Loud thumping, why??

[Darlene68]

Okay once in awhile Chewy will wake me up at weird hours in the night because of her extremely loud foot thumping! It is loud, I live in an apartment and feel sorry for the people below me! Also sometimes Chewy will be sitting in her usual spot by my feet when I'm on the computer and all of a sudden..THUMP! Anyone know why this happens? I thought it was only if they were scared?

[Samantha]

Spike does this, too for all kinda of reasons. I live in an apartment as well and worry about the neighbours. I sometimes think Spike just hears things that I don't. A person passes by my door and THUMP! A dog barks in another apartment and THUMP! Something falls in the apartment above and THUMP! Bunnies can hear so many things that we don't or things that we would not normally pay attention to. They will also thump if they smell something weird. Again, that dog that pases by my door undetected by me smells like a threat to Spike. When Spike thumps, I normally chalk it up to him sensing something that I do not. And he is going to warn all the other bunnies in the area about it!

It's funny, but if he wakes me up in the middle of the night and I am groggy and he is thumping, I have a moment of panic. Like, "what is he sensing that I'm not??? Should I be worried???" He's my little alarm system. Usually when he gets like that, I just sit with him and tell him everything is okay. Then he calms down and goes back to eating his hay as though nothing happened and I go back to bed. After checking the locks again, hehe.

The only other time Spike thumps is when he is mad at me. Like if I am late getting up and giving him breakfast, he will thump to wake me and ask where the food is. Or if I have bothered him by cleaning his pen and moving things around. He has everything where he wants it, so how dare I move it!

But anyway, those are things I have seen make Spike thump. Chewy could just be experiencing the same thing. Apartments can be loud places for bunnies. We have no way of controlling the sounds from the apartments around us or how loud the neightbours get. I think that could make our bunnies thump a little more than others. One thing that helped a little with Spike was to place a towel under my door. It doesn't allow as much of the sound in, and since I have been doing it at night, Spike has not thumped once. It also stops a lot of the smells from other apartments or animals from wafting in under the door.

And totally off topic, that pic of Chewy in your avatar is the cutest! How on EARTH did you get a Santa hat on her????

[rich1299]

I've also seen Ava thump for attention, "you come here! pet/groom me now!" as well as anger or from scary noises or smells. I think in essence it means "pay attention!!" I also live in an apt. but don't worry about the neighbours below me, they're more than loud enough themselves. Also there's been a reduction in the frequency as she gets used to the noises and smells of my building. Bailey was never a thumper but he grew up in a house with small children and dogs so I think he has a high tolerance for strange smells and sounds.

I agree that is an adorable avatar! I once put a witches hat with a wig on Bailey for Halloween, it didn't go well at all (though also quite cute for the first 10 seconds or so), part of it got tangled in his fur as he fought with it and I ended up having to cut it off him, I promised him after that I'd never try to dress him again, though I occasionally do put small towel on his back and tell him its his cape and he's superbunny! He seems to enjoy it.

[Darlene68]

Thanks Samantha and Rich, I'm happy to know it isn't abnormal. I know Chewy will thump once in awhile when she thinks I'm ignoring her. The middle of the night thumping is something that I hope doesn't happen to often, she can really bang that foot down hard

Isn't Chewy as Santa's helper adorable! I can place anything on her head and she just sits there, she's so cute

I just realized this was posted in the humour section, sorry!

[microbunny]

This is very normal!

All of my rabbits stomp and it is quite often to alert me that they want a treat or the water bottle is getting low!

Don't be worried---rabbits are smart and know how to get attention!!

[Champagne D']

Hi, I'm just reading the entries on thumping..Thor did the occasional nighttime thumps, as well. Sometimes it was maybe a strange sound...or she could have seen a shape/outline, and didn't know what it was...sometimes she would just 'thump', when I woke her up, during a phone conversation (you know how bunnies love dozing during the day..one can't help the phone ringing, and answering the phone next to her cage as she's in deep slumber). I remember, Thor used to thump even with her eyes closed, and then fall over into another deep slumber. (I know what it's like to be woken up from a deep sleep, too).

