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Introducing two wascally wabbits

Haymonster

New Kit
Hello!

I'm pretty new to rabbits, and I'm starting to feel like I really need some help/support from people who know what they're doing!

Our first rabbit hopped into our lives about six months ago. We came home one evening to find a rabbit eating the dandelions in our front yard. He was very friendly, so we figured he must have been a pet. We caught him (very easily!) and, figuring that we would only have him a short while while we looked for his owners, put him in a cage in the backyard.

We put signs up around the local area, including at the local shops, primary school and vet, but no one claimed him. After about a week we brought him inside because it was raining very heavily and threatening to storm. No one ever claimed him and he's lived inside as a house rabbit ever since. My partner named him Dobby, because he's a free rabbit.

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Dobby has been a perfect house rabbit. He uses the litter tray almost perfectly (about 2-3 poos miss everyday, but it's so few that it's not a problem), doesn't chew any furniture and charms us daily with his good looks.

Four days ago we adopted a spayed female to be friends with Dobby. Her name at the rabbit rescue was Easter, but we're considering changing it to Winky. She's a fine boned mini rex, who is slightly underweight. She has a voracious appetite, though, so she should put on weight fairly well.

Dobby and Easter/Winky seem to be getting on quite well. There has been no fighting. There has also been no humping. The rescue seemed quite surprised by this at their initial introduction, and had to check that Dobby was in fact a male. At first Easter/Winky seemed quite frightened by Dobby, and would constantly run away from him. She still runs away from him most of the time, but she definitely seems more used to him now. She also runs away from us (the humans), but I'm hoping that she'll be more confident when she's settled in more. According to the rescue, she loves head pats and ear scratches.

She also seems to miss the litter tray every single time. We let the rabbits have a small room as their home base, and the floor is covered with her poos. We have floorboards (rather than carpet) so it's definitely cleanable, but it's frustrating nonetheless. I've put down towels and fleece blankets to make the cleaning easier, but it's getting to be very labour intensive! Apparently she used a litter tray at the rescue, so she can use one.

Any advice re: litter training or helping Dobby and Easter/Winky to bond would be very much appreciated!

Here is a picture of Easter/Winky, from the rescue that we adopted her:
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My apologies if this post is too long!
 
Lovely story :love:

We struggled litter training one of our buns and the top suggestions were limiting space and trying different trays, it may just be her settling in and marking her territory, I know how frustrating it can be just keep trying different things and give her the time to settle in and fingers crossed she'll just pick it up
 
Too long? Not long enough! Yes, she's definitely a Winky... :thumb: :love:

Yeeeesss... I acquired my first rabbit unintentionally - because she escaped from a neighbour. In my case though, the neighbour didn't want her back... and Muppette was far to content in our veg garden :evil: to consider going back of her own volition.

Rain (torrential) also persuaded me to scoop up my rabbit - after she'd lived wild for about 5 months. She'd also loved wild as well... so her companion is one of her now adult kits (dad was a wild rabbit) whom she delivered about a week after I'd "rescued" her.

Yours are gorgeous but I am afraid I have no advice at all about litter training - other than... does she have her own litter tray? Mine have chosen their own, separate places where they pee and poop and I don't think (can't be sure) that they interchange. They live outside and I rarely see them doing either.

But others will be along who are massively more experienced and knowledgeable than me so I'll say welcome and suggest you wait for them to come along. :D

ps: you mention her poo-ing everywhere... where is she peeing?
 
Such fast responses!

We didn't bring her litter tray from the rescue, if that's what you mean by her own litter tray... There are two litter trays in their room, but she doesn't seem to use either. As for where she's been peeing, it seems to be mostly wherever she feels like it (i.e. not in the litter tray). It is possible that she's peeing in the litter tray sometimes, but it's hard to know, seeing as there's no way of telling her pee apart from Dobby's. I can tell which ones are her poos, because they're smaller!

She was only spayed about two weeks ago. Would this mean that the hormones that make her want to mark her territory are still active?

I am quite hopeful that she'll start using the litter tray once she settles in, but it can be difficult to be patient on this issue!
 
Hello Dobby, hello Winky......hello their Mummy.:wave::wave:

Welcome to RU.

You'll find loads of information, help and support on here.

Have fun...................and thanks for the fab photos.:thumb:
 
Beautiful bunnies and i love their names!
When it comes to litter training, some are easier than others. My girly bun at the bridge litter trained herself - not just in the litter box but in exactly the same place! She was a clever girl. My boys however have been a different story. The wees are sorted but the poos are a different story.
At 2 weeks its still only early days after spaying, there is still time to improve. Buns like to go to the loo where they eat, so try putting their hay in their litter trays, or (if possible) hay racks above the litter trays. Obviously the hay will need changing and replacing at least a couple of times a day if in the tray. Are the litter trays normal or high sided? I had a normal one and bought a high sided one, I found it helped a lot.
Good luck!
 
Winky and Dobby are really cuteee names !:lol:
Trust me, you will find a lot of info here!
I'm quite new, and these forums have been really helpful to me :love:
I don't have much advice on litter training because my rabbit just started using it instantly , and only had a few misses.
GOODLUCK!
 
Thank you everyone for your kind compliments and advice!

Winky does seem to be getting better at using the litter tray. There are now three litter trays in their room, and she seems to be getting the idea. In the last couple of days she's mostly pooed either in the litter tray or where she sleeps. There's still more poos than I'd like just around the place, but it's a marked improvement! I'm not allowing her to hop around the rest of the house until she can do at least 95% of her poos in the litter tray. I was spoiled with Dobby, in so many ways. One of them being that he instantly used the litter tray, with no problems at all! Then again, he didn't have a slightly larger rabbit chasing him around all the time when he moved in.

I'm not really sure what the difference is between normal and high sided litter trays. I guess they're normal ones. They're the standard litter trays designed for cats.
 
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