territorial droppings

Question
I have recently bought a baby bunny and am having some territorial
problems.  I absolutely love my bunny and have given him his own cage and I
let him around my bunny-proofed room for at least 5-10 hours a day.
 He is potty trained, but he continuously leaves droppings on my bed. I
would really appreciate any advice that may stop this behavior.  He only
marks his territory on my bed, not anywhere else in "his" room. Thank
you for reading this, please help me sleep on clean sheets.


Answer
Dear Kathleen,

This is pretty normal behavior.  If he's very attached to you, he's marking the area that has the strongest scent of you, in this way marking both the bed and you as "his."  To reduce this behavior, try covering the bed with a water-resistant sheet when you're not in it.  This will not only reduced your scent on the bed, but also protect it in case he decides to urinate there, too!

Unfortunately, it's *really* hard (did I say "really hard?"  What I meant was "virtually impossible.") to break a rabbit of a habit like this, short of keeping him off the bed.  Once he's neutered, the marking behaviors will subside, but since he can't be neutered until his testicles drop (at the age of 3-4 months), you might have a while to do.  Until then, you might have to just keep him off the bed so he doesn't *learn* this bad habit, and not break it even after he's neutered.

Hope this helps.

Dana