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Litter training nightmare

MurphyGold

New Kit
Okay, so I have now bonded my 2 bunnies. Which I didn't really think before had - their litter training was never great separate, obviously now they're together, I have double the problem!

They do go in their litter tray - occasionally!
The rest of it is all over the floor or around their litter tray.

Another problem is they like to pull out hay from their feeders and just leave it, so then that turns into litter areas, they'll pee and poo all over the hay they've spread all over the floor. I've tried multiple feeders,ones off ground, ones of ground, ones open topped and ones more closed and they still so read it everywhere. I've stopped putting hay in their litter trays to try and tell them that hay does not mean you can pee and poo. I've tried picking it all up and putting a majority of it in their trays, to try and make and point too.

But nothing is working. I am having to sweep and/or hoover daily and you end up walking it.

I don't know what else to do.

Their trays are big enough, they have 2 cat litter trays on either side of their room, so I know they've got enough and they're big enough.

I don't know what else I can do.....
 
I think I would get rid of the feeders and just try putting lots in their litter tray. I put litter down one end of Doughnut's litter tray and the other end all hay. She often moves it all around but she only wees in her tray. If I put a bag of hay down on the floor and she pulls it all out she will often tiddle on that as she thinks hay is alright to tiddle on.
 
I used to put hay in there, but I stopped recently because I felt like it was teaching them wherever there was hay, they could pee and poo.

I have done that before - got rid of the feeders - but they've then toileted all over the hay in there - meant to be eaten - so then won't eat it. I'm left wasting so much hay because they refuse to eat it soiled ha.

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How long have they been bonded and is it a new space? It's normal for litter training to go out the window a bit during bonding/a few weeks afterwards as they are leaving their scent everywhere as part of the settling in process.

Where are they living, what's on the floor and how big is the space?
 
For litter trays, bigger is always better, you want something they can easily fit in together. I use a large underbed storage box, like a lot of people on here. They are much larger than cat litter trays and higher sided which cuts down on peeing over the side incidents! I use woodpellet cat litter as it doesn't get dragged around the room after them so much with being heavy.
 
About 1 week now, they've been together.

They are living in their own room, I guess the size of a large toilet room? Ha, I really don't know, it's enough to to have a double hutch in there and still have plenty of floor space.

I'm going to source something else.

I removed all the feeders and put it all in their trays (half litter and other side hay), I went in this morning and the hay was all over the floor and had been pooed and peed on....

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Sometimes it would be nice if you could just ask them what on earth they are thinking!

You could try higher sided litter trays, or cat igloos, or the budget option - find a cardboard box about the right size, upend it over the tray and cut a doorway - instant hay keeper inner ;) Sometimes having the higher sides is enough to make the designation between floor and tray more clear.

Sweeping up what's on the floor and adding it to the tray can help, white vingar can remove smells, and if it's a biggish space adding more trays in hot spots, and gradually recombing once they are using a tray - even if it's one in the middle of the room to start with.
 
It would be so useful! Mia has taken to jumping up on an about 3ft high counter to help herself to whatever is up there - I've had to hide food! XD

I bought 2 new litter trays yesterday, one very large one and one slightly smaller.
They seem to have managed to keep the hay in, but they haven't really eaten it, they've just soiled it....
Should I be stubborn and not add much more so they eat what they have? Or just keep changing it anyway... obv I don't want them to go hungry, but at the same time I feel like they need to learn to keep eating hay clean lol

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Murphy is a good hay eater, he'll happily munch away, Mia will too for the most part. They will eat hay when it's all they've got around really. They're picky hay eaters, they'll both select certain pieces of hay, not just eat it all, ha.
Both go bonkers for pellets at night and their fruit/veg/herbs when I get them some.
They're avid grass eaters when they're outside.

Think for the most part, when I'm around or sitting with them, they're more interested in me or chewing my laptop or phone wires, so they don't eat as much when I'm around.
One of the feeds that was with Murphy when he was on his own, I'd have to fill 2ce a day because he's go through. Mia had a tenancy to dig at her feeder so got it everywhere, I was replacing the same hay, but she'd get through that in a day.

Now they're together, I don't they've been eating as much as they were separate. I have reduced their pellets slightly to try and pick up their hay consumption.

But the fact they're toileting on it, I think is putting them off of it perhaps? A large hay bag from pets at home would usually last me like 4 weeks or so, I've gone through one in about 2 weeks because I've have to keep replacing it or throwing it away.

They're such divas!!

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As rabbits like to pee, poo, eat and lie down in their litter trays, under bed storage boxes provide enough room. I line the trays with newspapers, then put in loads of hay. I find this works very well and they eat loads of hay. I change it every day. Sometimes I will put special hay in a large, wide, metal dog bowl, but sometimes I just bung it all in together in the storage box.
 
A large hay bag from pets at home would usually last me like 4 weeks or so, I've gone through one in about 2 weeks

I'm not sure how much P@H hay is, but we get a large bale of hay (around 10kg I think) online from hay for pets or Timothy hay which costs around £20.
Like you we have to put several large handfuls of hay in the litter tray which ends up thrown away
 
I don't like P@H hay. Much prefer to buy higher quality on line as it is the most important part of their diet. Throwing hay away is an overhead of having rabbits as pets.
 
If it's the cost of hay that's an issue, you can get a bale for about £5 and it's just as good (sometimes better) than pet shop stuff.
 
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