Hello everyone! Help desperately needed to nip this in the bud as much as possible.
Our new rabbit (only 11 weeks old) is amazing, sociable and seems very happy (binkies, loves to be stroked, flops down next to us etc) but we have a problem with his toilet training. We have had him 2,5 weeks.
He started off using a set corner of his cage, where the hay is placed (some in a hay feeder which he ignores entirely and some loose, added on 3 times daily), and did his wee and poo there. We have an enclosure added which we started off having open daytime when someone is home, and close it night time after he has jumped in voluntarily. But over the course of the last week he has gone from sometimes pooing at a certain area of the edge of the enclosure AND using his normal litter area, to also weeing in the same place near the edge of the enclosure, to now the last two days ONLY using this new area as a toilet, and the cage completely clean.
What can I do? I know I can add a litter tray there too, and move it slowly to a side area, which I will do (have ordered a tray) but it is right in the middle of the living room and I would like to encourage him to first and foremost use the cage area.
I have tried:
- cleaning the area in the enclosure with biological washing liquid and water to break down enzymes,
- doing the aforementioned but also spraying perfume (different pages suggest different tactics so tried them all),
- changing the material underneath (had just a rug and the wooden floor initially - FOOLISH!) and no there is a wax cloth there, moving the enclosure so that the exact area is not in the same place if that makes sense
He never gets fed where he now does all his toileting, I clean his cage daily, without weird sprays but remove most droppings, leaving a few for encouragement.
It just seems to have escalated the wrong way despite following all the advice and I want to try to change it back becausd we want him to roam free in the living room when we are home eventually (obviously there will be accidents and we might need several litter trays around the room, but for him to not use the cage at all seems strange).
I feel like we haven't given him a vast area quickly, maybe 1 metre by 2,5 metres inside the enclosure, but last night we shut him in at 10pm and he was let out at 4am (my partner gets up early) and he hadn't had a wee in all that time and went out and did a HUGE wee in the enclosure. I am mystified.
Is it best to have him in the cage for a couple of days to help him rediscover the toilet area there? The cage is large and he has plenty of enrichment (digging box, branches etc).
Many thanks for reading!
Our new rabbit (only 11 weeks old) is amazing, sociable and seems very happy (binkies, loves to be stroked, flops down next to us etc) but we have a problem with his toilet training. We have had him 2,5 weeks.
He started off using a set corner of his cage, where the hay is placed (some in a hay feeder which he ignores entirely and some loose, added on 3 times daily), and did his wee and poo there. We have an enclosure added which we started off having open daytime when someone is home, and close it night time after he has jumped in voluntarily. But over the course of the last week he has gone from sometimes pooing at a certain area of the edge of the enclosure AND using his normal litter area, to also weeing in the same place near the edge of the enclosure, to now the last two days ONLY using this new area as a toilet, and the cage completely clean.
What can I do? I know I can add a litter tray there too, and move it slowly to a side area, which I will do (have ordered a tray) but it is right in the middle of the living room and I would like to encourage him to first and foremost use the cage area.
I have tried:
- cleaning the area in the enclosure with biological washing liquid and water to break down enzymes,
- doing the aforementioned but also spraying perfume (different pages suggest different tactics so tried them all),
- changing the material underneath (had just a rug and the wooden floor initially - FOOLISH!) and no there is a wax cloth there, moving the enclosure so that the exact area is not in the same place if that makes sense
He never gets fed where he now does all his toileting, I clean his cage daily, without weird sprays but remove most droppings, leaving a few for encouragement.
It just seems to have escalated the wrong way despite following all the advice and I want to try to change it back becausd we want him to roam free in the living room when we are home eventually (obviously there will be accidents and we might need several litter trays around the room, but for him to not use the cage at all seems strange).
I feel like we haven't given him a vast area quickly, maybe 1 metre by 2,5 metres inside the enclosure, but last night we shut him in at 10pm and he was let out at 4am (my partner gets up early) and he hadn't had a wee in all that time and went out and did a HUGE wee in the enclosure. I am mystified.
Is it best to have him in the cage for a couple of days to help him rediscover the toilet area there? The cage is large and he has plenty of enrichment (digging box, branches etc).
Many thanks for reading!