bunny tap dancing at 3 am … x_x

[freiheit]

 My bunny thumps at all hours of the night and it’s starting to get problematic for us, poor people who need to work the next day. I don’t know if we should ground him, ignore him… tie him up or give him a treat when he lets us sleep?

[RachelB]

Perhaps he is thumping because he is bored. Samson and Ivy are the most active from about 9pm until 4am. They are active again from about 7-9am. For most of the day the sleep or lounge around their place. They can be quite noisy at night but I give them a new toy each night (I rotate about 6 things). This gives them something new and interesting to play with while I am sleeping and not playing with them.

Maybe your bunny is just looking for some attention. Try some of the “free” toy ideas in the (Bunny Info-Toy test,) area. My boys love straw mats curled up to make little chew tunnels, balsa wood chews, toilet paper rolls with hay stuck in them, paperbags stuffed with hay/pellets, bundles of sticks, new boxes with holes cut out for them to run through, etc, etc. This gives them something to play with at night and explore. I think it helps to keep them occupied (and thus quiet-er). They can be noisy running through them and chewing on the cardboard… but at least they are happy (and not thumping!)

[Furface]

Buy him a top hat & cane.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

[bunnyluvr]

Oh my Furface – LOL! I can just picture it! Adorable!

I seem to remember reading somewhere that having background noises might help with a night thumping rabbit. Something about the bunny thumping because of noises during the night and the sounds make them nervous (including us snoring, mumbling and other sleep noises) and that running a fan at night or soft playing music can help cover these noises so the bunny doesn’t notice them so much and isn’t as nervous. Not sure if this will work, I’ve been fortunate and haven’t had a night time thumper but maybe it might be worth a shot.

[bunnytowne]

Oh my your bun turns into Fred Astaire at night.   lol. 

Yep that can get annoying

[jerseygirl]

I thought about the noises too, perhaps he’s hearing something outside that sets him off – a stray cat, possums etc. The thump is chiefly their warning signal when they sense danger (but they can do it when peeved to). Is he caged overnight? Do you cover his cage? Is there a quieter area he can be moved too?

Also, it is possible to wear them out more to get them to settle at night – so this may help if his noisiness is due to being more active then or impatience. I would resist getting up and giving him a treat as your likely train him into this negative behaviour. Make noise – get treat.

[RabbitPam]

If you can let him out for exercise in the early evening after supper, he may calm down later at night. Is he in the room with you? If you can close a door between you, so he doesn’t hear you either, he may quiet down. I like the background soft music idea, or one of those clocks with the sound of a waterfall. Also, have him eat supper but not too many treats at night. Like kids, sugary snacks will stimulate. Get a sturdy willow chew toy in the cage so he can chew hard in the night and toss it. I agree that thumping with the foot is a warning sign, but it may be thumping around by running and jumping as well. Try to get him to play with you earlier in the day or evening.

[Barbie]

While everyone else has offered completely helpful suggestions, I’m going to throw in my sarcastic two cents… earplugs! =) In all seriousness though, they help. Though it doesn’t keep your bun from thumping nor does it solve the problem of whatever is making him thump… Leroy isn’t a night time thumper like that, but he “sleeps” in his cage in my room and at night he makes so much noise rustling around in his cage, munching hay, gulping water, jumping in and out of his litter box, chewing his toys that in order for me to fall asleep, I almost always have to wear earplugs. They’re fairly inexpensive and I even found pretty pink ones! I’ve also discovered that running a fan in the room (but not on his cage) helps mask some of the noise, and it seems to calm him.

[bunnytowne]

Ruby is pretty quiet   but sometimes I hear her jumpin from her shelf to the litterbox and such.   OR chewing on her toys.  Yes she actually chews on the kaboob sometimes.

I stick a pillow over my head.   However the thumping may require ear plugs   

[Minky-Pooh]

I believe the bunny is bored to death. a bunny isn’t supposed to tump at all, day or night. let it out of its cage a good 2 hours before you go to sleep and it should go to sleep as you do and close the light.

Good luck and play with the fur thing once and a while, you’l see the difference it make. It works for me.

From Minky-Pooh, Quebec Canada

[Barbie]

Leroy thumps a lot. And he’s perfectly happy and not bored. He gets at least 5 hours of play time with me out of his cage during the week, and he’s out all day for play time on the weekends. He’ll thump when he’s excited about getting a treat, or when he’s running around and doing binkies, or sometimes even when he’s coming up to me to get lovin’s. Of course, he thumps when he’s mad too, but not all thumps mean a bun is bored. Most thumps are a warning signal – used by rabbits in the wild to communicate danger to each other, or in our pet rabbits’ case, as a warning to a human slave to “Stop doing that, you silly human!” I agree though, that some play time before bed or some stimulating toys in his cage at night might help the problem.

[kralspace]

Mine thump a lot to communicate. Usually about everything I’m doing wrong in bunnies’ eyes 😉

[bunnytowne]

lol kralspace thats funny.    Hey freiheit  and kralspace  maybe y’all can teach  them to thump out your favorite tunes…

Hopefully not something as annoying as those dogs barking that xmas song.

freiheit  I hope I got that right my apologies if I didn’t.   Yes it could be some nite noises they hear that causes them to thump

Cotton rarely thumps and only twice well no 3x at nite since I have had him.  2 1/2 years.  However it was over something he heard and 1 or 2 times I never knew what it was but when I got up to see about him he quit after that.

Once he heard a funny noise and my son coming home.   HE was sleeping with me or rather I was trying to sleep he was playing.  When he heard brandon he jumped on mestarted thumping on my chest.  lol… Got me up.

there were some good suggestions like white noise a fan or something.  Hope it stops so you can sleep.  I sleep deep tho.  When I am out thats it.   HE kept brandon up when he was diggin in his house all nite for a while there. I dont’ think he is up at nite anymore.  Unless he is chewing his kaboob  and Ruby chews hers too.  I only know cuz hubby tells me or I hear them when I first get to bed.

 

[Balefulregards]

Coco was a miserable caged rabbit – she would rip her cage APART to express her displeasure at being caged at night.
So I stopped – but before that I did have some luck with covering her cage with towels – not air tight, but darker and quieter for her.

[shlbysmom]

shelby playes with her toys that n there and thats about it she dosnt thump i hear her jumpn in and out of litterbox and ontop of her house but other thatn that she is good maybe he just wants n there with u ? could u let him sleep with u or bring him n there n his cage maybe he gets scared when he is by his self

[Barbie]

freiheit… any success?

[GaiaTeacher]

I have to vote for the fan–my fan turned a bit noisey a few months back (it runs all the time) and now Toby seems to be sleeping better. That and the guinea pig isn’t at home most nights right now, and I think they are just too excited if they spend the night together.

[Author]

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