House training tips?

[babybella]

I have heard that it’s really easy to house train bunnies, but mine seems to be the exception. She will use the litter box occasionally, but only if I put her in there myself – she never seeks it out. I do give her lots of treats and pets every time she uses it, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference! She’s peed on me 5 times since I got her (less than a week ago), and I have to mop the whole floor every time I bring her inside. I was also surprised to notice that she doesn’t choose one corner of her cage to use as her “bathroom” – she just goes everywhere, including where she eats and sleeps! I haven’t had her very long, so maybe I’m just not being patient enough, but I know if I let her learn bad habits it will be even harder in the long run, so I’m just looking for some tips.

[Sarita]

What do you mean by bring her inside? Inside the house?

[babybella]

Yes, her cage is in the backyard and that’s where she stays when I’m not home. I bring her inside the house for a few hours every day, though.

[Sarita]

That is probably part of the problem. Is there anyway you can bring her inside full-time?

Also litter training is something that needs consistency so having her outside and then bringing her in for a few hours is not really going to help her learn to use her litter box. The idea is to start out in a small space and increase that. Also young rabbits take more time to train.

[babybella]

Having her inside full-time is not an option. I have a small dog as well (and they do not get along) so they take turns going outside. I also live with two other people who don’t want her inside, because even with cleaning up after her multiple times per day, they can still smell it. It took some convincing for them to be ok with me having her in here even for a few hours. Do you think it’s possible for me to train her at all, then? Or should I just plan to follow her around with a broom and mop whenever she is inside?

[Sarita]

I think this situation will make it more difficult for her to be successful simply because she doesn’t have a designated area that is her own to go back to that she recognizes as her own, she is young and there is also another animal who is in the house.

[babybella]

Ok. Well I can’t really do anything about the situation, so I guess I’ll just have to deal with it. For now I just corralled off the corner of the kitchen that her litterbox is in, and hopefully the smaller area will help encourage her to use it as well as being less for me to clean. Thanks for the advice, anyway.

[Megabunny]

But is she spayed? I had a rabbit at a vet hospital one time who always went in the same place in an area I corralled off for him. But if your bunny isn’t spayed, that’s probably part of the problem. But, yes, probably not going to get too far if she’s only part time inside, unless it’s a smaller area. Then there may be a chance, but I’m not totally sure

[Author]

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