A behavior I hadn’t seen before.

[KweenElmer]

 Tonight Puck and I were playing in our hallway (our new favorite place) with all the bedroom doors shut.  He was on one side of the hall doing his own thing when there was a rustling noise (the blinds) from the inside of the bedroom.  Suddenly he stood up straight, inched toward the door.  Stared for a moment, nose going to town, then he made this noise (a squeek? a whimper? a growl? I dunno, never heard it before) then STOMPED, really loudly I might had for a three pound animal.  He waited.  A bit more rustling.  He made the noise and stomped again.  Then he proceeded to stare down the door for almost ten minutes.  At this point I went and cracked the door open so he could go inside.  He investigated the door a sec before returning to his post.  He stayed like this, and convinced he still would be there, until my gf came out of our bedroom and distracted him with the dog.

 

What was this little display?  Was he defending or what? 

[somebunny]

i don’t know what it means, but omg how cute

[Hedi]

That would be Puck saying, “Danger, Danger!!” lol

Typically thumping is telling others around there is danger or it could mean they are upset about something, and could mean a few other things but in this case it was danger. There was “something” in the bedroom and he knew it wasnt you and it could be dangerous so he was warning you that he heard it and you could be in danger. Such a good bunny.

If you havent yet the best site to learn about bunny body language is a site called The Language of Lagomorphs. You may need to read it a few times because it is just SO much info but it is great and it will even tell you how to even talk back to your bun! Rabbits apparently think we are big bunnies ourselves so we can talk back with body language.

Website: http://language.rabbitspeak.com/rabbittalk.html

Let us know what you learn from the site and if you get to “talk back” to Puck

[Sage Cat]

I agree with Hedi – Puck was warning you that something was amiss!

A few nights ago – during the bunny’s diner – Winston suddenly started thumping very loudly! It took me a minuet to realize my neighbors dog was outside barking. So rude!
Kay stopped eating for a little bit. Winston would not stop thumping or go back to eating until the dog stopped barking!

Lets hear it for our little protectors!

[Hedi]

One night Hoopie was out with us and he stopped what he was doing and stood really still and then every once in awhile did a really hard thump. We knew something was wrong but didnt know what. From our living room you can see thru the dining room thru the glass doors outside to the patio. Hoopie was seeing a huge raccoon outside on the patio looking for food and he was warning us!

Good Hoopie! Scared me to death! I flipped out and made my husband go chase him away. Didnt want a raccoon scaring one of my babies! lol

[KweenElmer]

I am constantly surprised how intelligent rabbits are. I had always heard they were, but I definately underestimated them. Puck is smarter than me, I’d wager.

And now I love him even more. I have a guard rabbit! It was so cute. What he would have done once whatever it was came through the door, I dunno, but still nice of him.

I have read that rabbit talk article before (and I guess I could have referenced it last night) but some of the descriptions of the noises are a bit vague and I didn’t really know what I was hearing, you know? I could guess, but didn’t know for sure.

And damn that small thing could stomp.

[jerseygirl]

Hehe! Those thumpers! Jersey also does a little noise when she thumps. Sort of eminates from the nose, a short sound. Sometimes when something triggers her into super alert mode, she has robotic like movements, head stretched forward, head bobbing, scoping out the surrounds. Takes her ages to come out of it. As the others said, the thump is primarily a warning signal to other rabbits in the warren. An alert to danger. I think ina warren setting, there is often a rabbit on guard duty (???think???). I guess a powerful thump is needed to reveberate to underground.

[KweenElmer]

Awwwww a guard rabbitttttt.
The noise is so cute, not really threatening sounding, so lets hope it was to warn me opposed to warn the intruder.
I want to leave work and go hug Puck now.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

That’s too funny!!
Every bunny I’ve had has run around and stomped the first time we played an action/scary type movie-it’s very funny! Many people think, the first time they hear a stomp, that the bunny’s nails are getting stuck in the carpet-because it sounds very much like the carpet being pulled up and snapping back down-in fact that’s what we thought the first time we were watching a movie and Kokanee was running around alerting us to danger

[Binkles]

I swear sometimes they thump out of sheer joy/ excitement too though. When Little-Bit is doing her 500’s and binkying about, she’ll occasionally stop underneath the bed and THUMP! and take off again.

I’ve found that they also tend to thump right before they get their cecals.

[KweenElmer]

I wish I had that sort of warning pre-Puck cecal.

He thumped again last night (just one stomp) but this time at the dog. He’s mad at her because the night before she had the audacity to want to play while he wanted to bathe. The nerve of her. He is apparently still upset by this.

It’s funny, he had never thumped pre-op, but this week he has started. I guess it has something to do with the hormone changes? Maybe not. He also plays with toys for the first time. Strange.

[Author]

Messages