My little girl is thumping in the middle of the night WHY???

[sharper]

 Hey, I’m a new rabbit owner and if yal didn’t read my intro, it’s over on the picture forum.  So I have found a new behavior problem and I need help figuring out why this is happening and how can I get it to stop.

It’s 5am right now and I’m up because my little rex, Bailey, is thumping a lot and causing a racket.  I woke up at 4:30 to loud banging noises.  I ran into the livingroom to see her thumping her hind legs.  It isn’t a rapid thumping.  It’s just a thump every 15 seconds or so.  It’s really loud.  She doesn’t seem upset or frightened.  She sat in the corner, thump, go to another corner, thump.  My other rabbit, Hailey, that is with her, doesn’t seem bothered by it.  She’s just chilling in litter box eating some hay.

I opened the cage and started rubbing her head.  She seemed calm, wasn’t breathing hard or freaking out.  She laid down and let me rub her ears.  I thought that made her feel better so I closed the cage and she was immediately thumping again.

One thing I thought it was, this is a new room for them.  I originally had them in the bedroom for the first few nights.  But once of them started making a digging noise and waking us up in the middle of the night.  So we moved their cage to the livingroom.  I can’t find anything in here that could startle them.  I turned on a night light if that helps.  And I don’t understand how she would go through the whole night not being afraid of anything until 4:30.  She stops for a minute, so I started walking back to the bedroom.  Then she started thumping again.

I opened the cage, got her out and held her.  She didn’t seem frightened, breathing hard or freaking out.  I sat with her on the couch and she nuzzled me.  I rubbed her head and ears for 30 minutes and at times she closed her eyes.  She wanted to explore the rest of the couch and walked around all over.  She didn’t thump or show signs of fear the whole time we were on the couch.  I decided it was time to try going back to the cage.  As soon as she went back in there, she started thumping again!

Is there any other reason they would thump besides showing signs of danger?  Could it be that she’s young and this is a weird way of her playing?  Has anyone else’s rabbit do something like this for any other reason?

 

—-  actually as I’m typing this, the thumping has slowed down a lot.  I think she’s settling down.  I still would like some help incase she starts this up tomorrow night.

[jerseygirl]

The beauty of these site is there are members from all round the world so there’s bound to be someone up and about.

I wouldn’t worry too much about it, let her so her thing and try get some sleep yourself. Often with a pair, one feels it is on watch duty while the other can do what it wants. It is known as a warning signal but I’m pretty sure members here have posted about their rabbits giving a thump just because their nose is out of joint about something.

If you’ve checked on her and can see there is no actual danger to her, pop her back and she’ll get it out of the system. Who knows what sets them off sometimes. A moth or bug may have gotten in the cage. A shadow moved. With those big ears, all the noises are amplified – poor buns.

[sharper]

update – she continued throughout the night and this morning. ugh, it’s going to be a long day with no sleep

It’s just odd that she didn’t do this at all the first few nights they were here and we had them in the bedroom. I wonder if they just don’t like this room and I have to find another spot for them. I really hope I don’t have to go through this every night and have to get up to pop her back. *thud*

[sharper]

 actually I just thought of something.  Can rabbits tell if a storm is coming?  It won’t be here for 7-8 hours from now, but there is expected severe weather later this afternoon/evening.  I can’t see a rabbit freaking out about a storm so far away, though.  But that’s the only other guess I have

She used to be an outdoor rabbit.  I wonder if that makes her more alert of the weather.  I’m not sure

Here she is before she was rescued (well one of them is her, i’m sure)

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

My Kahlua does this often too. To be honest I’m not sure why-it seems to be some attitude, if we’ve been loud that evening (Blow drying hair) or it just escapes us why she does it. The other two don’t seem to worry at all about it. It is the same, about every 15 seconds. If you pick her up and cuddle then put her back down, she’ll just start up again!

[Beka27]

It could be an animal outside that she is sensing. A shadow on the wall. It might be b/c it’s a new location. I probably would not be so quick to move her again. See if she’ll settle down. Do be careful b/c going out there and interacting with her at that hour might have the undesired effect of her training you. She thumps, you come let her out, and give cuddles. If that happens enough, she’ll start doing it just to get your attention. Traditionally bunnies thump to warn of danger… but as house bunnies, they don’t face much “real” danger so I think they adapt it to express disapproval. If she does keep it up, can you line the cage with something to soften the thumps? I’m guessing she is in a plastic bottom cage (the plastic bottoms seem to AMPLIFY the sound of thumps!)

