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› FORUM › HOUSE RABBIT Q & A › How deeply can bunnies sleep?
Yesterday my boyfriend got the fright of his life when he got home. Our bunny looked like a fuzzy carpet and when he called out to him, he didn’t react, he even pulled his eye open just to see but nothing! no reaction! So he jumped on his computer to find my work’s phone number to know what he ought to do and our bun woke up, startled by the noise of the computer….
??
Can bunnies sleep that deeply? He looks just fine, he eats, drink poop and hop arround following me arround the house… So I’m wondering if that was something normal and we only caught him more asleep then what he usually is.
I was also wondering if other bunnies prefered to be scatched on the cheeks.
I’ve heard it can be normal for bunnies to go into a deep sleep, there are even videos on youtube of bunnies snoring while on a person’s lap!
About the cheeks, it depends on the bunny. While I’m giving Thumper a good head rub, I’ll sometimes rub the tufts of wool on her cheeks (she’s part Lionhead) and she loves it. However, when my friends try it she hops away. She may like it because she can’t groom all that wool herself and only lets me do it because she’s comfortable with me, but other bunnies may be more sensitive when being touched there.
happend with my bunny to I actually lifted him off the ground and he was limp but when I ran to go get my dad i came back to show him and he was up in moving. It was sooo scary
Was your bunny on it’s side in a flop? They can be pretty out of it then. This week I saw my doe in such a deep flop state that her mouth was moving like she was mumbling in her sleep / or nomming….and then she did a big body twitch but she stayed ‘asleep’. I think they can go into deeper levels of sleep from time to time.
My bunny Cotton is a very confident rabbit and she sleeps very deeply like that also. My theory is that she is so outgoing and thinks she rules the house that she does not feel she has to be as aware of her surrounding as what you might expect.
There were many times when she was young that we joked “oh, Cotton is dead again”. She would sleep completely flopped out on her side- not even waking for picures.

Cotton is so cute! ![]()
I used to worry that Thumper never slept because I NEVER saw her with her eyes closed. I only saw her close them recently because I’ve been spending my entire day with her, and even then it’s only for a couple of minutes. Is it normal for rabbits to not want to sleep in front of humans (with the exception of trusting bunnies like Cotton of course)? Then again, I wouldn’t be surprised if Thumper has trust issues because I took her in from the street.
That picture is cute. Some of my rabbits are very deep sleepers. Some I swear I’ve never seen sleep. I think it does depend on the rabbit.
I caught Noelle all flopped out yesterday too! Normally she wakes up at the first sign of movement, but I actually had time to get my Mom’s camera from upstairs and took a ton of pictures before she woke up. I was especially shocked because my Mom’s camera makes that stupid fake shutter noise every time I take a picture, which is very annoying!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=36491361&l=2dab64bdc2&id=29415159
Cute picture BunnyMuffin – love the white tummy.
Those are awesome pics! I love the “passed out cold” bunnies. Sometimes Leo does this, but it’s pretty rare. My guys are very skittish. Jessica never closes her eyes. Sometimes her eyes go about 1/3 of the way closed, but that’s it. I guess my beasts just don’t trust me….I’m always trying to pet them, rub their cheeks, or pick them up. I just can’t help it…I think bunnies are so freakin’ cute![]()
I’ve seen my bunny sleep plenty, but he’ll usually lift his head when there’s a noise of movement, that’s why the whole bunny not responding to pulling eye open kinda worried my boyfriend and yes, he was flopping. lol
Queenthumper: I never dared to rub his cheeks before because they’re not that accessible and I though he wouldn’t let me, but it ended up being the opposite o_o
Mmm, that’s good! =) I think at first Thumper didn’t let me pet her cheeks either, but she got used to it. She loves it so much that she starts to close her eyes and tooth-purr while I’m petting her there!
I’ve gotten bolder lately and have tried petting the little bits of mane near her chin, sometimes she’ll allow it and sometimes she’ll put her head down and make me pet her there instead. Apparently, when you put a hand under a bunny’s chin, it’s like you’re asking them to groom you and some bunnies take that as an insult because it’s their turn to be groomed or they don’t like being told to groom you, their underling lol. Luckily for me, Thumper’s become more affectionate and she’ll lick my hand while it’s down there instead of taking it as an insult.
My bunnies have always enjoyed what I call Face Rubs. I cup my hand and they both would put their head all the way into my palm so I could rub the head, cheeks and around their faces simultaneously. After doing this with Spockie, I was astonished to get another bunny who liked exactly the same thing. (Did he come back as Sammy? No more Mr. Nice Guy though.)
Rabbits are crepuscular, ie. they are most awake at dawn and dusk. I’ve noticed a very deep sleep usually happens around 4 in the afternoon. You may want to see what time it is when you have a dead flop bunny. I’m betting it’s well after breakfast, just after schools let out, and very late at night.
Sometimes Cotton falls asleep when I pet him.. Lately he has been sleeping flopped out in his house. I have to go see that his sides are moving as he breathes. IT can look pretty scary.
It seem lops are very deep sleepers.
everytime my bunny sleeps i get nervous and ask my husband to check if she’s alive! don’t know why they have to sleep in that scary pose hehe
› FORUM › HOUSE RABBIT Q & A › How deeply can bunnies sleep?
