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how to litter train female rabbit

cazba99

Young Bun
Hi folks.
I have already posted a thread under housing about getting rid of rabbit waste, and as a result I have realised that we would have a lot less waste to get rid of if our female rabbit, DeeDee, would use a litter tray. Hence asking for your help! Our male rabbit Fred (and his predecessor Ben) uses a litter tray. But she never has. In fact she has got worse since Ben died and Fred arrived. She is totally indiscriminate as to where she goes. She basically goes wherever she happens to be sitting at the time, and as they have a whole 10 foot square room of their own with two sofas, cage, "roof terrance" on top of the cage, various tunnels and wooden houses she has plenty of choice as to where to sit. There is also a large red tray in the open cage which is full of hay. We can't use hay racks as she won't eat out of them and once jumped in one. Luckily we were there and were able to rescue her as she got her leg stuck so the hay rack idea had to be abandoned. So everyday there is wet hay to remove as well as the litter tray waste from Fred. Therefore the option of putting the litter tray in her preferred place isn't an option. There is an awful lot of washing of sofa throws to do as well. :(
I think that part of it might be her asserting herself territorially. Another part of it is defence I think. She is not particularly friendly towards us, (although she is to Fred which is what matters), and seems to tolerate us more than anything, (unless we come bearing food of course). However, she does have a habit of when you come close and she thinks you are going to touch her she will turn round, up goes the tail and she wees every where. Sometimes I swear that she tries to squirt you, I have come a cropper more than once. Any ideas? :roll:
 
Girlie's get very territorial even when spayed do you separate DeeDee and Ben at night? Bigwig and Coco play together all day and use the same tray but at the end of the day Coco needs to wind down so she has a separate cage which is her space. I think DeeDee might be marking in a really insecure way. It sounds like she's saying 'look Fred I love you but I need me time, keep out of my space'
 
I wouldn't recommend separating them at night - most rabbits love to cuddle up. Don't know what to suggest, really. I have two large storage boxes I line with newspaper and then hay and my two, most of the time, sit eating and pooing in their trays.
 
I wouldn't recommend separating them at night - most rabbits love to cuddle up. Don't know what to suggest, really. I have two large storage boxes I line with newspaper and then hay and my two, most of the time, sit eating and pooing in their trays.

I agree, I wouldn't separate a bonded pair. You might find you need more trays, and bigger trays, such as underbed storage boxes as Babsie mentioned, make great litter trays, as there's plenty of room for both rabbits to eat and poop at the same time. I'd try putting more trays where she goes the most, and sweep up poops and mop up any wee, neutralising any wee patches with a vinegar/water mixture. That might help things.
 
thanks guys for your input. They are not separated at night, they are usually sat cuddled together on the sofa when we come down in the morning. They have a large tray (actually the bottom part of a pets at home indoor rabbit cage) in their cage which is full of hay and has a cat litter tray in there too. Fred always hops in there to go the toilet but she makes no effort to go in there if she needs the loo. If she's already in there when the urge takes her, well that's OK but if she's out and about she just goes where she feels like it. There isn't anywhere she goes in particular. I definitely think like Nyx that it could be terratorial but she never seems to tire of Fred. In fact I think it's more about us that it is about him. Could she be annoyed because we come and sit in 'her' room? She often wees on the carpet or the sofa in front of us, and as I mentioned before, sometimes she almost seems to squirt at us! We love her to bits and have kind of got used to having to spray the wet patches with neutralizer and constantly washing sofa throws, but may be we should not give up on trying to litter train her as it would be easier for us.
 
thanks guys for your input. They are not separated at night, they are usually sat cuddled together on the sofa when we come down in the morning. They have a large tray (actually the bottom part of a pets at home indoor rabbit cage) in their cage which is full of hay and has a cat litter tray in there too. Fred always hops in there to go the toilet but she makes no effort to go in there if she needs the loo. If she's already in there when the urge takes her, well that's OK but if she's out and about she just goes where she feels like it. There isn't anywhere she goes in particular. I definitely think like Nyx that it could be terratorial but she never seems to tire of Fred. In fact I think it's more about us that it is about him. Could she be annoyed because we come and sit in 'her' room? She often wees on the carpet or the sofa in front of us, and as I mentioned before, sometimes she almost seems to squirt at us! We love her to bits and have kind of got used to having to spray the wet patches with neutralizer and constantly washing sofa throws, but may be we should not give up on trying to litter train her as it would be easier for us.

Re separating at night - I made the comment because Nyx recommended doing it. I've just had a laugh (at your expense) at the vision of her squirting at you! Suppose that's more effective than a 'Keep Out' sign.
 
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