Pip and her ramp-a vertical napper?

[MimzMum]

So I’ve been watching this behavior develop over some time.

Ever since I got a ramp and shelf for Pip to use in her night pen for a higher view of the world, she seems to like to sleep with her front end on the bottom of the ramp where it touches the floor, and her bunny bum smooshed up against the side of the litterbox. There’s barely enough room there for her to fit.

Does anyone else’s bunny like to sleep with their front end off the ground like this? Can anyone explain WHY Pip chooses to snooze this way? It seems totally weird to me. Shouldn’t a bun like to be flat while resting? Do I need to get her a pillow? (Not like that would work, she’d dream about eating a marshmallow and wake up to find it’s gone.)

[BinkyBunny]

So funny! No by buns don’t really have a vertical preference, but many times I will catch Jack sleeping with his front feet stretched out in front him, while he has his back legs all snuggled up – sort of opposite of the lounge/superman position.

For Pip, it might take the pressure off of his chest allowing him to breath more freely. Is he overweight at all?  (not to judge at all – as my own Jack has chubbed up a bit as he ages)  Just thinking that IF he has a little extra weight on him, more of a dewlap, this may be the reason why he sleeps the way he does.

[Alicia Conklin]

Well I don’t have a bunny that does this but I have an opposite sometimes lol.  Tucker likes to sleep sometimes on the edge of a level with her head almost dangling off of it.  She stays far enough back that her head doesn’t hang FULLY off but her head is a bit lowered.  It looks really strange and it scared the bejeezes out of me the first time I saw it!!   She also likes to lounge that way..with her chin resting halfway and halfway hanging off a ledge. 

Drue doesn’t sleep on any kind of angle but he DOES sometimes like to stuff himself places.  Is this maybe the only area she has that she can stuff herself like that?  Like Drue will sleep between the one wall and his litter box sometimes and there’s barely any room there.  His feet have to be tucked in and sometimes they are up on an angle.  He also sometimes will sleep behind his basket house and he has to curve himself around it and again…barely fits!  Maybe they like the security of it?  It doesn’t seem all that strange to me because that’s kind of how I am.  I have to sleep curled up and I have to have a body pillow for my legs and my arms..I have to be all cocooned or I can’t get comfortable.  So maybe it’s something similiar? 

[Beka27]

Pip is a bigger bun, right? does she fit on the shelf? maybe she wants to go up there but it’s just not large enough for her to do so… if you could sneak and take a pic of what she does, i’d love to see it…

[Scarlet_Rose]

Oh my!  It sounds like bunny yoga, the downward-facing bunny! LOL O.K., for those of you non-yoga goers it looks like this:

http://www.active.com/mindandbody/articles/Yoga_basics__Downward_Facing_Dog.htm

[MimzMum]

lol…Bunny yoga, now I never thought of that! ^_^ Yes Pip is a larger bunny, she is part lionhead and part palomino, so I know she’s going to be on the bigger side as opposed to Mim and Fiver. She has a nice secluded spot under her ramp in her pen, so I don’t think it’s a ‘smaller is safer’ issue. I wouldn’t say she’s over weight, in fact she’s slimmed down a bit since I worried about her size this last summer. She just saw the vet for a nail trim, and doctor didn’t say anything about her weight, seemed to think she was fine.

I wouldn’t say she’s having any breathing problems. This is the bun who doe the most binkies of the three when out in her xpen, and I wish I’d had the camera when she went straight up in the air the other week and looked like she was riding and invisible bicycle. She actually made it to the top of the xpen and I was glad she hadn’t managed to launch herself over the top or I’d never have caught her!

Hmm…I can try to get the shot, but usually when I need my camera it’s battery is dead, or I just don’t have it handy and by the time I go get it, Pip has stopped doing what I want to snap. I’ll post it here if I can capture it. I also want to get the shot of her dipping her nose in her pellet bowl on the shelf…she doesn’t even get up to eat from it, just leans over while lying down up there and vacuums up some snacks and munches with her lips over the bowl and her body facing the opposite way, talk about lazy! ^_^

[MooBunnay]

ahahaha – Amelia likes to eat her pellets while still snoozing as well Its odd how some bunnies seem to like to find the most squooshed uncomfortable place to sleep, and then sleep there. Amelia looves to flop next to her water dish with one front paw IN the food dish. I think it is there to alert her if any food gets dropped in. I have never heard about bunnies having a vertical preference before though – that is very unique!

[Lightchick]

I dunno, from your other posts, I’d go with the Pip-is-just-a-weirdo opinion!

I mean, if you look at C&C’s sleep buns thread in the lounge, I had no idea buns (lops) could sleep upside-down! Paws in the air? Unheard of in my world of Uppy-Ears!

So maybe Pip’s just an interesting (unusual? unique?) variation!

