Little Rabbit Poo Poo

Question
Hello!
My two month old rabbits are already litter trained to pee in their litterbox, the only problem now is that they always leave their "rasins" everywhere. I would like to know how to litter train them to do their entire business in the litterbox.
Thank you

Answer
Hi Phoebe,

While you mention they drop fecal pellets in other places, I am assuming that they also leave the bulk of their fecal pellets in their litterpans.  Is this correct?

There is a difference between pellets being dropped in the litterpan (ie going to the bathroom) and a small amount of pellets dropped sporadically while out playing (marking).

Marking occurs because all rabbits mark their territories.  They have scent glands back there that coat the fecal pellet with their scent and they drop them in strategic places when they are out in their areas.  Other rabbits 'read' the pellets and if the area is shared or in contention, they will 'overmark' the others' scents and drop their own pellets.  The other way they scent mark is that they rub their chins on things (they have scent glands under their chin too).

You will not generally be able to prevent marking as it really isn't a function of 'going to the bathroom'.  You can reduce it (often greatly) by having your rabbit fixed after it reaches sexual maturity.  It will curb this behavior because it increases when they are sexually mature.

The other thing you can do is if they tend to mark a certain spot regularly, is simply put a litterpan there for them.  It is always a good idea to give them a litterpan or two when they are out of their cages exercising anyways.

Now if they are actually 'using the bathroom' inside their cages, and dropping large amounts of pellets at other locations in the cage, you can either give them a larger litterpan (you can use a large cat litterpan which is almost like two smaller ones in size) or put a second litterpan in the cage.  Eventually after they hit sexual maturity and are fixed, you can try pulling one out and see how they do.

Write back anytime.  Lee