house training

Question
just got myself an 11 week old dwarf lop,hes in the utility room my problem is he will pee in his tray but not do his dropings there.he tends to drop all over the area and not in a corner or a specific area,i have 2 trays for him but when he drops i place him in his tray but he just skips out  and we keep repeating this action iv had him 5 days now,should i just keep dong this until he gets the idea,i do go to my work but dnt really want a hutch,i would like him to have the run of this room.thanks.bye

Answer
Hi,

all rabbits mark their territory ranges.  Especially when they are in a new area.  It's just something rabbits do.  Wild rabbits do it, and so do pet rabbits.  It isn't so much going to the bathroom as it is marking.

Now, you can encourage him to use the litterpan.  Best thing you can do, besides offering litterpans where he happens to mark the most, is to offer hay so that he can eat hay and be in the litterpan.  Rabbits like to munch on hay while in the litterpan.  They tend to drop pellets where they eat hay.

The other thing to do, is that when he hits sexual maturity (soon, probably between 3 1/2 months and 6 months), is to get him fixed by a good rabbit vet.  This will cut down on the hormonal drive to mark excessively.  The key is having a good rabbit vet do this.  Go to:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

to find a House Rabbit Society recommended vet near you.

Don;t put him outside in a hutch.  you'll shorten his life and you won't bond with him like you would an indoor rabbit.  I also suggest spending some time reading the books I suggest, and reading articles on the House Rabbit Society web site.

Lee