toilet training problems

I'm hoping someone can offer some advice on this as Rosie and Hutch's hutch and run is absolutely disgusting . I sweep out the runs and hutches every morning (and evening too in the summer), but Rosie and Hutch just seem to completely ignore the litter trays and poo and wee everywhere. I can't step foot in the run for the sheer volume of poo everywhere, you can barely see the patio floor .
Rosie when in the house was such a clean little girl and did all her wees in the litter tray and there would only be the odd stray poo and she never pooed on the carpet. The rescue lady said that Hutch was a clean bun when she took him in. So I just don't understand why neither of them are using the trays. I've tried 1 tray and 3 trays, I've tried different places, I tried putting them where most of the wee and poo is. I tried putting a tray under the hay rack, I tried different substrate in the tray, wood shavings and newspaper, just newspapre, just hay, hay and newspaper, just shavings......... I've tried putting thier poos in the tray, I tried constantly sweeping the hutch, I daren't leave it for more than 24 hours! I have lined the bottom of the hutch with lino to save the wood, I tried newspaper on it, no newspaper, if i put hay on it the poo increases.
They even poo and wee in their bed

Vince and the girls just don't do any of this, they have a carpeted hutch and carpet in parts of the run, 2 litter trays with shavings and paper and they may do the odd stray poo and occasional wee but it's a pleasure to clean them out each morning as it is so clean in there.

I know it sounds silly but sometimes I dread sweeping Rose and Hutch out cos it's such a nightmare! Why are they like this? Is there something I'm doing wrong? One of them has sprayed wee all over the hutch too, they have aimed really high as well, incredible really!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you

anyone??

I have read this but I don't know why they are being so obstinate. You seem to have tried most of the tricks that others have posted in the past.

Hopefully, someone like Theo will be able to help.

My Brynn (spayed female) was immaculate with her litter habits. Then in saunters Hippo (neutered male) who isn't terrible but who was far from perfect. Then he started to rub off on Brynn which seemed to make him worse as well. Since introducing Hippo I've been battling with this issue. It is the only thing I don't like about my rabbits. I'm sort of anal retentive about my house looking nice but I'm also animal mad so it's a constant battle (I live in Canada so my rabbits are permanently indoors).

I've been in between temporary living arguments waiting for my new place to be finished which has caused the buns to go crazy with their litter habits. At one point it got so bad that I honestly felt like I was going to have an anxiety attack. Nothing I did seemed to stop them from turning the entire cage into a septic tank. It was absolutely disgusting. I totally feel your pain.

I eventually snapped and here is what I did... I'm honestly not sure if it's the right thing or not (the others can fill us both in) but it was literally my last resort:

I put them into the tiny cage I first used when I just had baby Brynn. A cage far too small for one baby rabbit let alone two full grown rabbits, but like I said I was out of options. Cruel? Possibly, but it was only ever a temporary fix. They had 1/2 the cage with just newspaper on the bottom and the other 1/2 was their litter box with LOTS of hay. My one big suggestion would be to scrap your traditional litter boxes and use a rubbermaid container. I use a large filing box. It has much higher sides which means they really have to jump in it to get the hay. This prevents Hippo from sitting on the outside, eating the hay and pooping/peeing while he does this. Hay seems to be Hippos big bladder weakness.

I kept them in this cage for about two weeks. I changed the "free" newspaper side and rinsed it with vinegar if they had any accidents. I left the litter side a little longer than I usually would so they would really know that that was supposed to be their litter box.

It was like potty training boot camp.

Today I moved them back into a big cage (in my new home) and though they have only been in the cage a few hours they haven't had one accident. I would suggest giving a massive massive massive clean to their old cage if you are going to attempt this. I find if they have soiled something once they are going to do it again just because of the smell.

The keys for this are:
- small area
- litter box with HIGH sides
- hay only in the litter box
- super clean new cage once they go back into it


Good luck. I sincerely feel your pain!

Ughh I'm having this problem atm, luna and thistle have two litter trays and I keep moving them because Thistle decides one day he shall use the tray, then the next he much prefers weeing opposite it, or next to it, or just infront of it I've tried all the things you have, if I put hay in them, theyjust eat it all straight away and oh poo it's so frustrating....if u find a solution let me know! haha

Oh I might try that one day. My two are similar - Josephine used to be perfect, then Bruce came along, not perfect but OK, and she has become terrible, she poos everywhere it's so frustrating. At the moment I just clean it up but at the end of the year I'll be moving out so will need to address it.

Sorry I have no suggestions of my own, like Nickie said I think you've tried almost everything.

Ive recently posted about a similar problem, my Billy Bunny was poo-ing and wee-ing in his bed, and ending up with soggy, piddly back feet. Luckily he's now using a newly supplied litter tray.

