New, young rabbit urine behaviour issue

I fly down to another city to pick up a rabbit because there is no rescue rabbit in Flemish Giant or large size rabbit in Humane Society (SPCA) locally.

The travelling time for the rabbit is 40 min. driving, plus 1 hr. 15 min. 737 flight on a carry-on, under my seat, rabbit travel case, and approx. 25 min. drive back home from the airport.

She peed on the backyard after hopping around the yard for 10 min. Then we moved to indoor of my house.

From 4 pm to 6 pm yesterday after she arrived, she stayed at her designated spot in her bedroom, the spot that she knows is her domain. Because in the evening when she thought I was chasing her, she run back to her spot. So she definitely knew that's her spot.

In the past 3 rabbits that I had, once they found a spot, they'll pee in that spot. This little girl knows that's her spot, And yet, she invented at least 5 new spots last night already to urinate. This is not the behaviour of the past rabbits that I had. She should pee in that spot.

At her spot, which is a litter box, there is a 2nd litter next to it (there are 2 urine litter box side by side). She did pee on both spots this morning. More to that later.

Because she is a 2 mth. old rabbit, the volume of each of her urine is small of course. But she pee at least 7 - 8 times from 6 pm or so till this morning around 7:30 am.

She drank a huge amt. of water for a small rabbit, in a 6.5 inch, inner diameter bowl, she drank at least 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep of water in the past 12+ hr., that could due to the above driving+flying in which there is no water, and the fact that yesterday was hot -- 24 C here after she arrived, whereas in her city, it is about 16 deg. C.

She also must have eat a lot because there are a lot of bunny poos on the floor.

My question is:

1) Originally she didn't pee at her designated spot (1st litter box) although she did pee in the litter box right next to it. But this morning when I push her back in her designated spot twice, she peed in there for the first time. But that should have been the very first set of urine take place, not the last as of this morning? Why is she not taking that spot?

2) Are we dealing with a Catch 22 Scenario? That the 2nd, parallel litter box already had urine, so she have no choice but to invent new spots because she has so many urine to pee? Remind you, each spot is not big, just a bit like a 1 to 2 inch diameter wet spot.

Please help.

Hey rabbits aren't robots! Just because your past rabbits have stuck to one spot doesn't mean all rabbits would! You're very lucky to have rabbits that stuck to one place to do their business in, I haven't been half as lucky with my rabbits :lol: To litter train my rabbits I placed five or six trays down in the room so there was a higher chance of them actually hitting one of them :roll: After a time I took trays away to train them down to just one litter tray, and even then they do miss occassionally with the odd poop but I place off-cuts of old carpet underneath their litter tray to catch any mistakes.

Rabbits take time to get into a routine and settle down. The bunny just got to your house and shes probably really spooked having travelled so far, all those new smells and new places and now shes in this new house its all probably quite confusing for her. She won't know her way around yet and she might forget she peed in one place and doesn't know how to get back there so she just pees where she lands instead :lol: Forgive her for the time being and let her settle down and allow her to get into a comfortable routine before expecting more from her

I think if rabbits are neutered they learn to litter train much easier too, if she isn't neutered already. Sometimes some rabbits just never understand the concept of the litter tray to so you might want to be prepared for that

Does she have her own place? Like a cage to call her own where you don't go in to disturb her? You might want to shut her in her cage for a little while to get her used to everything going on, so she can concentrate on using the litter tray and so she can learn she is safe in that place. After a while open the cage and allow her in that one room and then over time if you plan to, let her into more and more rooms so she isn't overwhelmed

it might also be worth noting she's only 2 months old!

And if she's not neutered then she may be marking her territory. They are all different.

You may want to read through this article:

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/litter.html

Caz

quite useful. This is the 3rd source I came across today that I have expanded her territory too fast, that she doesn't know where to pee.

And the breeder I spoke to this morning said that I got lucky w/ my other rabbits that all I need is 20 min., and they know where to pee from that day on.

Because they said it takes longer than that. So I'll go back and start off slow. Thanks for the link.

Need advice please

Okay, here's an update.

