We have three bunnies now, but our original pair is DJ and Curly Sue. Curly Sue is an incredibly active thumper. She must thump 10-15 times a day, usually if she is mad about something, or wants attention. It seems that for her, what most bunnies do "foot flicks" for ("You meanie, I did not want you to put me down!&quot, she thumps for. DJ on the other hand never thumps.

One night before we got Curly Sue, we were all sitting in the family room and DJ was out playing. I was making dinner, when all of a sudden, DJ starts to run around in circles, crashing into the kids’ art projects, chairs, books, whatever happened to be in his way. He would occasionally stop and thump, then take off again. He did this for about 5 minutes. It was really strange. I finally picked him up and held him trying to reassure him that everybody (and everybunny) was OK. He returned to normal, and never did it again. We think that he heard or smelled a predator in the back yard (most likely a raccoon or a cat) and it freaked him out. Medusa may have just been warning you that she smelled or heard something that she thought was dangerous.

Bunnies thumping is the same as little kids throwing themselves on the ground, kicking and screaming. She was mad about something. Maybe she just wanted her food… that’s kinda funny though. Sophie thumps when I get home from work and i don’t let her out right away. God FORBID I should open the mail, change into comfy clothes or turn the tv on without acknowledging the almight princess! All Hail to Princess Sophie in my house!

Hah, DJ is a cage rattler.  If he wants out, and we are too slow or otherwise occupied, he grabs the pen wires between his teeth and shakes back and forth to let us know of his displeasure.  This makes quite a racket, it is pretty effective :=}

This same thing happened with my foster bunny Raymond a few different times, he would get spooked by something, and his eyes would get very wide, and then he would hop into his litterbox, and i would hear : "THUMP………………………..THUMP…………………………….THUMP………………………….."

and I would said "bebe, whats wrong?" and he would just look at me a resume thumping.  I still have no idea what happened, but he went back to normal after a little while.  I think he smelled & or heard something, and was on alert for awhile.

Its cute that she thumped to alert you! she doesn’t want anything bad to happen

Thats so funny!  maybe she just wanted some pets she and my foster boy should hang out some time, then they can alert each other to the "dangerous" things in the house, like a creaking step…or the wind…and leave us out of it! of course, then they might also have thump-fests together and see who can out-thump the other.

My bunny Pippin does all of the above. Thumps when shes unhappy, when shes happy and thumps for no reason at all. The girl just likes to thump i should have named her thumper.
Lately though, she is thumping a lot more and now my little bun does it too. Usually while playing with me on the couch or floor. They jump off the couch and thump, run around the floor and thump….you name it.
I just think they are naughty buns.

Hi! That would be great! I work up in El Segundo, I’m in accounting (I saw you are as well!) If you want, send me an email sometime through Binky Bunny, and we can chat some more, maybe our bunnies can have a play date I mean, a Thump Fest!

Weeiiirrrdddd we have like 12 cats on our house. Mom has a cattery not shure if you all know what that is but they are all Himilayans. Well my bunny Shadow never thumps although it would be a funny sight but i read up there something about a bunny smelling a cat. My cats are scared of shadow the only cat that will lay with him is a really fat Black Persian named Boo, lol

My two usually thump at night when we’re in bed (usually 3am-ish), i can only amsume that they hear/see something outside.  We now close the curtains at night and this seems to of stopped them.  Bazaarly enough though the other night there was two cats outside on the fence howling and screaming (scared the living daylights out of me) but Mable and Booboo didn’t seem bothered by this at all!!

Thumping is really interesting. I assumed it is because the bunny is warning you of danger!
Noble never thumps, but my daughter’s bunny, Bobby likes to thump at night, when all is quiet and dark. I think he hears noises outside. His feet are huge, so the thump is loud enough to wake you up. Her downstairs neighbor complained that it sounds like someone dropping a book on the floor, (hardwood floors, no carpet). This wakes him up as well. ( at 3 am, 5 am…etc )
Does anyone have any ideas to help stop thumping?
Since the complaint, when Bobby starts thumping in the middle of the night, he goes into the bathroom where he hids under the toilet bowl. don’t worry, water and litter box go in there as well as a piece of carpet. The floor is tile, therefore you can’t hear thumping reverberate throughout the apartment. Bobby likes the bathroom, it may feel more secure!

I would also be interested in advice on curbing thumping. A previous foster of mine was a huge thumper. Every night she would thump continuously and keep waking me up for hours. I tried covering her, shooshing her, turning the lights on so she could see, reprimanding her, all to no avail. This hasn’t happened with Bridgette but I would love to know what has worked for others to stop it should it start. Thanks!

I’d love to see a pic of Boo and Shadow hanging out!

Jacki & Bestlind – Regarding Curbing thumping.  Jack would thump at night sometimes, but I have found that there is less ruckus when I leave a radio on.  I choose relaxing classical station.  It’s quiet at night, and they have awesome hearing, so I can put it on very low.

I think part of the reason, is that during the day, all the noises, even the ones we don’t hear are meshed in with a bunch of other noises, but at night,  there could be a few that really seem to stand out  – could be anything from a heater/or air going on, snoring, noise outside etc, and so the radio may help with this.

