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Forum BEHAVIOR Litter Training HELPPPP :(

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    • tanlover14
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        Okay. I give up. I have a group of six bonded buns. Since adding in my sixth, all litter habits seemed to have gone right out the window. It’s driving me insane. I’m not sure what else to try. I need litter training back to basics 101. We have done the vinegar, soak it up with a paper towel, put in the litter pain thing a million times. Sprayed down the ENTIRE floor with vinegar each time there was an accident. I’m not sure what else to do besides limiting their area to a small area and starting over from scratch with litter training. What other options do I have and what is the SMALLEST size area they should be allowed for six buns to be cooped up in while litter training?

        Right now they have “free-roam” of half the bedroom… Their side is blocked off with an x-pen across so they can’t get to our desks & that’s about it. Helppppp!

        Additionally, I believe it is ONE bunny who is urinating, I believe the rest are going in the litter box. Only one seems to be the one I’m always seeing do it but with sixth, I could easily miss another. ALL of them leave poos outside the box (besides one or two or three of my bonded Lionheads who have always been good). It’s my Tans that seem to be the worst.


      • tanlover14
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          ALSO, the particular rabbit that seems to be having the most issues is one of the ones I have always had the biggest problems with. We could never get him to litter train after being neutered & finally resorted to clicker training to teach him to go inside his litter box when outside his condo. Now that they don’t live in a condo, limiting space has never seemed to help before. So I’m not confident it would help now…


        • Mocha
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            Well, put all of your rabbits hay in the litterboxes as rabbits tend to go while they eat. Keep picking up your rabbits poop and putting it in the litterbox. This is what I do for my rabbits so they get the idea where they should go. Since you have quite a few rabbits, a lot of the dropings are probably territorial markings. Your bunnies probably still know deep in their minds to go in the boxes but they feel they need to stake their territory. Are your rabbits still peeing in their litterboxes? If they are, then they are probably territorial markings. If your bunnies seem to be getting nowhere, it will probably be best to limit their space a little bit and start over

            If your rabbits seem ill though, they might have a stomach/bladder issue which needs to be taken care of by your vet.

            Since you have 6 bonded bunnies, you can’t really minimize their space.
            Hope I helped.


          • Beka27
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              I would think that short term you could probably reduce them to one xpen. Obviously a tight squeeze with 6, but for the purpose of working on litter habits, sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures…


            • Slowebot
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                I agree that you’ll probably just have to reduce the space.

                I’ve been having the same issue after bonding my bunnies, one has just thrown all litter box habits out the window. I just resorted to putting litter boxes everywhere, but I think I am going to have to reduce the space too. 


              • LongEaredLions
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                  Oh TL14, I know it is frustrating. Lionel did this too when he was just bonded to the girls.I have no advice, but good luck!


                • Slowebot
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                    LongEaredLions, did he ever get over it and stop peeing everywhere or have you just had to deal with it?


                  • Megabunny
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                      Tl14 if you’re stumped that’s scary! I couldn’t possibly give YOU any advice…seriously. So sorry to hear this and hope they straighten up for you soon, the little brats. HA HA


                    • Mocha
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                        Also, for the urine, I would reccomend wiping it up with a paper towel and putting the paper towel in the litter box.


                      • Sarita
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                          This is a tough one especially with 6 rabbit’s in the mix so I don’t know that the conventional wisdom of litter training is the cure for this since you basically have a warren of rabbits :~)

                          I think you will find as far as poops outside the litter box that this is just going to happen with 6 rabbits sharing a space and a box bonded or not. I don’t know how large your litter box is but maybe you need to think outside the “litter box” on this one for the size because if it isn’t large enough for all 6 to fit in I have to wonder if that is part of the problem – they don’t have the space to actually share a box….how large is their litter box now?


                        • Beka27
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                            Good point, Sarita! Yeah, I think if Tanlover isn’t using an “under-the-bed” storage container, that might be the first step… Maybe even a couple in the space…


                          • Lazee
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                              Things you said you were doing, keep doing it, like putting the poo in the box and urin rags but in addition add a box where it is showing up on the floor. I’ve been able to reduce and relocate boxes (slowly) but am always stuck with at least 2 boxes to be on the safe side. My guys roam in and out the house using cat door to get to the yard, so I have boxes along the route. But 8 rabbits is a lot in 1 box. You are a very brave person.


                            • tanlover14
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                                Megabunny, you REALLY made me giggle with that comment! No no, even the more experienced ones have lots of questions left to ask as well! The boyfriend and I have been stocking up on Exotics vet journals & textbooks (the newest versions) to become more up-to-date with illnesses and the such so I’m hoping I can bring a lot of insight onto BinkyBunny with that as well. I just have to find the time to get back on here! I have been frequenting a lot of rabbit Facebook groups but seeing so many people who truly don’t care if their rabbit can get sick from eating bad things OR putting them in dangerous situations just weighs heavily on my mind. The Facebook groups are just full of anger and hatred so I’m going to try and stay off those and just post here!

                                Sarita, they currently have three of the largest litter boxes we could find. I actually just measured them tonight to have some litter screens from BinkyBunny made and two of them are 20″ long by 14″ inch wide & the third is 19″ long by 13″ wide. And they are in three very different areas. The poos we can definitely get over. The urinating is the BIG thing I would like to get them to stop doing. Such a pain. We have seen two of them do it – Fleury multiple times & Tanger once. Which is so annoying because I’ve seen Tanger run across the room to hop in a litter box & go to the bathroom and then run back to where he was…. I swear they do it just to drive me up the wall!

                                Lazee, read your comment right after! Oh goodness, I could never try one litter box with six! I would be way too worried someone wouldn’t get in and get their hay if everyone was crammed in (as that is where we keep our hay for them as well).

                                I keep going back to the limiting space area… but I feel like a jerk with it! Do you think it’s pointless to try that Sarita??? I really don’t think Nora, Lacey, Sidney, or Simba are going out of the litter box… **I don’t think*** LOLLLL. I could be completely wrong. But Simba gets all grumpy if you don’t let him down to get in his litter box when he has to go and you’re hanging out with him (even if their area) so I can’t imagine he would just pee on the floor but who knows with these bunnies…. they’re definitely not above shocking me… that’s for sure!


                              • LongEaredLions
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                                  Slowebot- I put another litter box in and over time he stopped.


                                • jerseygirl
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                                    Have you gone back to some clicker work with Fleury?
                                    Not just for using box but just one-on-one work with him in general. Just positive interaction stuff.

                                    The benefits from that may overflow for when he’s back in the group *fingers crossed*.

                                    I went nearly insane trying to put my finger on cause of Jerseys peeing habit. I never did crack it. So many theories…
                                    If you feel like Fleury is a slightly stressy/anxious yet very intelligent type, engagement with clicker work just might help him. And you’ve seen the benefit of clicker work with him before so if you’re all out of ideas, give that a go.

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                                Forum BEHAVIOR Litter Training HELPPPP :(