Potty Training my Rabbit

Question
I have had a baby rabbit for two weeks now and she is about 4-5 weeks old. She was abandoned by her mother so I have nursed her. I have been trying to train her to go to the bathroom in a litter box but she only does her business in it when I put her in it otherwise she does it all over the house. What can I do to make her go in the litter box all by herself so that I can have her running around the house freely without poop pellets all over the floor? Thanx - Kayla

Answer
Right now she is rather young to be litterbox trained. Babies have a much harder time of holding it until they can get to a litterbox than older rabbits do. Instead, keep her in a confined area that can be easily cleaned (like a cage) for now. You can bring her out for exercise or for holding (put a rag or something down to prevent accidents on your lap), of course, but for now you will want to look for her to pick an area to start using as a bathroom corner. Most rabbits will use one area of their cage for their main bathroom. Once you have located an area, you can move a litterbox over the area and put some of her feces and urine in it. This should encourage her to start using the litterbox.

Once she is regularly using the litterbox in the cage, you can give her a small area of the house around her cage to roam in. Leave her cage open for her to be able to go back to. Keep it small at first. Once she has proven that she will go back to her cage to go to the bathroom, you can slowly start expanding the area she has free range of.

Some rabbits will never learn to poop in the box, but most should at least learn to urinate in the litter box.