I remember that Jack would thump and I couldn’t figure it out.  It didn’t seem to have a particular time of day.  But then I figure it out.  He doesn’t like the sound of gum chewing or keys.   It’s not like a chomp on gum all the time, and usually it’s just a quick stick of mint before i head out the door.   I thought, is he really thumping at my gum chewing?  And it’s not like I’m obnoxiously chewing, but I tested it out.  I’d go into their area, and chew gum, and he’d thump, I’d stop, and he’d be fine, alert, but fine, I’d start chewing again, and the thumping would start.   (I don’t know what was in his past that made him despise that so much  –  maybe his previous owner snapped the gum and that startled him, so the chewing in his mind was related – who knows!

He did pretty much stop thumping at keys, but I helped him with that by letting him sniff them and slowly gently jingled them, and then would let him sniff the again. 

NOPE!  Five minutes would be the longest, unless there was some continual thing that bothered him – like an unsual box sitting in the middle of the room.

When Medusa is thumping – is it around the same time?

I have a thin carpet that covers a wood floor.  The first time Cassy thumped: a) The boyfriend and I thought someone in the house had dropped a table from a considerable height. b) Cassy looked really startled that she had created such a huge noise and skittered a bit.

Then she did it again.  The boyfriend was sure Cassy had made the gun shot sound.  I was still skeptical…until she did it again and did a binky.  She was rather proud of herself and looked at me like "look mommy I’m useful!"  It was pretty adorable.  She hasnt done it since.

My Nibbler has only thumped twice *twice that I’m aware of*  The first time was when we had to put him back in his cage earlier than he wanted–he FINALLY hopped into his cage after harassing him for awhile and then he thwapped (that’s a thump on plastic cage bottom).  The next time was when we had the front door open with a baby-gate in place and a neighborhood cat walked by–Nibbler stood stock still in the middle of the living room, thumped to warn us and then raced under the futon *DANGER, HUMANS!  DANGER!* 

Hahahaha, I think it is so funny when bunnies warn us humans about those little things. My little boy Kramer warned me about a spider one time with a giant thump (if only i could teach him to thump ON the spider) and my other boy Raymond likes to warn me about any unusual smells in the house, since they are most likely a predator of course. Especially that cucumber melon smell..obviously it comes from a big cucumber melon giant!

I think that sometimes we just can’t know what bunnies are thumping at. Fujoe sometimes thumps.. he’s trying to warn all of the bunnies outside.. I know it.

I was lying my on my stomach on the floor and Fujoe jumped up and sat on my back. My boyfriend said “I wonder what it woulf feel like if Fujoe thumped..(on your back)” he didn’t finish the rest of it becase he thumped on my back. Just once. It was odd. I don’t know why.. maybe he understood my bf..ha! Or he was warning me I am an unstable surface to stand on.. who knows. He promptly jumped off and binkied twoards the bedroom door. so odd…

The reason why sometimes they thump and we don’t know is because something happened about a week ago. At 4am I woke up to Fujoe thumping. He was thumping about ever 3-5 seconds. I thought, he’ll stop… it went on for about 15 mins of every 3-5 seconds a thump. I got up turned on the light and tried to confort him.. nothing, still thumping… not as often.. about every 10 seconds now.. He wouldn’d take food, wouldn’t let me pet him, nothing. Finally I got some pets in and a yougie. He settled down.

Now.. I have no idea what started this.. I live in the “boy’s town” of chicago.. I am right by 3 bars. There is always noise outside the apartment, so Fujoe is used to it.. The people that live above us throw lots of parties and the woman there is very large… so lots of noise upstairs. Dogs are constantly outside on the sidewalk (The apartment is right next to the sidewalk on the first floor- not the garden unit, but one floor up). The raidators are really loud when they come on. But none of this stuf bothers him…There should have been no reason for him to get that freaked out.. to be thumping that often and for such a long time…. But he’s a bunny.. and bunny’s thump…

Well I found the solution to Jack’s recent early morning thumping!   I have begun sleeping through it, but this morning, I got up early , and I noticed that the neighbor that parks right by the bunny window, loads his car around 6:30am (he’s a teacher, so he hasbooks, and papers and just a bunch of stuff.  Anyway, he opens his car doors a few times as he’s loading things in.   When the door closes, it sounds just like a thump, and in return, Jack thumps.  So everytime it closes, he thumps, and then if it closes more than a few times, Jack goes into a thumpfest.   

LOL.  I think Medusa is definitely a disapproving rabbit.

speaking of thumping, my mini lop Lenny will THUMP All night, it drives me nuts considering he lives in my room, i want to know how i calm him down?

Motherfish – try having a fan or radio in the room to sort of hide any little noises at night that might make him stay up and alert.  During the day, other noises that your bunny is used to probably drowns out plenty of little noises, and at night, when it’s quiet, the little "disturbing" noises may keep him anxious. 

Thanks for the advice, Lenny is now less interested in thumping and more interested in sleeping. As soon as i get my camera fixed ill send pix

Motherfish2000.  Well, it looks like then you may be both getting some sleep.   Rabbits can sure make good watchdogs though. 

So what did you end up using to help curb the thumping?  A fan, a radio, both….or ?

My rabbit thumps ALL the time. But i have read in a book that rabbits thump to alert other rabbits that there is danger around. But i don’t think thats the reason because our rabbits are protected.