Litter training help

I think I've read everything on litter training bunnies, but my little doe is resistant. I have a litter box that is plenty big for her, and hay to tempt her to use it. I've had to put the hay in a rack in the corner by the litter pan, as placing the hay inside did not work.

By "resistant", I mean that my girl will stretch as far as possible to get that hay without setting foot in the litter box. So she ends up pooping and peeing just outside the box, but not in it. I would think that she just doesn't like the feel of the litter or something, but even when the litterbox has been filled with nothing but hay, she will still remain outside of it to eat.

Any suggestions on what to do? The only thing I can think of is to get a really huge litterbox so that she can't stretch in to get the hay and has no choice but to step inside. The problem with that is it would have to take up so much of her cage!! Thankfully, she seems to at least be cage-trained, since she's out a lot of the time and does her business only in the cage, except for the occasional little treasure pebble we find in a bedroom - bedroom access is therefore more closely monitored.

When my bunny was young, I had some issues potty training him as well. To be fair, his were more along the lines of "HAHA I AM PEEING ON YOUR FLOOR AND NOTHING CAN STOP ME", but still. I'd suggest getting a little bit bigger of a litter box, and perhaps trying out different kinds of litters to see if any of them draw your bunny in. I prefer recycled newspaper pellets myself, but maybe the cottony carefresh litter would get yours more interested?

Another thing I'd suggest would be getting one of those hay feeders, and strap it to the side of her cage where she can't possibly get at it without stepping in the litterbox. I had to get one anyway because my little darling wouldn't stop peeing on his pellets.

Make sure you have patience! I know it's annoying, but it could just be that she's so young. Once mine got a bit older he just randomly stopped fighting the litterbox one day and hasn't had an accident since.

...except when he specifically does it to make me mad.

She's actually improved in the last few days and is getting a lot of poop in the litterbox, but also a lot to the side of it. About 50-50 now. So I think a larger litterbox should solve it.

I do have a hayrack, but she stretches her best to avoid the litterbox when she wants to. Sometimes now she just sits inside the litterbox while munching it, so I think it's just depending on where she is rather than a problem with the wood pellets I'm using for litter. She has Carefresh in the rest of her cage for now, but I'll be getting rid of that when I get a bigger litterbox.

Here's hoping a bigger litterbox solves the problem!

I didn't exactly "train" my boy to poop in a litter box...more like he trained me to put a box in corners where he liked to poop (kitchen, pantry, bathroom). Over several weeks I slowly started blocking off those corners, leaving him just the one litter box in our pantry. Now he's content only going potty in that one box and nowhere else.

Messyhair said:

She's actually improved in the last few days and is getting a lot of poop in the litterbox, but also a lot to the side of it. About 50-50 now. So I think a larger litterbox should solve it.

I do have a hayrack, but she stretches her best to avoid the litterbox when she wants to. Sometimes now she just sits inside the litterbox while munching it, so I think it's just depending on where she is rather than a problem with the wood pellets I'm using for litter. She has Carefresh in the rest of her cage for now, but I'll be getting rid of that when I get a bigger litterbox.

Here's hoping a bigger litterbox solves the problem!

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Ahh... that is the problem. (bold above) Whenever there is loose bedding elsewhere in the cage, it can confuse bunny as to where to potty. Carefresh is often used as litter in a litter box. So basically you have set up the entire cage as one huge litter box with an additional actual box that is just (in her eyes) blocking access to her hay. This is why you have been having trouble training her. It has nothing to do with the hay placement in your case.

Absolutely get rid of the loose Carefresh on the cage floor. Bunnies don't like to pee on solid surfaces. Once the actual litter box is the only place with litter/bedding, then she will likely take right to training.

That makes sense! She's only had wood pellet litter from the breeder and now that's in her litterbox, but if soft stuff = peeable/poopable stuff, then the CareFresh is definitely a problem!

Good to know... I'll be scooping it all out on Monday (working all day tomorrow ) and then I'll see how it goes. I may still need to upgrade to a bigger litterbox, but I'll try step 1 first - remove the CareFresh!