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New bunny - litter training tips please!

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New Kit
Hi,

I have a new little chap, he's 9 weeks old now. He's a house bunny and we have a large cage for him, and he can come out for a roam etc He's settled in amazingly! He's very confident, outgoing and affection so I'm really chuffed with that!

Just wondering if anyone could kindly give me some tips on litter training as I know it's harder when they're very young. He has a tray in his cage, which he does wee in. I've hung some hay above this as I know they like to eat hay and poop at the same time. He does however, poop outside the cage. So we lob his poo's in his litter tray. I did some reading that we need to make his cage more like his safetly/kingdom - so we do not get his food bowl out whilst he's in there, or pick him up from there either. We let him come out, then do what we need to inside. This apparently should help with him not pooping outside his cage as he knows his cage is his territory.

Our main issue is - the sofa! He seems to like peeing on it, damn it! We have stopped letting him up now but he loves it - I guess as we sit on it and he wants to be part of it? It'd be nice if he could come up with us, and he didn't pee on it!! So, we've just bought another litter tray for in the lounge outside his cage - hoping this may help?

Does anyone else have any other handy tips please?
 
Hello and welcome. You are doing everything as you should to encourage your new Bunny to use his litter tray but as far as the Sofa goes I am afraid they love to wee on soft things such as sofas and beds. Maybe when he is neutered he might stop doing it but can't guarantee it.
 
My rabbits have behaved flawlessly with the following:
The eating and elimination area is a 18" X 36" cage starting with an absorbent layer of compressed sawdust extrusion bedding with a layer of straw over it. Food and water is in holders above this. There is a external ramp down to a carpeted hide/sleeping area below this which opens into a large carpeted pen that opens into the house. The space was opened one section at a time so there was no sudden change and the droppings are removed several times a day so the eating and elimination area is always a nice place to be. The peeing spot became so small that I placed a pan under 1/4" wire cloth over which is a small amount of straw which is replaced when wet and there is no need to replace the base bedding as it does not get wet.
 
Hello again!

So, the little monkey just keeps weeing in various places all over the lounge. Not sure what else to do? It’s very annoying! 😫
 
Soak up as much as possible and move it to the nearest bunny loom ideally in the same room.

Then clean up with a vinegar/water solution.

Do you feed him treats out and about and on the sofa?

I found once I stopped giving Blossom treats on the sofa she stopped weeing on it. Think she wanted to claim the treat part of the house as hers.

But I think they do improve massively after neutering.

Sent from my SM-A705FN using Tapatalk
 
Thank you! We do that, soak it up and put it in his litter trays. We then clean with a pet carpet cleaner.
We don’t give him any treats yet either as thought he was too young.
Best just stock up on carpet cleaner then! 😅
 
Still won’t wee in litter tray 😭 We have vet bed for flooring in his cage and he just weed on that :(
 
He sounds a lovely character. I'm sure once he is neutered he will be peeing as standard in his litter tray. For some bunnies though, soft things make irresistable toilets.
 
Personally I would like a Rabbit using my home as a toilet. You could make an enclosure which is his space so that it might be easier for him to get in a habit of going into his enclosure to wee. You might have to restrict him in there for a while. Good luck with this.
 
Most of mine have wee'd on soft surfaces. All 3 pairs use their 32 litre underbed storage boxes lined with newspaper and hay to wee in.

Hope your rabbits habits improve!
 
Hiya!

It's me again....:shock:

So he's 4mths old at the end of the month and I do not what has gotton in to him these past few days. Nothing has changed, we've done nothing differently but oh my - the poo!!!! He's pooing EVERYWHERE! But also, in the past 24hrs he's wee'd 6 times on our carpet!! He's not spraying, just leaving a little patch. Sometimes it's bright orange and the stains aren't coming out the carpet. We will be in serious trouble with the landlord when we move out!! Any idea why he's doing this? He's not been properly littered trained at all yet but putting that down to his age. But he's never wee'd this much in such a short amount of time on our floor before!!

Please help - as it's driving us nuts!!!!
 
He's reaching puberty and you can't stop his behaviour, you will have to manage it in a way which doesn't ruin your home. He needs to be in his own enclosure with a litter tray filled with hay and then when he is neutered he should become more litter trained. The hay in the litter tray might encourage him to use it more and it becomes a habit.
 
He's reaching puberty and you can't stop his behaviour, you will have to manage it in a way which doesn't ruin your home. He needs to be in his own enclosure with a litter tray filled with hay and then when he is neutered he should become more litter trained. The hay in the litter tray might encourage him to use it more and it becomes a habit.

Thank you! That's what I said to my boyfriend, I thought that might be the case! We have hay hung over his litter tray and in it :/ Will just keep on and hope he starts using his tray more than the floor!

Cheers
 
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