How to Potty Train a House Rabbit?

My sisters bunny has been pooping and peeing everywhere around my sisters room, the rabbit stays in my sisters room for about the whole day, and it hangs out wherever. We put it in a big box with food, and all when my sister and i go to school, but its been peeing everywhere like mostly on my sisters bed, and pillows and pooping too. How do we train her to use it in a certain spot or in something like a litter box? Where can we place it.How to Potty Train a House Rabbit?
I've successfully litter box trained 3 house rabbits and though I'm sure there's other ways of doing it, I'll share how I did it since I learned it from a seasoned bunny owner.





First, you should not leave a rabbit in a room as you're doing, or wherever. It should never be free to roam a room without being supervised. I keep my bunnies in x-pens, but before you get to that point, you must litter box train it, so that even when it's in it's pen, it knows where to poop and urinate. So here's what I did to train my rabbits when I got each of them:





Since the room I had for my bunnies had carpet, I got a large remnant section of sheet vinyl from Home Depot to protect the floor. Pretty cheap and large. Then I got an X pen like this: http://www.amazon.com/Panel-GoGo-Black-E It's nice because it has a door I can go through to clean and give hay, pellets, veggies, fresh water, etc.





Then I got a large size cat litter pan, the bottom part only. I fill the bottom with rabbit safe litter. If you're not sure what is rabbit safe, visit http://www.rabbit.org and see what kinds are safe. On top of the safe litter I put the appropriate hay, timothy for adults, alfalfa hay if bun is under a year old.





Next I put the rabbit in the litter box and surrounded the litter box with the X pen doubling it and leave only enough space for the rabbit to hop to the water crock. Not giving them space to live outside the box makes them learn real quick that it's their kitchen, napping area, and bathroom. Make sure you get a nice big heavy water crock so they can't knock it over and hang a water bottle too.





If the rabbit pees outside the box, wipe it with a tissue and throw the tissue in the litter box to mark it's spot. Same with poop balls. Keep the fresh hay coming morning, noon and evening, keeping the litter box fresh. Feed veggies in the box and even pellets. For a list of rabbit safe veggies, see the rabbit.org website. If your rabbit digs, get a cheap small cookie rack for $2 and place it in the litter box when before adding litter and hay and that'll put a stop to the digging.





This part is very important to litter box training your rabbit. Leave your rabbit in there for 3-5 days, make sure you are giving it fresh water daily as well as feeding it properly. Then on the 4-6th day, open up the pen a little giving your rabbit just slightly more room to move inside. See if she pees/poops inside or outside the litter box. If she pees or poops outside, give her less space in the x-pen for a couple more days. S-L-O-W-L-Y give your bun more space. If you just let her have a lot of space or let her run freely in the room, she will not be litter box trained.





When your rabbit shows that it knows to use the litter box, then gradually expand the X pen until it is fully expanded. If she's fine for a while but then poops or pees elsewhere, you have to go back and retrain. After they're trained, I then let them in the family room with a litter box in the evenings and then back to their big X pen til the next night. But I always am there, they are never left unattended. My bunnies don't get along so I have to keep them in separate x-pens.





The only time there's been any peeing outside the litter box was when one of my rabbits was sick with abcesses...so take it as a warning if they always use the litter box and then suddenly don't, maybe a vet visit is in order. Poop balls aren't a problem either, occasionally one or two may get on the floor and if it's a lot more, repeat the training with them. Btw, Oxbow makes a good alfalfa hay for young buns, and timothy for adults.





Plain white vinegar chemically breaks down rabbit urine, so definitely use that. I use a big garden spray bottle and keep it filled with vinegar. You'll need to clean the litter box out every 3-4 days with it, also the floor. I use vinegar and baking soda to clean the crocks. Good luck!!!





P.S. Since the rabbit has marked your sister's bed, letting it on there will only encourage it to mark it some more. If you can't throw out the mattress, then at least clean it with white vinegar and have it air out. This will remove the smell. Do not use soap, it won't help.How to Potty Train a House Rabbit?
Hi there.





Training a rabbit takes patience, but is satisfying and easily done when you get the right technique. Start by buying a litter box/tray and filling it with wood shavings or hay. Then, (the tricky bit) every time you see your rabbit pooping or peeing, lift it gently into the box/tray. Then, once it has finished pooping, give it a treat to show it that it's going to the toilet in the right place and being a good rabbit! Continue with this procedure.





Once your rabbit has mastered the art of pooping/peeing in the litter tray/box, stop giving it treats when it poops/pees in the tray/box. Every little while, give your bunny a treat when you see it doing something good - this will give it confidence.





I hope I helped you out - good luck :)
There should already be a certain spot the bun uses mostly for peeing. Put a cat litter tray (high sided one as rabbit spray when peeing) and put something down to absorb it - I use newspaper, but you can use brands like megazorb which'll absorb the smell too. Then put some poos in the box too and some hay as they like to munch when pooing.





Once the rabbit is using the litter tray - move it to a spot you want her to pee and poo in. And ta-daa! sorted!





(Well, until she reaches puberty and starts marking territory - when you'd be best neutering her to stop this behavour (seriously does help) and also helps against uteris cancer girly rabbits can get)
When your rabbit pees or poos you have to scoop it up and put it in its litter tray. I think that you shouldn't'use cat litter. Also put hay in the litter box to make your rabbit go inside the litter box and used to being in it.
put it in a cage when you are not there with it. and when you are with it and see it start to potty, then run over and pick it up and take it to where it is ok for it to go. a litter box might work.
You can put a box in the corner where it goes to the bathroom and it will eventually go there, if it goes somewhere else. place the box there. good luck
I bought a rabbit last Thursday, and my rabbit is already housetrained - I'm not boasting, just illustrating that it can be done fairly quickly and easily.





Firstly does the rabbit have a hutch or a cage? for it's own safety and comfort it should do. Rabbits are naturally clean animals, and even in the wild they choose a specific area to use as a toilet.





The rabbit will naturally choose an area to use, but if it has too much freedom, which it sounds like your sister's rabbit does, it will poo and pee wherever it likes. Before a house rabbit is given freedom to roam the house, it should first learn to use its potty inside the cage or hutch. A litter tray with RABBIT litter (not cat litter as this can harm the rabbit), or straw (as rabbits like to chew when they go to the toilet), will be fine. So the rabbit knows what it is for place a few poos in the tray, your rabbit will soon learn to use it. For encouragement when the rabbit is in the litter tray (preferably using it as intended) give it a small piece of raw (washed) carrot. Once your rabbit is using the potty properly you can stop giveing the carrot, and allow the rabbit out of teh cage. Leave the door open so it can enter and exit the cage to use the potty. Sometimes an extra litter tray outside the cage may be a good idea. Occassionally my rabbit leaves one or two bunny balls on the floor when he is outside the cage, but as he is only a baby, accidents will happen.





Be patient, and do your research, there are lots of websites which provide information on potty training a rabbit.





When the rabbit is outside the cage, they really need to be supervised as they love to nibble and do not distuinguish between your favourite jumper or electric cables. Rabbits should not be allowed to chew clothing, etc as if they swallow any material it can cause a blockage and result in a hefty vet bill, or seriously harm the rabbit, maybe even kill it. It is important to 'rabbit proof' your pet's play area, for instance your sister's bedroom - are there computer or tv cables in reach of the rabbit? Are clothes left on the floor? You can also find information on the web, or in a pet shop by asking an assistant, about how to make your home safe for your rabbit.