc), it can spark new territorial marking.

 

[Emmi]

My rabbit is unfixed and she went backwards for about 2 weeks and now everything is great. Let me know if you need anymore help!

 

[Emmi]

Also, try adding more than one litter box.