new bunny litter training!

Hey everyone, new to the forum and just became a bunny owner of a 2 month old grew dwarf rabbit which my girlfriend and I have named Gandalf the grey rabbit . However, we are not 100% sure that he's really a boy (the pet store employee had a look and something seemed to pop out a tiny bit but it was hard to tell for sure) :lol:. Anyway, so I think I've already seemed to bond with this bunny quite quickly and he doesn't seem to be too afraid of me anymore. He's still quite a nervous bunny though. Anyway, today I've made a makeshift playpen out of cardboard so he can have lots of space to play and exercise and he seems to like it alot. Once I got him out of the cage the first time he freely enters and exits the playpen now when I'm around and I keep him in the cage when I can't be there to supervise.

My first inquiry at these forums would be my bunny's tendency to twitch alot occasionally (only while outside the cage and in the playpen). Now he also darts around and jumps up and twitches madly while in midair and even kicks his feet up sometimes too but I'm not too concerned about that as I've read that it's very normal bunny behaviour. I'm just a little concerned about the head twitching sometimes while he's just walking around exploring. Also, he seems to really hate being picked up as I've never really been able to pick him up as I'm always afraid to be too forceful and hurting him. He lets me pet him now most of the time, but whenever I try to pick him up (scooping him up so his feet don't dangle) he just jumps away.

Lastly, it seems that my bunny likes to pee and poo (the larger quantities) in two corners of the cage and I've put a litter box in one of them. But what happens is whenever I put the litterbox in corner A, he'll go to corner B and vice versa. He also poops all over the place in his cage but I'm more concerned about him peeing into the litter box. Is there any way to get him to just use the litterbox for peeing and maybe even for all his pooping too. Saves me alot of trouble scooping up the poop all the time :lol:. That's all for now! Any help would be greatly appreciated =].

Is your bunny neutered? Bunnies like to go in one place as a general rule. I have just got my two and I am currently half way towards litter training. Sounds exactly the same as what my two are doing. I would suggest you put a litter tray in each corner and when you establish which one they use all the time take the other one away after a week or two. Keep putting their droppings back in the litter tray. Good luck.

Hello, thanks for the reply. No, my bunny is not neutered yet and this morning my bunny has used that other corner again so I've cleared out the litter box and tried moving it back to that corner once more and see if he'll switch again. If he switches again then i'll have to find something to use as a second litter box and follow your advice. Also, my litter box is one with a wire layer on top so that everything just falls through. I figured this would help keep the bunny and cage much cleaner but I'm starting to think maybe its because of this wire bottom that the litter box has that makes my bunny not use it. Would that maybe be the source of the problem?

Fatjam said:

Hello, thanks for the reply. No, my bunny is not neutered yet and this morning my bunny has used that other corner again so I've cleared out the litter box and tried moving it back to that corner once more and see if he'll switch again. If he switches again then i'll have to find something to use as a second litter box and follow your advice. Also, my litter box is one with a wire layer on top so that everything just falls through. I figured this would help keep the bunny and cage much cleaner but I'm starting to think maybe its because of this wire bottom that the litter box has that makes my bunny not use it. Would that maybe be the source of the problem?

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Its difficult to litter train when a bunny is unneutered once their hormones kick in. I would swap to a plastic litter tray.

Yep, he just switched corners just now lol. Big pile of poop and pee. I'll try removing the wire bottom now it'll turn into a regular litter tray once I take the wire off. Hopefully one day he will learn to use the wire bottom and litter box once he's neutered. Pet store people said he's about two months old so I guess maybe in one more month I'll go get him neutered. I'm going to go scoop the soiled bedding and droppings into the plastic litter box now.

turn him over carefully and see if you can see him plumbs if you can hes ready to be done :lol: other than that as others have said once neutered he will settle down and wont feel the need to wee everywhere in site the poops should calm down but not always

I'll try checking if he's ready to be neutered maybe in a week or two cause he still really hates being picked up. If I'm just walking around or sitting there he'll come up to sniff me and he doesn't move when I walk towards him anymore. He'll even let me pet him most of the time but he really really hates being picked up.

Also, update on the litterboxes. I've removed the wire bottom from one of them and i've added another plastic lid for a container as the second litter box and he's still happily using both of them lol. Hopefully after he's neutered he will settle down to just one. I'm also hoping to be able to add the wire bottom back onto the litterbox later too once he's steadily using one corner as a toilet.

Fatjam said:

I'm also hoping to be able to add the wire bottom back onto the litterbox later too once he's steadily using one corner as a toilet.

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I wouldn't! Is this a wire rack that he would be standing on? If so, leave it off. Rabbits spend a great deal of time in their litter trays munching and pooping and wire bottomed floors are a health risk to feet. Rabbit feet should be allowed to sink into soft ground/deep litter to maintain the foot angle and relieve pressure from the hocks. Wire racks on litter trays and wire bottomed cages with no padding are notorious for causing sore hocks, which once established are very difficult to treat.
I would concentrate on keeping the litter tray a soft, cushioned and comfortable place for bunny to hang out with plenty of deep litter and hay to munch on.

Hi, just read through this thread - it sounds like typical baby bunny behaviour to me! I'd suggest getting a number of litter trays - pet shops do small plastic cat trays that you can fill with wood shavings/wood-based cat litter - and putting them wherever the bunny spends his time, so two in his cage and one or two outside. I had to practically follow my bunny around with the tray for the first couple of months.

Neutering will make a huge difference to litter training - my bunny is now the cleanest tidiest bun ever, but he used to love peeing on the sofa....... It takes a wee while to kick in but they calm down eventually.

As for picking Gandalf up (amazing name by the way!!), I understand about not wanting to hurt him, but if you can get him into the habit of being handled when necessary it'll make life much easier. You're the boss after all!