Nyxie keeps pooping in the bathroom

I put a litterbox in the bathroom and the only thing I can think of to deter her from pooping all over the bathroom floor is to put more litterboxes in there. She obviously believes it is her territory :roll:
This is a relatively recent problem; she started doing it at about 10 weeks old.

It's getting frustrating as she is really good about not going potty outside her litterbox, except in the bathroom.

Should I tell her "no"? :no: She does know the word. When we catch her we put her in her litterbox.

I don't know much about baby buns but hope someone else can give you advice.
sue:wave:

thanks sue
I am really tired of sweeping up her droppings twice a day from the bathroom :| But like they say, you can't force a rabbit to do anything - unless perhaps some greens or a treat is involved. :lol:

could you leave just one dropping till the next day, every day, so she doesn't have to keep re-marking her territory? don't leave the same dropping down for days though. this is just a guess though.

As she's only 10 weeks she's still a baby bunny and maybe just like human babies take a while to potty train she will take a while to litter train?- again just guessing

I hope someone who has litter trained baby buns will have a more experienced reply.
sue:wave:

im not sure if this will help but Gizmo did that alot in the conservatory.

I simply put all her poops in the litter box and if i ever caught her peeing outside her box I would pick her up and put her in her box.
It took about 1 week of doing this all the time and gradually the poops got less and less until she only does stuff in her box.

It also worked today as she was moved to a new hutch and I kept putting her poops in her box and moved her when she sprayed a bit. Now I went down and it was all in the box!!

I have done this for all of my bunnies (a whole 3) and all of them are/were completely litter trained, even with carpeted hutches

Is it possible to exclude her from the bathroom?

There's another thing bunnies do with their poops. UK Wildies (same as our pet bunnies unlike USA cottontails) make a communal mound of poops as a territorial marker for the whole warren.

If I use the bathroom Thumper always comes in & does 1 poop as his contribution to the "household mound" on the bath mat. They've a very acute sense of smell. Forgive me but it's our scent that's driving them to do it, because they feel they belong to our warren/group. This sort of pooping is instinct. There's no way we can mask our scent either.

sheridan said:

[...] I simply put all her poops in the litter box and if i ever caught her peeing outside her box I would pick her up and put her in her box.

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That's brilliant! I'll try it. Nyxie is motivated primarily by two things: one, food, and two, avoiding being picked up If I put her in her litterbox (though I don't like to pick her up seeing as she hates it) or even shoo'ed her in there I think she'd get the point.

thumps_ said:

Is it possible to exclude her from the bathroom?

There's another thing bunnies do with their poops. UK Wildies (same as our pet bunnies unlike USA cottontails) make a communal mound of poops as a territorial marker for the whole warren.

If I use the bathroom Thumper always comes in & does 1 poop as his contribution to the "household mound" on the bath mat. They've a very acute sense of smell. Forgive me but it's our scent that's driving them to do it, because they feel they belong to our warren/group. This sort of pooping is instinct. There's no way we can mask our scent either.

Click to expand...

I used to close the bathroom door all the time but that gets annoying, lazy me

Anyway I didn't know about the "household mound," it seems there's always more to learn about rabbits!
What you said makes perfect sense as she likes to "synchronize" her potty time with ours...we thought it was funny but now it makes more sense. She also seems to like synchronizing her grooming time and munching time with Aiden.

Im soooo glad I saw this post!

Rolo keeps doing the same thing. He wees and poos in the bathroom. Ive put litter trays in there but he wont do go in them.

I mentioned it to the vet and he said it could be the smell of amonia....you know human wee.....rabbits have ubber good smelling noses, or even the ammonia in the bleach or bathroom cleaners. So, he thinks that there are other buns about and he wants to scare them away.

Hope this helps...I thought I had the only bathroom messing bun!

Rach x

rolo said:

Im soooo glad I saw this post!

Rolo keeps doing the same thing. He wees and poos in the bathroom. Ive put litter trays in there but he wont do go in them.

I mentioned it to the vet and he said it could be the smell of amonia....you know human wee.....rabbits have ubber good smelling noses, or even the ammonia in the bleach or bathroom cleaners. So, he thinks that there are other buns about and he wants to scare them away.

Hope this helps...I thought I had the only bathroom messing bun!

Rach x

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:wave: Well now you know there are at least 2 others. :lol: & it's normal bunny behaviour. I reckon it's much more common - perhaps folk are embarressed to post about it. :?