Sounds as if you've tried everything...am wondering if because there's two of them, if its some sort of scent-marking? They are being little so-n-so's! Will keep watching this one to see if you have any success, keep us informed!

ElleyMay - I am going to try your suggestion. I was pondering the same solution today when I was trampling all over poo whilst trying to sweep it up at the same time whilst desperately trying to balance without putting my hand in wee ridden soggy newspaper

I remember reading somewhere about containing them in a small space and increasing once they got the hang of the littler tray.

I use storage tubs as litter trays anyway as they are bigger and have higher sides and come in pretty shades of blue or pink

Thanks for your post, I'm going to do exactly what you said but I'll have to add something warm for them to sleep in as they are ouside buns and it's getting cold again.

Regarding marking territory, I think it is part of that too, when Rosie was an indoor bun I added an extra bit to her run and she would poo in that but not anywhere else, as if to mark it. When Hutch went in with her, I noticed that it was Hutch pooing everywhere (his poos are bigger than Rosies and a different shade) and now Rosie is pooing everywhere too.

My trio are such clean buns, it's a pleasure to tidy them each day but these two are like a pair of un potty trained toddlers!!

Goodness hun, Good luck with the pair of little terrors!

Good luck!

Mine have been in their new big cage for over 24 hours and they haven't had one accident!

That sounds good well done Brynn and Hippo!!

Well Rosie and Hutch are in a small play pen enclosure in their main run with their trixie outhouse in the play pen with them plus the litter box full of hay. It was tricky trying to figure out where to put them as they are outdoor buns and I couldn't compromise on their safety and warmth.
I put towels in the outhouse so they can tell their bed apart from the litter tray . I know for fact Rosie will HATE this, I haven't looked at her all day cos I feel bad about cooping her up but it is to improve their litter habits. Hopefully they will get the hang of it and they can return to their usual accomodation asap. So far there is still poo everwhere but it's only been 6 hours so lets see what tmrw brings.

Good luck hun...... and good luck dealing with "the looks" You know the ones i mean!

Silly buns! Good luck

Well, update so far, I swept the enclosure out today and there was poo and lots of wee in the trixie house where they sleep There were poos in the enclosure too and a few in the litter box.

I had put towels in the house so they wouldn't think it was their litter tray didn't work though

I swept around again this eveing and there was no wee in the bed horray! but still poo everywhere, boooo.

How long will it take for them to realise the litter box is for litter? I hope it ia soon as I hate cooping them up in the pen when they have a roomy hutch and run to live in

So far they have learnt not to pee in their bed which is so great! I have decided to put towels in their bed instead of hay as I use hay in the litter boxes. So far I have had dry towels so that is a huge improvement. Still getting lots of poo everwhere though, it seems the more space they have the more poo they do I increased the space they have and added two more litter trays



Is this enough litter trays?!!!!

Once they have learned to do the majority of their poo in the trays I shall move them back into the hutch, this will be the main test as a lot of spraying happens here and lots of peeing and peeing in the bed. I've cleaned it with pet disinfectant AND white vinegar/water mix to remove any smells so fingers crossed they will be cleaner soon! It'll be lovely to carpet their hutch like the trio's hutch, nice and snug for them.

Here's a piccy of the gruesome twosome!

They do look a bit guilty in those pics!

Im sure you have tried it - but have you tried putting the poos into the trays rather than just cleaning them away?

Hi Katie, yes, I do do that in the day when I have a quick sweep around but it doesn't make any difference. I found a wee in the bed too
I think I will have to accept these two are mucky bunsters and just get my wellies and rubber gloves on in the morning and clean it all up.

What do you use to clean? I'm wandering if you use something like white vinegar where u don't want them to pee they won't smell their scent there and stop peeing out of the boxes. Thistle atm is weeing nxt to the litter box so I'm not sure if he is just missing and he generally poo's everywhere..silly boy! Luna is fine with her toileting though...apart from once when I used an orange spray to clean her litter tray and she hated the smell and stopped going in it and held it in till I let her out her cage :/
But anyway haha...I was just googling any ideas for you and saw the white vinegar thing

"Many rabbits don't like the smell of vinegar, so they won't urinate in an area where they smell it. Use paper towels to scrub and dry the area."

this is from this http://www.ehow.com/how_16531_clean-rabbits-cage.html not sure how true it is though lol

Hi, thanks for that, I have used the white vinegar trick not sure if it made a difference. I have concluded that the poo is territory markings and there isn't much I can do about that. Hazel used to poop everwhere but she doesn't anymore so maybe they will both grow out of it? The main thing is not weeing everywhere, especially the bed, and there has been great improvement with this. I think it's time to move them back into their hutch and see what happens!

Good luck!!! xx