[sharper]

well she didn’t thump at all last night, so I was able to get some sleep – yay! Hopefully it was just a fluke thing and won’t continue on. Whew!

– Just another new mom freaking out about every little thing! lol

[Hedi]

My Carrera is identical to your bun.

You have to remember that rabbits can hear EVERYTHING! So things you are used to hearing or may never hear- your buns hear. So it could be something minor like the furnice kicking on, water dripping, anything.

People have posted on here before that their bun would thump and thump and then something would fall off the wall or a shelf. Like they knew it was going to happen.

Your bun is probably exposed to something in her new area she doesnt care for. Remember..thumping can be to warn of danger, to complain, etc.

If you havent yet..this is a great site to read thru to learn more about how your bun communicates: http://language.rabbitspeak.com/rabbittalk.html

It is very very helpful.

[Beka27]

Language of Lagomorphs! Absolutely, read and bookmark that site! That’s “required rabbit reading”!

[bunnytowne]

speaking of thumping in the early hours.  

This morning Cotton did just that.  I would hear regular thump  ..  thump…. thump…   so I got up to see what was disturbing him.

I raised his towel and talked to him he poked his head out to me with his cute little ears.  Since it has been warmer than 60 % here I had not dropped the towels completely over his house leaving the bottom open to get some air.  Well the light breeze was moving the curtains and I guess that startled him so I covered that side of his house and thump thump stopped thumping.

First time he has done that since Brandon came that time.

[sharper]

Posted By Beka27 on 02/12/2009 8:05 AM
Language of Lagomorphs! Absolutely, read and bookmark that site! That’s “required rabbit reading”!

Yes, indeed!  I have read every single page on that website a few days ago.  It’s really helped me to communicate with them and really helped with bonding.  

[Balefulregards]

Markus’ MaryAnn has a pretty good track record on predicting earthquakes – so your girl COULD be picking up weather things that are silent for you

[MooBunnay]

Mine will thump sometimes to communicate with me that they are mad at me about something or other. She might still be mad that she couldn’t wake you up with her digging noises so she adapted to thumping Glad to see another TEXAN on here – I volunteer with the North Texas Rabbit Sanctuary. If you ever need hay we sell it at the sanctuary! (www.ntrs.org)

[mvmdlg]

oh ya, they thump @ anything. like everyone says, they hear everything (even what we don’t).

Shadow thumps @ night because the furnace kicked on, hear other cars (streets away). Sometimes I put a blanket on her (if it’s gonna get low temps out (have older windows in a 1924 house). if she can’t see anything from her cage she thumps when she hears things. She also thumps at us if it’s been awhile since she’s been out to play.

[iriswarrior1]

My Fang (tan and white one in picture)  does this all the time. 

I’m beginning to find that rabbits do not fit textbook descriptions of them at all.  I was under the impression that rabbits oly thump to warn of danger or when they’re frightened.

Fang thumps to express his feelings.  He thumps when he’s pissed, he thumps when he wants you to stay away, and he thumps when he wants attention.  Lately, he’s been thumping as a bunny tantrum.  Sometimes he does not like to share his bowl of Cheerios with Smokey, so he’ll get mad, and thump right on the bowl, sending the bowl and the Cheerios (and Smokey) flying.  He then calmly eats the ones that landed closest to him, while Smokey hides under the table.

I think you’re rabbit’s the same, although hopefully you don’t have an EXTREME rabbit, like me.  Picture a small child stamping its foot in annoyance or boredom.  I think it’s exactly the same with rabbits sometimes.  Smokey doesn’t do it, but his personality is the complete opposite of Fang’s, he’s very loving, patient, and good natured.  He only thumps when he’s frightened.

Just watch your bunny, when you get a chance.  My bet is it’s your rabbit’s way of saying, “HEY!  How long have I got to sit here?  Get in here already, are you going to sleep all day?”

[sharper]

Well luckily it was just that night. She hasn’t done it since! Just a weird strange occurrence.

But now since I have separated Bailey & Hailey into separated cages because of Bailey’s injury….now Hailey thumps. But she only thumps when she sees me cleaning out Bailey’s cage or putting food in Bailey’s cage. So I do know that she’s just expressing jealousy or just alerting Bailey that I’m in her cage or something like that.

So strange how different rabbits are. I have so much to learn and figure out. They are pretty hard to read.

[Author]

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