scary behavior, what is going on?

[Alina]

 I came home from work early today at 1. I went to lay down for a nap.

 

All of the sudden I heard this tapping noise. Like a loud loud tap.

I go out to the living room to see what the bunnies are doing. Cowboy is in his cage and looks petrified. Pj looks fine, but he always looks alert.
All of the sudden there is this loud tapping noise I can’t even explain it. It’s coming from Pjs cage. I get closer and it’s not coming FROM Pj’s cage it’s coming from UNDER Pjs cage. Like someone is underneath the floor, tapping under his cage.

I call my landlady thinking something is breaking. I’m pretty much hyperventilating I’m so scared. 

All of the sudden Cowboy makes a break for it, runs directly into the side of his NIC cage trying to escape. We haven’t put support beams in yet, so he’s able to knock into it and drag it behind him. I get him back set up, and pet him til he calms down. The noise continues.

I’m freaking out so I sit on the floor between their cages. I look at Pj and realize HE is making the noise. I have mats on their cage floor like the multicolored attatchable ones for little kids. He’s stamping both back feet on the mat, while keeping this totally calm demeanor. It was eerie. 

I’m trying to decide if I should squirt him with water to make him stop, because he’s scaring Cowboy when he just stops by himself. 

I give them both a raisin (I don’t know why lol) and they both seem fine. 

 

I’m sitting on the couch now, watching them. Cowboy is sprawled out all spread eagled like usual. And Pj is laying down snoozing.

 

What the HECK was that? My heart is still pounding. Why would he just start stamping all of the sudden?
 

[GrumpyBun]

He perhaps heard something that you couldn’t and was spooked by it.

[Beka27]

Thumping is a normal rabbit behavior. Rabbits don’t have great vocal capabilities, so to indicate danger or caution they raise up slightly and slam both rear feet down. “In the wild”, this thump would be transmitted via sound and vibration. So again, totally normal.

Now the degree to which our domesticated rabbits use it… can be a bit skewed. Some thump to warn of the scent of an animal outside. Some thump if dinner is late. I wouldn’t worry too much about it if you check and they are physically fine.

[Huckleberry]

AWW PJ thumped! It is weird to hear the first time you hear it. If you’re like me, you grew up watching Bambi and assuming that a thump was a fast paced knock with one foot, like when they scratch their ears. But surprise! Disney warped it a little. Anyway, like Beka said, its not a big deal.
Huckleberry thumps when she is angry at me for being on the computer or when we (my boyfriend and I) are both behind a closed door with her on the other side. I guess she doesn’t understand why we would exclude her from any activity! After all, she is just so darn cute!!! haha.
The first time she did it to me, I was at the desktop in the bedroom, she was in the doorway. She made the noise and I turned to look for it, she looked at me with this “What? What?! Oh, you heard that too, gee I wonder what that was *snicker snicker*” When I went back to the computer she did it again. The noise coincided with my face on the computer, so I finally turned a mirror towards her and then I caught it.
Don’t stress. Hopefully PJ doesn’t decide to protest your sleep and thump all night.

[Alina]

Oh man it terrified me. I checked his feet, just in case it was something like that.

He’s michevious. I woke up this morning to that creepy stamping noise, I roll over and Pj is in our bedroom. We have an open top NIC condo for him, and it appears he has figured out how to get on top of his igloo, climb to the top, and jump out. Wooonderful.

I think he just wanted to come wake us up, cause there were no wires chewed or anything gotten into. He even left Cowboy alone, even though they are not bonded yet (PJ has only been neutered 2 weeks, so I’m giving it time)

I don’t know what to do with these naughty bunnies!

[Huckleberry]

Haha, you will do the same thing the rest of us do, you’ll grunt like they do when they get mad and the laugh and snuggle them and end up giving them treats after they have done something that you want to strangle them for!
That’s so cute that PJ just wanted to wake you up. Maybe he feels that breakfast should be served sooner lol.

[angie-la]

my buns freak out and thump alllllll the time. they can pick up and hear/sense things we don’t, and since they’re used to being prey, they thump to send an alert to eachother. I also give them craisins when they thump! hahaha. I just want to calm them down ASAP, because nikka once got so spooked she got herself trapped between the bars of her cage and damn near gave me a heart attack -____-.

they’re fairly new, right? once they get more accustomed to their settings they should settle down. anywho, nothing to freak out about! =D

[Michelle&Lolli]

Eddie used to get scared by “ghosts” – freak out, thump, then dash for cover. “Ghosts” because about 99% of the time, I had no clue what he was freaked out about. I’d always look at Lolli to see if she was scared too. If she wasn’t scared, it wasn’t a big deal. lol Not much freaks Lolli out so when she thumps, it’s usually in anger. I think Eddie couldn’t hear very well. I don’t know if he actually had a hearing problem or if it was just his lop ears. Lolli perks up at things but it takes a lot for her to completely freak out. Eddie freaked out at a drop of a hat. LOL

I picked Eddie up for snuggles once and I put him down before he was done. Usually I could only hold him for maybe a minute or so before he’d bite me cause he wanted down. I got good at timing because of this. So I put him down and he immediately thumps and stares at me. I put my arms out and ask him if he needs more snuggles and he hops over.

You’ll learn the different thumps. It could be that he wanted out or wanted you for something. And if Cowboy is new, he might not be completely settled yet and that’s why he freaked out.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

THe only advice I can offer is-there was a woman on a dog forum I was on-looking at ghosts to explain what was happening in her house. She installed a video camera and found a neighbors child was coming over…So the only thing I could suggest is a camera to see what is happening when you aren’t there…. Keep us posted!!

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