This morning, she has 3 set of urine, there are always 3 litter box in that room, the room is about 70 - 80 sq. ft or so., she used 2 of them, and pee on the carpet on the 3rd spot.

Then later on this afternoon, she pee on the corner without using any of those litter box. It's not the first time she uses that corner, so I put newspaper there since day 2.

I moved her to my house late Mon. afternoon, and let her outside her room for Mon. Tues. and started to close the door around Wed. afternoon. So she'll be exploring outside her room for 48 hr. or so.

Yesterday morning, she had 3 set of urine as well, and used up 2 spots in 1 litter box, and 1 spot in the other litter box.

The very first litter box, (her designated spot) is the only spot she only used once on Mon., but never again. She sometimes sleep there by turning to the side of her body and sleep, I put some hays in there and she haven't pee over there since. I was hoping she would pee in that spot.

The other two was used regularly. I don't mind her peeing on the carpet this morning, because obviously I ran out of litter boxes. But after lights off at 11:45 pm last night, and till 7:30 am this morning, she peed 3 times and so w/o yet another litter box and her refusal to use the 1st designated spot, obviously she is one litter box short to pee.

But even so, it is not close to 90% hit ratio on using the litter boxes. The last rabbit was virtually 100% once he knew that was his designated spot.

1) should I open the door and let her outside her room? She seems quite moody sitting inside that room all day after she was let out on Mon & Tues.

2) should I take her to the backyard because when she was raise, the breeder let her go out to the backyard farm in a small fenced 3 - 4 ft. diameter circle.

3) With 3 litter boxes in one small room, it should be more than enough. Because I'm w/ her all day, once she pees, I clean up, except bedtime of course. However, as I have said, the miss ratio is quite up there, although so far the larger size urine are all deposited on the litter box in the past few days (Thank God for that ) So cut to the chase, why wouldn't she pee at her original designated spot w/ the hays? ANd how to make her pee at the litter box only?

She hasn't been there very long- maybe she just needs a few weeks to settle in and perhaps she is even a little stressed from moving to her new home?

Does she have her own little hutch/cage? She might go to the toilet better if she had a place she knew was her own where she could hide, rest and have her litter tray.

I don't use cages. But she does have that designated litter box as her spot. So far, I would say the hit to miss ratio is about 65%. I'll keep track of her in the next few days. The breeder told me 5 days in her room w/o letting her out.

I ignore it and let her out on day 1. Let's see if this behaviour can change.

I'm sorry but I think you're expecting far too much from her, remember she is an animal not a robot who does your bidding!

Please get her a house or a small cage which she can call home. I understand that you may not like her to be stuck in a cage but believe me she will be thankful for it. Rabbits like their own place where no one else can get to, they like to feel secure as remember they are prey animals. You don't have to buy something small, a lot of people use dog crates and keep their rabbits in there. They are quite tall but have plenty of floor space and you could always add a level to her cage as some rabbits like being up a height.

If I were to get a new rabbit for indoors I would buy it a cage or a dog crate like I've said, put a box in there and a litter tray, food, water bowls etc and leave it in there for maybe a week so it understands that its in a safe place. After the week I would open the door of the cage and sit on the floor to see if wanted to come out and explore, I would only leave the cage open for the evening and supervise all the time until bedtime when I would close the cage. The next day I might do the same again, increasing the amount of time it is let out and then begin to increase the space in which it is allowed to roam.

I understand you have experience with rabbits and you must have been very lucky if they have all used their litter tray 100% of the time, and use it almost immediately? You seem to expect this little rabbit to do the same, I think you are expecting far too much. What is the rush? Sorry but I find it quite frustrating the way you are going on about your rabbit as if it is an object not a living animal.

Well she does have a spot as her "home." And she knew that herself. She is restly quite comfortable just outside that spot, in which I put the litter box there. And she also slept on that spot from time to time. So she seems very happy on that spot.

Part of the problem is the frequency of her urine. It's been a long time since I have a baby rabbit. I can't remember if the last rabbit has so many urine during the day when he was a baby. As w/ the current bunny, some of them are very small spots, (a small amt. of urine) and a few are regular size urine.

Her urine frequency is more like every 2 hr. for small amt. of urine to leak.