Litter tray problems.

After a fantastic start, I am having awful trouble with Autumn littering absolutely everywhere.

She is now 13 weeks old, so I wasn't expecting the best anyway. Infact, I was fully expecting problems. I have only had her a week and half, so need to take that into consideration. However, from day one she has used her tray and crate really well with no prompting from us. She only had two wee's (accidents) in over a week. All the rest were done in litter tray, or the crate - and she free roams all day, unless we need to pop out, at which point we pop her in the crate. I never leave her for long periods it's literally for at most an hour, and not every day.

Anyway, so bar the 2 weeing accidents, she was doing stray poops in the living room from day one, where she has access most of the time when we're here, and where her litter tray is. I would estimate 20-30 a day. She never did stray poops in the bedroom or hallway - which she always has constant access to (doors wedged open). She would often take herself off to the bedroom where her crate is, and spend some time out in her crate when she wanted. No mess at all. Brilliant!

I wasn't expecting her to be this fantastic from day one, never in a million years. This carried on for about a week - I can't remember exactly what day it started to get worse. Now we are facing well over 100 poo's a day (I don't know it's an estimate :lol but I can tell you I am literally sweeping up CONSTANTLY through the day to the point I am now needing to lock her away for an hour to fully clean and catch up on the mess and just, have a break I can literally sweep up her poops as after her, pop them in her litter tray, and she'll hop out and start pooping again before I've even put the shovel and brush back down. And, the weeing has started. She isn't choosing specific spots, she'll go and settle in any area she feels like, and wee and do a pile of poops.

Yesterday, I caught her doing a massive wee and pile of poops in a completely different area to others she's done in the living room. As I caught her doing it, I picked her up (she's perfectly fine with being picked up) and popped her in the bedroom (where her crate is) and popped some dandelion herbage in her crate and left the door in for her to go in and have a nibble if she wished. I needed a break - I was in the middle of cooking, had just cleaned everywhere, was getting washing in and in general just run ragged and needed half an hour to myself. I went in to check on her 2 mins later, and she'd done a massive wee and some poops right behind the door! This seems to me like marking - she obviously was most upset I'd popped her in there.

If she was doing this in a few rough areas, I could place litter trays in this area - but she's not, it changes each time, I'd never have enough litter trays because she's now treating the whole place as a litter tray. I am putting her poops back in her tray pretty much as soon as she is doing them. Her litter tray and crate have newspaper and hay.

It doesn't seem like it's all marking to me. One or two (like behind the door, yes!) but it's so spread out I'm genuinely confused and upset as why the change from being fantastic since day one, to this over a week and half later when she's settled in. I'm not at the end of my tether yet - far from it. I understood they need time, but the change has thrown me off. Her poops are healthy, she's acting normal and herself.

Please be gentle on me - yes I'm fed up but I love her to bits and want to make the house bun situation work for her own sake. She loves all the room she has. I don't like needing to shut her away for an hour to have a break from it all. 20-30 poops and the odd wee I can handle. But this is is something else and she's not even 'hormonal yet', so it's going to get a hell of a lot worse. We will build her an indoor pen if necessary - but it kind of defeats the point of her having a house bun, as she'd have much more 'constant' space outdoors in hutch with attached run.

We are going to keep going of course. But I need some ideas into what the hell she's doing so I can put steps in place to at least take the edge off the sheer amount. I could understand a bun going 'everywhere' when settling then slowly getting better. But she's doing the complete opposite. I'm so upset I need to shut her away. Trying to do my absolute best for her, so I'm upset about this coming to the point I have to lock her up. Xxx

Sounds like her hormones have kicked in and she's marking with her faeces. (Hormones tend to hit around 12 weeks of age) My girls do this, it's gotten better since spaying but they still do a few stray poos.

She could also have something like a urine infection but I find this doubtful from what you've described.

Try to neutralise the area with white vinegar. (If you rub baking powder into the area first and then put the vinegar on, have a cloth and bowl of warm water ready and dap/rinse the area as it fizzes). For the urine areas

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So I have another 3 months plus time for her hormones to drop, of this? :shock:

How many stray poo's would you say your girls do as a guesstimate now they're spayed, Dp? Trying to get an idea of whats 'normal' and whats not.

It's all just spread out everywhere. The odd wee/poo pile I thought was marking, but the poo's spread out all over our (big!) living room I didn't think were. Just in the middle of the floor, everywhere.

Before spaying it was 100's (two rabbits can do a lot).
Now they are spayed it's probably 100 a day/night. They mainly do it in their own room but we do get around 5-10 in the front room under the piano but i think Phoebe accidentally kicks them out the litter tray as she jumps out. (She's a bit clumsy with her big feet)

They do really spread the poos around when marking

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Btw, we got a small handheld hoover during their hormone time before spaying which made cleaning up stay poos a lot quicker. (Although both our girls were spayed long before 6 months)

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Thanks hun x Will have to build her an enclosure in the mean time if it carries on. OH not happy - but happy to help, if that makes sense? I can't blame him, I'm not happy with the sheer amount either. She's brilliant of a morning, when I pop some pellets her in litter tray with her hay and she settles nomming in there and flops. When she becomes active of an afternoon is when it really begins. Hopefully the spay will help - because he did say he didn't want LOADS of mess everywhere, which is fair. He's lived it before and hated it. He said if after her spay she continues and it's bad, she'll have to move out in the spring/summer. (She was raised outdoors, anyway). Hoping it won't come to that x

Aww bless her!!

Bella is now 5.5 months old so only another 3 weeks till she'll be spayed but my god she has turned into one hormonal women.

She is perfect with her weeing always in the litter tray since we had her, but poos it's like you, although the majority are in the litter tray, a lot go wondering and dotted around her pen.

Have you found that she grunts yet? Bella is so vocal, running around grunting like a mad women!!