Bunny Thump? a bunny-sitters question.

[R0se]

Hello All,

I have another question for all of you.

I have a little bunny that I am bunny sitting for a week for a friend.  I was a bit worried that she might be freaked out.
But she is fine. She has full out binkied 3 times and done at lease a half a dozen bunny 500’s. 
My question is this,  some of the times that she starts doing the bunny 500 she makes a really loud ‘thump’ with her back feet.  My bunny has never done this and I was under the impression that they only thumped when they were stressed or in trouble?
I’m not worried I’m just wondering about this as I hope to have more bunnies in the future and I thought the thump was a bad thing?

 

Thank you for your time!

[miluti]

I’ve had my girl Poppy for just over a week (my first bun!) and she does the same thing… I was perplexed enough to google it (as I had heard/read that a thump was the bunny expressing displeasure), but it seems that they sometimes do it out of excitement, or extreme joy as well… I would assume she’s doing well – she sounds pretty much exactly like Poppy (bunny 500’s and all), and my girl gets more and more lovey dovey and playful as time goes by.

You’re doing a great job as a surrogate bunny mama!

[manic_muncher]

My Bonnie is a big thumper. MOST of the time, its because she’s upset about something. It could be I’m late feeding her, or I’m coughing too loud at the opposite end of the house (I think she doesn’t realize what it is) or if she might hear something outside. But I have also known her to give a good thump and then run and binky down the hallway. I think it might be a way of just bringing attention to herself. Like “Hey! LOOK AT ME!”

[tobyluv]

Some of my bunnies have done excited/happy thumps.

[R0se]

Ok, so thumps are normally bad, but can also mean “look at me!”
Good to know, Thank you tons!

All the google links I was finding said that they were bad thumps.
Thank you for the heads up.
I’ll admit that having her has been a little bit of a stressor on me, she is very good at getting in to things, and we just found out this week that my bunny, Sir Flop, understands now that he can jump over the arm of the couch. So trying to give him his normal nap space is out of the question as she dose not like Flop, and has lunged at him through a baby gate. So if he can hop over the couch and get close to her with out us to keep them apart, one of them might hurt the other. x~x
She is adorable and wants to get into everything yet is only less then half the size of my bun. Its fun having her but I will also be ok when I can just let Flop have his run of the house back.

[Steph and Missy]

Its important to observe the rabbits behavior before and after the thump. If they look like something is grabbing their attention and seem sort of frozen then the thump probably means they sense trouble or could be a warning sign letting you know not to mess with them. If they seem nervous or tense at all post-thump u should consider trying to comfort them, as they might be frightened by something they might have heard. My bun has even freaked out over something she saw on tv. If they seem to continue doing routine behavior after thumping, I wouldnt worry too much. My bun thumps to get my attention when she wants some hesd pats or cheek rub. She even thumps to wake me up from my nap for play time. (Her condo is next to my bed).

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