[MimzMum]

urgh…I would like to say what Pip is most days, but it’s not for polite company. >.<

She is, surprisingly, the easiest of the three to be handled, however. I DO get the scratches on my chest from her trying to leap from my arms to her night pen each evening, but for the most part she is REALLY easy to deal with. Unless you’re coming at her with the nail clipper. Then it’s a free-for-all.

Mimzy doesn’t go paws up. He’ll do his dead man’s flop and look like roadkill, but that’s as horizontal as he gets. I’ve got to get pictures of him on his sleeping shelf too…he licks at the floor first, then sliiiides down to an almost sphinx-like pose. I look at him and immediately think I need to answer three riddles.

Fiver has learned to enjoy his cuddly cup. He gets all curled up in that and it’s just the cutest thing. ^_^ I like it best when he stretches out on the bed though, because he does that “Superman” flop with the hind legs straight out in back…you know the one. ^_^

[MimzMum]

Okay, you asked for it, you got it..lolz!

Picture of Pippi on her ramp. Now normally the tummy is NOT all splayed out like this, so PLEASE don’t think she’s gone to seed, she was just lying sideways this time. First time I’ve seen her do it.

And one extra of Fiver in his “Superman” pose.

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[BunnyMuffin]

My goodness! That Pip is just adorable! (but don’t tell my bunnies I said so…) And Fiver’s got himself a long foot too. Thanks for sharing the pics!

[Beka27]

eeek! that has to be my favorite picture of Pip ever! she actually looks like she has a lop face… the broader, bigger head, or is that just me? how can you not just reach out and grab that tummy!

Fiver is precious too. he does have very long feet!

[Sage Cat]

I use to live in a house that had stairs you could see through – kind of like the photo below – but each step was covered in carpet.

My dog (Husky – Mimz Mum, you know about them) would sometimes sleep on the floor next to the steps with his head on the first step! Occasionally he would even sleep with his paws and upper body on the firs step & his head on the second step! 
Very weird.  

I guess my Husky & Pip would have gotten along.

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[Alicia Conklin]

OMG!  That picture of Pip is absolutely gorgeous!  It does look kind of like she’s using it as a pillow…too cute

[Lightchick]

OMG, too cute! I LOVE the Pip picture! The look on her face is priceless. “EXCUSE me?! I was TRYING to sleep!”

And Fiver’s always gorgeous. He’s on my bun-nap list.

[MimzMum]

Wow, Sage! Was that your actual house?? 0_o That looks beautiful!

Any piccies of your husky? I’d love to see one.

Thank you everyone, for the wonderful compliments. So no one sees any problem with her lying like that? She does seem comfortable and I kind of think it may be the coolest spot in the pen, she seems to go there when it’s evening and the house is at it’s warmest.
No, she’s not a lop-faced bun at all. Her face is more in profile like Fiver’s. Mimzy is most definitely the most pug-nosed of the three.

*eyes Lightchick suspiciously and holds onto Fiver tight* <..>

[Sage Cat]

Oh, no that is not my house. That is a cool staircase though. I sort of collect photos of things I like for when I get to build my own house – someday.

I only have a few pics of Nietzsche on my computer – It has been almost a year since I lost him. but at least he is with his sister, Sakaya, now. I don’t have any photos of her on my computer.

In this photo you can see his pretty bi-eyes!

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[MimzMum]

Oh Sage! He is beautiufl! *swoons* I bet you must miss him so! He had a sister too? The only thing more gorgeous than a husky, is two gorgeous huskies! ^_^

He reminds me of my Shadow. (piccy below)

Well I asked my vet tech today about the napping behavior and she agrees that it just must be a quirk of Pip’s. Considering how quirky she is in other ways, I’m inclined to agree! xD

I know how you feel about pix of other people’s houses. I’ve had a fireplace picture up on my refrigerator that I’ve been subtly hinting that my hubby should build me someday, but it won’t happen up here…fireplaces and chimneys leak too much heat. Hence I have to pretend with the woodstove!

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[RabbitPam]

MM,

I love that picture of Pip. She looks totally comfortable and content. It reminds me of one of our animals, maybe one of my pigs. (guinea). It just seems very natural to lounge on a ramp. She’s got her tushy propped, so it’s like a nice pillow. Maybe it keeps her hairdo from getting mussed.

[jerseygirl]

Oh Pip is a little Spunkster isn’t she!!! Hard to believe she’ll be the bigger bunny, she looks so little in that pic. Thinking maybe she likes the cool of the cage floor but the raised upper body allows her to see over the base to keep an eye out while dozing? Also, probably relieves pressure on stomach.

I get niggly little pains in my back, shoulder and neck. I often hang myself in odd position off the sofa to try get some relief. Must look weird!

When dozing on “her” bean bag, Jersey makes a dent in the middle, plants her butt down there and upper body propped up. I sort of think it’s like guarding the rabbit hole, half in and half out!

[Scarlet_Rose]

Mimz, I agree with it just being slightly odd behavior and she looks comfy! Cute pictures by the way!

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