Yikes, the not breathing thing is weird…. and not reacting right away too! That must have been terrifying. Bun Jovi has very scary looking flops, but I can always see him breathing, and he always reacts quickly to any touch.

I would get him checked out by the vet.

Hmm normally you would be able to see or feel them breathing even if they are flopping, so if he really wasn’t breathing then that’s preeetty scary.

It’s also odd that he was still in his flop when you actually picked him up…?! They normally wake up the moment they are disturbed.

I’d take him to a vet just to be safe, because personally I’ve never seen or heard of a flop so “dead”…

Did you bunny trance themselves? I feel like that would explain most of what you saw.

Did it look anything like this??

Wooly does this weird thing where he sleeps flopped out with his eyes open. I have walked into the room with him like this, his face twitching from VERY deep sleep. Creeped the crap out of me! I went over to him and petted him. He did not respond at first, he was in such a deep sleep. So… no, it isn’t completely unheard of. Although, I never attempted to pick Wooly up during such an incident either…

If you’re worried, it never hurts to ask your vet about it.

Atlas does dead bunny flops, and because he’s black, sometimes it’s tricky to tell if he’s breathing. I’ve never tried to pick him up, but I have stroked him before and it hasn’t woken him up.

I think he may have been tranced, its possible for them to be scared and fall in to one,right?

I don’t think a domestic rabbit would trance itself… I don’t even know if rabbits can trance themselves deliberately? I think it’s a fear response to being placed in a vulnerable position (on their back) by a ‘predator’, which being super relaxed and flopping through their own choice is not.

Also fast breathing is one of the signs of a trance, and it seems like Yandere was concerned the bunny wasn’t breathing at all. 

I remember someone saying bunnies can roll on their back and trance themselves unintentionally? I guess that isn’t the case?

In the above picture, I’m pretty sure Clover did trance herself. She was OUT. Very shallow breathing, completely insensate. I had to clap my hands 3 times loudly to wake her up. So If I had to say so, I’d say yes, they can trance themselves. Now as to WHY they would do it, I dunno.

It’s accidental when it happens usually. Tonic immobility sets in usually when their head tips below a certain level, so if they fall, lose their balance, etc while moving and rolling, this can sometimes happen. Like humans accidentally spraining an ankle.

Interesting. I’m confused why it doesn’t happen every time they dramatically flop then!

Bertha once accidentally tranced herself when she went into a tunnel and it rolled over! But, even then she was obviously breathing and woke up immediately when we rolled her back over.