I read somewhere that buns sometimes sleep with their eyes open. The article said to watch their nostrils – if they are moving in and out very slowly (as opposed to the fast twitching they do when exploring), they are usually asleep. I don’t know if it’s true, but it makes sense!

Rabbits rest a lot but are rarely in a deep sleep (which is there nature as a prey animal).

When my buns are just resting they are usually sitting (I call it the "Easter Egg" pose) and there eyes are partly shut. They are relaxing but still alert to their surroundings. When they are in a deep sleep (usually in the afternoon) they lay on their sides and close their eyes. You will notice a rabbit in a deep sleep breathes a little bit heavier.

Oh yeah they definitely close their eyes.  Edson always does when he is really asleep and his head falls forward when he’s in a deep sleep.  Even when he hops on my lap and falls asleep his eyes are completely shut at which point I need to get up and feel bad when I have to wake him! Also I’ve noticed there is absolutely no nose twitching when asleep.

sometimes i catch marvin flopped over on his side and asleep. I like to walk over and scoop him up into my arms and it will take him a fews seconds to realize that I have picked him up. at which point he gets all fussy and grunts at me. so i then put him back on the ground, he stomps in disapproval, and then runs off giving extra little kicks as he runs away. i know it is kind of mean, but sometimes i just cant help myself.

We’ve seen our bunnies sleep with eyes closed, and also with eyes open. I’d imagine the latter is something they’d do to keep track of predators…if they see motion they might wake themselves up to get out of the way. They certainly sleep very lightly, so that’s consistent.

Once we saw Bailey sleep and heard an odd little noise. After turning down the TV we realized he was snoring very softly! Very cute.

My bunnies close their eyes but if they hear any sound at all they wake up.

Meadow usually has her eyes half open during the day.  it seems when she flops tho, her eyes are closed, so maybe that’s her deeper sleep.  it’s kind of hard b/c i tell Michael to hold his voice down b/c Mead is sleeping and he says "no she’s not, her eyes are open!"  and by that time she wakes up (b/c he’s loud!) and it proves his point… lol.

That’s so funny you tell hubby to be quiet too. I’m always telling Tim and my son to not yell across the house! They ask why? And I say because the rabbit is sleeping!!!! They think I’ve really gone to the looney farm!

My daughter and I have been wondering this too. Actually, our buns are so active, we wonder if they sleep at all!

Mimzy tends to do that ‘legs kicked out from under him’ flop onto his side (terrifying when I first saw it, but now so adorable) and then it’s like his eyes roll back in his head because you can see the white conjunctiva on one side. Looks like a psycho-bunny! 0_o But sometimes he cuddles his little carrot plushie under his head, or if he’s too warm, likes to curl up next to his ceramic feeding bowl and cool his head with it. (usually there’s a freeze bottle for him to sleep or pounce upon…he likes to tear at it with his front paws)

Lately he’s been waking VERY early and throwing his litterbox around. Since I need to keep things quiet first thing so the hubby can sleep, I then have to remove that and pet him. For HOURS! >_< I like it best when he sleeps on the shelf in his cage and watches me sleep. I feel like I have a little bunny angel watching over me! ^^

I’m mostly concerned that the weight of the litterbox will hurt his neck. I try to keep it as light and clean as possible and I don’t like leaving chewables in overnight because he makes noise with those too and I wouldn’t want him to choke on anything he decides to get his teeth into. It’s amazing what this little bun chooses to chuck around!
He likes to eat/spit his bedding too…which drives me nuts.

That’s really quite funny but I can imagine how nuts you are.  I just hate it when Edson sleeps in his litter box which he has taken to doing lately.  I’m so afraid his underside is getting wet.  It just makes me cringe.

It’s really too bad that Mim doesn’t sleep soundly enough to let me brush his tummy, it’s almost the only time I see it. Luckily he doesn’t sleep in the box.
Although it was funny, one night he was up on the shelf, standing, and I could see he was getting sleepy. He starts wobbling, kind of like those exhausted kids you see on Funniest Home Videos that are falling asleep in their cereal. He weaves right, fakes left and then WHUMP! Straight down into a perfect face plant on his front paws and out cold! XD
I did have to wonder if he was ill then too, and probably scared him to death jumping up to make sure he was still breathing. Poor guy, he gets no peace around me!