Forum

OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS.  SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.  We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best. 

You may have received a 2-factor authentication (2FA) email from us on 4/21/2020. That was from us, but was premature as the login was not working at that time. 

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

What are we about?  Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum BEHAVIOR New Mommy, Confusing Behavior

Viewing 7 reply threads
  • Author
    Messages

    • Ryot
      Participant
      4 posts Send Private Message

        Ok so generally I can’t find any information about my little guys behavior in reference to his litter training. I have a small 1 bedroom apartment and he is currently confined to the front, (living, dining room, and kitchen, though he never goes in the kitchen). He is using his litter box but also everywhere else. However we’ve only had a couple of pee mishaps and 1 was definitely my fault. However he is pooping everywhere but here’s the odd thing, when I first brought him home he pooped ALL over the floor, thankfully there is no smell and it’s very easy to clean up. Now he is no longer pooping on the floor unless it accidentally falls out of his cage/litter box. Now he has moved on to the couch I am wondering if it will be just like the floor he’ll eventually finally feel it’s properly marked and move on though the only area in the front he hasn’t covered in poop at least twice is the kitchen. Is this normal, everything I read says they tend to like one spot but it’s almost like he’s marking his territory with poop and once it’s sufficiently marked he will move on. I hate keeping him in his cage he’s getting so big so fast that I definitely feel keeping him in his cage for more than a couple hours at a time is just mean. Am I being too soft?

        Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

        Also he’s a 2 month old flemish giant.


      • Bam
        Moderator
        16838 posts Send Private Message

          The do mark with their poop. The problem with soft surfaces like sofas and beds though is that they like to use them as toilets too. First poop, then pee as well, which is more troublesome, obviously. So I suggest you block his access to the sofa and bed until you can get him neutered, if neutering him is your plan, just so he doesn’t get used to the sofa as a toilet. It’s easier to prevent habits from forming than actually changing established habits.

          I’d not lock a bunny in a cage for more than a fews hours if I could help it, but that’s just me+ I’ve never had a baby rabbit, just grown ups. So I really can’t say if you ought to keep him locked up more. Young animals are all about exploring and learning to perfect their motor-skills, so not being locked up is of course the more natural thing, but it really depends on the size of the cage. If you can make him an x-pen-exercise-area and attach it to the cage, I think that would be exellent during this first time of litter-training. There are many examples and suggestions on how to make comfy and good rabbit homes in the habitat-section of the forums.


        • Ryot
          Participant
          4 posts Send Private Message

            The other thing is he doesn’t make any movement to show he’s about to poop. I’ve left pee pads in the places he has peed before and he has been using it. It’s odd because if I leave things on the couch he avoids that, poop wise, and poops only on the empty cushions, specifically where I have the pee pads. I don’t know if this is a good sign or just coincidence. On a good note he is learning and beginning to recognize simple commands already, such as come and no.

            Another question I have, biting. It’s more of a nibble really but is this normal? He’s only bit me somewhat hard when I realized he had a mat under his neck and was trying to get a closer look at it. Should I punish in some way or is it just a youthful phase?


          • LolaBuns
            Participant
            197 posts Send Private Message

              My Lola used to bite me too. At first it was all the time…if she wanted something, if I stopped petting her, if she didn’t want something…but later it was mostly just if I stopped petting her or if I was doing something else and she thought I should be paying attention to her (she thinks that ALL the time). There was a couple weeks where I didn’t want to let her out at all (I did anyway, such cute face who can say no). She also peed/pooed EVERYWHERE, all the time. We were finally able to get her spayed June 1. She has not bit me once since the surgery and the pee/poo is 99% contained to the litter box. After about 4 days, she was completely peeing in box so I expanded her play area a foot or so (we have an xpen around her condo so she isn’t confined except when we clean the floor). She peed in one corner once about an hour after the expansion and then nothing for a few days so we did it again. Same result. The last expansion she didn’t even pee once. She leaves a poo or two around occasionally (I’d say once every other day or so) but she hasn’t peed outside her box in over a week. She also used to pee on the couch. Within minutes (sometimes seconds) of jumping up there she would pee. This happened 3 or 4 times after that we blocked off the couch when she had free roam time. In the last week I decided to try again. She has been up there 4 times this week. Each about 30 mins long. No pee at all. I’ve read that some buns will always pee on the couch because it smells so strongly of us but she hasn’t.

              When Lola would bite me I started out just telling her no but I am not convinced she can hear. She doesn’t react at all to the dogs barking, the vacuum cleaner, or us talking and we have walked up to her cage (not very quietly) and scared her half to death if she isn’t facing us. So after the no didn’t work I would just kind of nudge her away from me and stop petting her. The biting lessened but didn’t completely quit until her spay.

              Good Luck!


            • Ryot
              Participant
              4 posts Send Private Message

                Oh goodness I’ve got 4 months left before he’s of safe age to be fixed. The nibbling is ok he’s only bitten me hard once I just wasn’t sure, and research is great an all but talking to actual people who have been through it is much nicer lol. I’m hoping that a couple more litter boxes and getting it out of his system will handle it but if not I guess I’ll just have to continue cleaning up until he’s old enough to be fixed.


              • LolaBuns
                Participant
                197 posts Send Private Message

                  I was super frustrated by the time we actually got her spayed. She was 18 months when we got her in Feb but when we took her in for the spay the first time, they did a blood panel to see if everything was working properly to make sure she would survive anesthesia and her liver enzymes came back really high. We had to do a round of antibiotics and a few more blood tests before they decided that she might just have a naturally higher level than normal. It was a long 3 months I tell ya. She’s lucky she is so stinking cute. I think our problem was compounded by the fact that we have 2 dogs too.


                • Ryot
                  Participant
                  4 posts Send Private Message

                    Update: So I didn’t have a way to just block him off the couch so I covered half of the couch with pee pads, pee wise he began using them, slowly I’ve been removing them. The poop as a whole on the couch is getting less and less each day! He’s now down to 2 pee pads on 1 cushion(from half the couch about 5 pee pads total) and I actually brought him on the couch with me, he hopped off my lap hopped over to the pee pad and used it! So basically I’m trying to ween him off of it lol. It seems to be working! Though I’m hoping this isn’t just a coincidence we shall see when i remove them altogether I’m going to buy 2 more litter boxes when I get paid and place one next to the couch and one in my bedroom as I plan to start letting him into the bedroom soon. There was no poop on the floor today!

                    In reference to the biting he seems to be responding to the word no pretty well and it has become minimal nibbling and seems to be focused on my jewelry or my clothes not my skin.


                  • LolaBuns
                    Participant
                    197 posts Send Private Message

                      Yay! So glad it’s getting better for you! Lola softened her bite pretty good too before it stopped altogether.

                  Viewing 7 reply threads
                  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

                  Forum BEHAVIOR New Mommy, Confusing Behavior