Digging and “Smoothing Out”: what does it mean?

[Matty]

In the evenings when we’re haning out in the living room together, Turbo will hop on the couch and put a lot of energy into digging and the couch/blanket and “smoothing it out” – that’s the best way I can describe it.  He can get especially nippy too – not bity-y, just nippy.  He also loves to nibble away at whatever I’m wearing, but this doesn’t concern me because I either shoo him away or I wear an old sweatshirt (it looks like swiss cheese by now).

 

My questions:

1. Is he happy or angry?  He intersperses this behavior with the occasional binky so I’m confused.

2. What does he want?  I spent a few weekends making him a diggy box that he completely ignored.

3. What is this “smoothing out” behavior?

 

Thanks,

Matty

[Beka27]

I think BinkyBunny summed it up best in the ad for the BB pet bed:

“Does your bunny sometimes dig at its bedding? It may be trying to create a scrape. What is a scrape you ask? It a little dent in the ground that their wild cousins dig out to offer a bit of security as they lounge. Bedding with a little bit of a raised edge simulates a scrape.”

This is normal rabbit behavior, although the biting and furious digging may be more evident in unneutered rabbits.

[Matty]

so…he’s not angry?

[Beka27]

Rabbits don’t really experience anger. What is confused for anger is typically aggression triggered by fear.

[Monkeybun]

My Smudge loves to dig and smooth out her towel. It’s a normal thing for buns to do, and many love doing it

[LoveChaCha]

Some rabbits like diggy boxes, some like blankets!

My bunny prefers her blankets.. or my blanket. They are diggers so, it is normal.

[Lani]

Yeah my bun does this to the clothes I’m wearing too. I guess she thinks it’s her blanket or she wants it to be hers. Occaisionally she’ll nibble on my clothes and get a piece of skin but usually I just let out a little “eek!” or “ouch!” and she chills out and is a little gentler. It’s normal though and can be kind of sweet as long as she isn’t being aggressive

As for the diggy box, try putting a little treat in the box to make it smell delicious. I put mint in my bun’s diggy box and she enjoys digging around to find it. But as LoveChaCha said, some buns just don’t do the diggy box thing

[LittlePuffyTail]

Olivia is a big “digger” and “smoother”. I always wondered about the “smoothing” until I watched this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch

Watch as he “digs” the hole and then “smoothes” the dirt out of the hole. It’s all just mimicking what they would do in nature.

[Matty]

Hey LittlePuffyTail, your link didn’t work, it was just http://www.youtube.com/watch. Can you repost? I’d love to see it!

-Matty

[LittlePuffyTail]

Sorry, not sure why it didn’t work.

Do a YouTube search for “Howards Big Dig” (That’s the name of the video.) It’s definitely worth watching.

[RabbitPam]

You can also copy the link here and paste it into your browser line at the top, then hit enter.

He is definitely happy, not angry.

Bunnies also love projects. They sometimes view a large blanket, or a hole in something, as a project to “finish” and they come back to work on it day after day. You can use this to your advantage by creating a project, but my best example of it kind of backfiring was when I stuffed an old comforter under my couch to keep Spockie from going under it. Well, he dug and smoothed, dug and smoothed a long tunnel. He was technically safe from getting inside the guts of the couch, but he went in deeper and deeper and eventually came out another side! He was so happy doing it, though.
When he nips at you while he’s working on it, he’s saying that he’s not finished please go away he’s busy.

[Deleted User]

I made my digging box out of soils. It’s more apparent when they are doing it on the dirt.
Your bunny is just trying to make a tunnel.
It’s completely natural behavior!
They “dig” to create a room/hole, and “smoothing out” motion is so they can put the excess dirt away from their hole/entrance.
I see mine do it all the time, and it’s more obvious when you actually see the dirts moving.
If you think about it, it’s amazing.
They have never been taught, but they somehow know!

[LBJ10]

Kokococo – I went ahead and approved your post, but I am going to lock this thread to avoid confusion. We ask members not to pull up old threads. Someone might think someone needs help, only to find out that the post is old. This particular thread is from 2011.

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