By nature, rabbits choose one or a few places (usually corners) to deposit their urine and most of their poops. Urine-training involves little more than putting a litter box where the rabbit chooses to go. Poop-training requires only that you give them a place they know will not be invaded by others.
Rabbits tend to like going to the toilet in the corners of the area. Put a couple of litter trays in different corners and see which they prefer. Use a cat litter tray filled with rabbit bedding material (such as Auboise or Megazorb). Never put cat litter in the tray or anything clay or pine based.
A note about poop: Some rabbits will continue to poop outside their litter boxes – this can be a territorial behaviour. You can always pick up the poops and place them in the litter box, but the behaviour might never go away completely. Give your rabbit fresh hay in their litter boxes every day, 2-3 times a day.
Put a thin layer of litter at the bottom of the litter box- just enough to absorb wetness. As rabbits don't bury their droppings like cats, you only need to use a small amount of litter and you will be discarding the whole tray contents each time. Rabbits like to eat hay and poop at the same time.
This helps get the message across that the litter box is the place that they should do their business. Keep in mind that rabbits are generally not 100% perfect with their litter box. Sometimes they leave a few droppings next to the box, or they urinate over the edge of their box.
Rabbits poop a lot. Once you have a pet rabbit, this becomes all too apparent when you find their little cocoa puff poops scattered around your home. Most rabbits can be litter trained relatively easily. However, some rabbits are a little more stubborn and will continue to leave their poops outside their litter box.
In general, rabbit poop is not harmful to humans, cats, dogs, or other animals. The diseases that can be transmitted through their feces are species specific and would only pose a threat to other rabbits. Even then, it's likely that if your rabbit is healthy, they will not spread anything through their poop.
A change in the type of litter, box, cleaning solutions, hay, and location can all play a role in accidents. Think back to the times when you had the most luck with your rabbit using their box and go from there.
Apart from eating these droppings, rabbits are extremely clean animals and like to have their own 'bunny bathrooms' - dedicated areas in their hutch for sleeping, eating and toileting.
Even with a litter trained bunny, if your rabbit isn't fixed it's likely that you will still have issues with both pee and poop on your bed. This is because un-fixed rabbits tend to be much more territorial and like to mark.
Where should my indoor rabbits live? Just like outdoor rabbits, those that live indoors will need a large hutch that's big enough for them to take three hops in. That's pretty big and is recommended to be no smaller than 6x2x2 feet.
Sleeping area
Rabbits spend a lot of time sleeping, mostly during the day. The perfect sleeping area for rabbits is a place which approximates a burrow i.e. a roof over their heads and an entrance and exit route. Therefore, house rabbits tend to like sleeping behind sofas or under tables or beds.
Did you know you can house train rabbits? These clever house pets will happily use a litter tray, so long as it is well set up and they have been shown how to use it. You can start litter training your rabbits as early as you like but you can litter train a rabbit at any age.
For rabbits, use litter made from aspen shavings or recycled paper. Pine and cedar shavings can be unhealthy for rabbits so they should be avoided. Locate your rabbit's preferred "potty spot." Figure out the areas of the cage or room that your rabbit uses as a bathroom.
It takes at least one week for the easy ones but it could take a while longer for a stubborn rabbit. You'll also find that older rabbits are easier to teach compared to younger ones as they have better a attention span.
If your rabbit is already litter box trained from young and suddenly you notice he/she starts peeing out of the box, it could be a sign that he/she is unwell due to UTI, kidney or bladder stone etc. Bring them to the vet to examine immediately. Generally, rabbits are very fastidious animals.
Average sized bunnies will make 200-300 poops per day. They should be uniform in size and shape which means rounded and pea to garbanzo sized. The size of your bunny won't always predict the size of their poops.
Basic plastic cat litter pans work best. Stick to the medium, large, or giant litter pans, unless your rabbit is very tiny. However, you can't go wrong with a larger litter box that your rabbit can grow into. A giant cat pan can be used for large bunnies (over ten pounds) and bonded pairs.
It may seem gross, but rabbits normally eat some of their feces once a day, either early in the morning or late at night. These special feces are called cecotropes, or “night feces.” They are produced through fermentation of food in the part of the rabbit's digestive tract called the cecum.
Disposing of rabbit waste
Some people will try to flush it down the toilet, but I don't recommend this since it's likely to clog up the drains. Instead, use the kind of trash bag that does not rip easily. Simply shovel your rabbit's poop and soiled litter into a plastic bag and put it in the trash.
Rabbits do not require routine bathing and in fact frequent washing, either with or without shampoo, strips the rabbit's fur of its natural oils, which helps to keep the rabbit's coat in good condition. Bathing is also extremely stressful for rabbits and has many potential and serious dangers.
While rabbits can carry parasites like tapeworm and roundworm, their waste is not known to transmit any diseases to humans. However, a single rabbit can excrete over 100 pellets in a single day, which can make a flowerbed or backyard unpleasant.