Litter Problems - house rabbits

Question
I have 2 house rabbits, both Chocolate Tans from a friend of mine who breeds them for showing.  I had the male first (he was 1 in May). He litter trained quickly and easily.  I had him neutered as soon as possible to stop the sexual behaviour he'd started to display, also so I could get him a friend for company.  My next rabbit was female (she'll be 1 in September).  She was much more difficult to litter train and never completely got the hang of it.  Once I had her, he began to urinate at random which I did expect (having read up on it).  I had her neutered recently (about 3 months ago) and I thought this would solve the problem and I could get back on track.  They are now back together as normal and re-bonded but the litter problems have not gone away.  

They are house rabbits, living mainly upstairs.  They have a large spare bedroom which is "their" room and this is where their trays are.  They do use their trays regularly, even returning to the room to specifically use them but they do still urinate elsewhere too.  There are a couple of areas where they do it repeatedly but otherwise it's fairly random and there seems no pattern to it.  Sometimes they'll even do it right at the side of their litter tray, even though another time they'd get in the tray to do it.  I've read quite a bit about this and tried various techniques. I've cleaned the areas thoroughly, sprayed them with perfume to mask the smell.  In their room, once the neutering was over, I re-decorated and changed the carpet.  On the couple of areas they use repeatedly (in my bedroom unfortunately) I've tried covering with a box for a period to put them off.  I've also tried confining them to their room for a few days.  I clean their trays daily but not too thoroughly so as not to remove their own scent and as I say they do use the trays but not all the time.  

I don't know what to try next with them.  They're starting to ruin the house.  I don't want to put them outside (they're real house-rabbits - I have to physically put them outside, they never go of their own accord and once out they can't wait to get back in - not from fear, they're confident enough out there, they just seem much happier indoors).  

I hope I've given enough info - ANY advice you can give would be very gratefully received.

Thanks
Diane Oglesby


Answer
Hi Diane,

My first question is going to be how big is your litter tray?

Some rabbits like to have large trays so they can have Hay in them to eat at the same time.

Depending on the size of your rabbits, some people use the bases of old indoor cages as litter trays.

White vinegar is meant to help with weeing in the wrong places, alternatively I think it's going to be putting paper under the litter trays.

Changing the litter in the trays might help, some rabbits don't like certain litters.

Another thing is using a covered cat litter tray as some rabbits like to be enclosed while doing their business.

Hope this helps! And let me know how you get on

Gem x