litter training help

I have two buns, one (Mj) has been with us for about 9 months, he was perfectly litter trained, about 4 weeks ago he was bonded with a doe so he would have company (Kushi), and she's just not getting litter training.
They live in my conservatory, there is a hutch in there but it's never locked as he hates being locked in, we've got 2 litter trays which they use to pee, one in the hutch and one on top of the hutch as it's their favourite place, I thought it was just her pooing everywhere but i think i caught him a few days ago, think he's picking up her habits. There's no one other spot for poos it's literally just everywhere and I don't know what to do now to help her pick it up and hopefully get him in to the habit again too. I thought she was marking her territory but the bond has been absolutely fine and leaving the poos a little while to help her mark hasn't helped.
We're cleaning up the poos at least twice a day and putting it all in the litter trays to get the association and we're regularly trying to get the smells off everywhere else by wiping the surfaces down, I thought about limiting their space but the only way would be to lock them in their hutch (Mj's known for tearing out the wood from the hutch if locked in).
Is there anything I haven't thought of? Would lots of trays help even if she's not going in particular spots?

We're away for most of November and they're staying with my in laws, I'd love for them to be able to go their trained

Thanks in advance

First question - are they both neutered and spayed?

do you put hay on top of the litter ? it worked better for my two as they ate it while they used the tray

yes they are spayed and neutered and they get lots of hay in their litter trays

Hi, I'll be watching this thread as I have the same problem, rehomed two 5yr old dwarf lops, 95% of pee's end up in the correct places and the female uses the trays for droppings, but the male just scatters his droppings around the house, and is guaranteed to drop a few within seconds of jumping onto the sofa. I can clean them up and then I'll turn round and find he's followed me through the house, replacing them as I go!

At the moment we tend to knock them to the side of the room and then clean up a couple of times a day, so they get left long enough for the scent to hang around. If he jumps on the sofa I will watch for the first dropping (within seconds) and then immediately put him in the tray, and will return him to the tray two or three times until he sits there for a few moments, he usually does a couple but then is dropping more as soon as my back is turned! After three weeks, this sofa + poo = litter tray does not appear to have affected his behaviour one bit.

reehsetin said:

yes they are spayed and neutered and they get lots of hay in their litter trays

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You might be inadvertently removing their scent all the time by wiping down which means they are replacing it by marking again. I used to do it too and Nutmeg would just wee to replace it. So now I usually just wipe it off the lino with kitchen roll and a small amount of vinegar and water just in the spots where they had weed. Poos just get swept up. They are a lot better now and only pee round the litter tray as sometimes the outside smells of the lops (we are getting the lionheads their own pink trays now, just for use with them to try to reduce this behaviour)

reehsetin said:

yes they are spayed and neutered and they get lots of hay in their litter trays

Click to expand...

To be honest then you have me stumped. Are they pooing in spots (suggesting that they're trying to move their latrine spot) or just all over the place? Ignore that I just read they're doing it everywhere. Hm. What do you do with their litter trays and toys, as in how do you clean them?

Is one of their litter trays big enough for both of them to get in at the same time, as some buns like to do this and it may help Kushi pick up MJ's good habits. How old is Kushi as younger buns can sometimes take longer to pick it up too. Is all the urine landing in the trays or is that elsewhere too?

Elena said:

You might be inadvertently removing their scent all the time by wiping down which means they are replacing it by marking again. I used to do it too and Nutmeg would just wee to replace it. So now I usually just wipe it off the lino with kitchen roll and a small amount of vinegar and water just in the spots where they had weed. Poos just get swept up. They are a lot better now and only pee round the litter tray as sometimes the outside smells of the lops (we are getting the lionheads their own pink trays now, just for use with them to try to reduce this behaviour)

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I see Scuhette is thinking along the same lines as I am - this is why I asked about how you clean trays and toys, if you do it too often some buns will just re-mark.

Elena said:

You might be inadvertently removing their scent all the time by wiping down which means they are replacing it by marking again. I used to do it too and Nutmeg would just wee to replace it. So now I usually just wipe it off the lino with kitchen roll and a small amount of vinegar and water just in the spots where they had weed. Poos just get swept up. They are a lot better now and only pee round the litter tray as sometimes the outside smells of the lops (we are getting the lionheads their own pink trays now, just for use with them to try to reduce this behaviour)

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I see what you mean but I don't know if that's it, sometimes I'd just wipe the window sil (we have windows all around and they love sitting on there) not do the full floor and there'd be poos on both, pees are always in the litter tray it's just poos and on a day to day basis they're just swept up
So would you suggest not wiping it down for a while to see if that helps?

Coineanach said:

To be honest then you have me stumped. Are they pooing in spots (suggesting that they're trying to move their latrine spot) or just all over the place? Ignore that I just read they're doing it everywhere. Hm. What do you do with their litter trays and toys, as in how do you clean them?

Is one of their litter trays big enough for both of them to get in at the same time, as some buns like to do this and it may help Kushi pick up MJ's good habits. How old is Kushi as younger buns can sometimes take longer to pick it up too. Is all the urine landing in the trays or is that elsewhere too?

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Litter trays I've been leaving for a few days at a time so it smells a bit, they're trays wrapped in a bin bag and then newspaper, megazorb and hay, to change the tray we just turn the bin bag inside out, I put a few swept up poos in there to start them off. toys they don't have loads of they're usually just ones that they destroyed and get binned

yes it is big enough for both (recently switched to less wide but taller but they can both squeeze in (they often do), after starting this thread I've put their old ones out too which are spacious for them

all of the wees go in the tray which is the frustrating (but good I guess) thing

Kushi is about 4 months old , she was neutered about a month ago, is she just too young maybe?

It may just take a while, it did with Nutmeg. I'd sweep up, she'd replace them but eventually she realised that her territory wasn't under threat and was hers and she gradually stopped. It took a while and we still have the odd few around (mainly around the tray where they 'jump' out when they do!) but one day i suddenly realised that the amount had decreased.

ok, so i'm very new at this bunny thing.. as you know. we are trying to litter train our pumbaa, i see pics with litter boxes full of hay, but i thought that was for them to eat. a neighbor who rescues them said use cat litter. any and ALL help/opinions are welcomed.

babypumbaa said:

ok, so i'm very new at this bunny thing.. as you know. we are trying to litter train our pumbaa, i see pics with litter boxes full of hay, but i thought that was for them to eat. a neighbor who rescues them said use cat litter. any and ALL help/opinions are welcomed.

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Hay in litter trays is fine. They like to eat and poo at the same time. You can use cat litter underneath but it MUST be a non-clumping one. I personally just use newspaper.

I've decided to bite the bullet and confine their space, they hate it and keep attacking the bars but I'm trying to be brave

so far since this morning, there's been a few stray poos which i've put in the tray, wees always in the right place

Can I let them out for a run around or will it defeat the object?
How do I know when they are ready for their space again - when they're spot on?