litter training rabbits

Question
I have two, 6 month old, un-neutered male rabbits.  Both will be getting neutered in a week.  They currently live in our basement.  They have a cage and an 8x4 play area that they have free access to (cage door is always opened. There is one litter box in the cage and two litter boxes in the play area.  For the most part they urinate in the litter boxes (however there are times pee is found on the basement floor.  They poop in the litter box but also everywhere else.  I don't know if they are continually marking the areas.  They even poop in their little "cave" they sleep in located in the cage.  We want to bring them upstairs but not with their current litter habits.  We are hoping getting them neutered will make the difference.  What are we to expect after being neutered?  What should we be doing?

Answer
Getting them neutered is very likely to help. Do give them a few weeks post-op for their hormones to calm down before expecting any difference. But the main problem will just be the habits that have been formed.

A few weeks post-neuter will be time for intensive litter training. Don't worry about their pooping in their cage or nest--it's still their area and they may still mark it or be lazy about it. Be prepared to clean up the stray dry poop now and then outside, but you should be able to get 90% of everything in the litterboxes.

Litter training the average rabbit is like paper training a dog more than
it is like litter training a cat. Using a litterbox is highly instinctual
for a cat; for a rabbit, they have some instinct to confine their
excretions to a particular area, but that instinct is more pronounced in
some than others.

There's a huge FAQ at http://rabbit.org/faq/sections/litter.html that
discusses most all aspects of the training process.

Good luck. I'm glad your goal is to have rabbits up in the family area with you.

Gina