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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.

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Forum BEHAVIOR 3 Month Old Litter-Trained but Peeing on Carpet

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    • Waffle65
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        I’ve had my 3 month old male bunny for about 3 weeks now, and I’m already at my wits end with all of his ‘accidents’ on the carpet.  For his current setup we have him in a 3×4 foot dog crate, and he’s doing great with using his litter box in there. Within two days of bringing him home he was using the box perfectly, and isn’t having any accidents in the rest of his crate. However, whenever I try and let him out of the crate to spend time with him, it’s an absolute disaster.  Because he is so young, curious, and still isn’t at the point where he will listen to me/follow rules yet, we have been having his exercise/play time in our very long hallway, with all of the room doors shut. This way, he is kind of forced to interact with me more and get to know me, and we don’t have to worry about him trying to chew wires or run and hide underneath furniture just yet. Just about every time I try and let him play and explore, he decides that he must pee on the floor.  Every time he has peed on the floor it has been in the corner (different ones) right by the doors, so it’s not like he’s just sitting in the middle of the hallway going.  These accidents are also not because he actually has to go to the bathroom.  I always wait and make sure that I actually see him go pee in his litter box before I bring him out to try and eliminate that risk. After he has an accident I tell him NO and put him back in his crate so he doesn’t think that it’s okay to do. Obviously I’m cleaning up the mess then and spraying it, so I don’t think that he’s able to smell anything.  

        What am I supposed to do to make him understand that this behavior is unacceptable? I’m worried that he’s done it so many times now he thinks that it’s okay and has become a habit. If I can keep him distracted while he’s out with things like his tunnel and bed he is pretty good about not peeing, but that’s a hard thing to keep up with. I’m not sure if at 3 months old males can already be getting hormonal and this is him trying to ‘mark’ his territory, or just him seeing how much he can get away with.  Obviously because he is so young I can’t get him neutered yet, so I’m very worried about another 2-3 months of this behavior. This is a totally new situation for me. With my last bunny, in the 9 years that I had him I can only remember him peeing on the carpet twice, even when he was young and not neutered yet, so I think he spoiled me and set incredibly high standards for this little guy. I’m getting very frustrated with him, and it’s almost to the point where I don’t even want to spend time with him because I know he will make a mess. I’m wondering if maybe because his litter box is in the corner of his crate he is associating the corners of the room as an okay place to pee? He hasn’t pooped on the carpet once yet. Would maybe a round puppy playpen be a good solution, since there are no true corners to it? 

        Any advice or experience with this would be much appreciated 


      • Bunny and a Border
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        8 posts Send Private Message

          Try making his play area smaller, and putting multiple litterboxes in it. Set something up to make the hallway half the size and put 2-3 litter boxes in it, including the box from his crate. If he keeps having accidents, make the area smaller. When he is doing well, expand the area slowly until he has the full hallway. Take away the litterbox he uses the least, and then see how he does. If he has accidents, put the box back. If he doesn’t, reduce the number of boxes to one or expand the area he’s allowed to be in. He may not be in his hormonal phase just yet, but making will probably show up pretty soon. At that point, he’ll have to be neutered and that should also help with litter box training.


        • Mikey
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            1) Hes still very new. Hes marking his territory. 2) Hes entering puberty. Usually when puberty starts, litter habits fly out the window.

            Yelling at him is the wrong thing to do. Hes acting on bunny instinct. You will never be able to train an animal out of its basic instincts. Putting him back in his crate only shows him that you are mad at him, not why you are mad. He will not understand why you are mad, he will only understand that you are, in a way, taking your anger out on him. Making his area smaller isnt going to really help either. He will still mark that up. Neutering when his testicles appear is the best way to relitter train your bun. After he is neutered, it could still take up to a few months until his litter habits are perfected again.

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        Forum BEHAVIOR 3 Month Old Litter-Trained but Peeing on Carpet