[2mindless]

Reading all the postings on rabbit's loud thumping. A bit discouraged because I'm not going to sit up at 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 am with a rabbit that is repetitiously "whacking" it's pen. My rabbit is several years old (6.5)...like others I live in a small hollow apartment & am mildly concerned about the loud "whapping" disturbing the neighbours. It's more unsettling to me. I'm a light sleeper with nighttime knee pain & don't sleep well. Unfortunately I think the thumping began when the downstairs neighbour changed her habits & is up til 3-4 am, then again at 7 or 9 & she has her bloody t.v. up loud; movies with loud music/banging/thundering. I don't dare tell the housing that it's unnerving my pet & causing her to thump violently or they'll tell me I have to get rid of her. I've sometimes left my t.v. on so she has light & sound, thinks I'm up after I've gone to bed (t.v. has a timer; auto-shutoff)...unless I sleep with earplugs (which make my ears sore) I often get jolted out of a sound sleep. This is becoming quite troubling. I have an intense startle reflex & her thumping has nearly given me a heart attack. I can't move her pen to another room, because it's a one room apartment.

[rich1299]

That is a problem and you really can't get them to stop their thumping, its instinct, perhaps though you could line her pen at night with old blankets or towels or whatnot to soften the thumps a bit, I'd think a larger folded blanket would be better and ideally tucked in around the edges so it can't be easily scrunched up or moved around by your bun, one of my guys loves moving around fabric but he tends to leave alone the ones that had no exposed edges in the pen, yours might do the same, even if it doesn't muffle the thumping I bet it would make it less harsh anyways, perhaps a piece of carpet would help too or in combination with the blankets for the best result. Also leaving on the TV like you've been doing might be helpful, does your bun seem to thump any less when the TV is on? are the thumps any less startling for you when the TV is on? the white noise from it, actually you can get real white noise from a TV easily by turning to a station that's nothing but static and turning up the volume, that might be a less startling noise all around. An interesting side bit, apparently when you see a TV channel that is nothing but static you are seeing a tiny little bit of the big bang which created our universe, some sort of waves from it get picked up by TVs and is shown as static, I heard that on some science show for kids I was watching one day, anyways I hope you're able to find some relief and get a good nights sleep more often, I know well the difference it makes.

Good luck!

[Kit]

One of the things I've done to muffle the occaisional thumping at night, was to put a flattened cardboard box under the cage as a bit of soundproofing. If she's really thumping at night I do go in and see if what could be bothering her in the dark. And there are times its been directly traceable to 1)strange voices/smells in the apartment (my parents visiting) or 2) a super cleaned out cage and room that probably didn't smell like hers any more and was accompanied by some pretty rock star behavior (she tossed everything around in her cage) 3) I left a stuffed toy animal on the floor and it was near her cage and looked kinda spooky in the darkness 4) I was showing all the signs of leaving(the cleaned cage, the jumbo feeder AND the evil suitcases) for a few days and this displeased her

[2mindless]

Kit: that's cute, sad & funny. My rabbit is like that. She's accustomed to me being away alot...but if I've been gone an especially long time, when I get home she's squirrly & wants out no matter if it's 3 a.m., then I get what I call "bunny stalked". She'll follow me everywhere. I can't leave her sight. She'll sit at my feet while I'm on the toilet, get in, around & under my feet; try to peek in the shower. It's hysterical.
Her thumping is because of the woman below me (I live in an apartment building). I go to bed in the wee hours, the apartment building has been silent except for my movement & my tv programs. Then within 20-30 minutes after going to bed she starts "whacking" her pen. Either that or she's pissed off I went to bed & left her. But I actually fell asleep on the couch last night & she began thumping & woke me.

The woman downstairs has reversed her habits & is quiet all day, then turns her tv & surround sound on around 12 am to 4 & 5 am. I actually flipped out THIS MORNING, after I was awoken 3 times, over 2 hours ( 2am - 4am) for a thumping bunny. I took her out of the pen & was cradling her, she crawled right under the back of my neck which TELLS ME she's bothered. I took the broom & began pounding the floor...tenant downstairs her TV. I had to pound the floor multiple times then I think she got the hint someone's pissed. This has got to quit. Time for a housing complaint....????

[2mindless]

any suggestions on chewing. My rabbit has "nipped" through 2 phone cords. She does it within a minute. I've got things up as far as I can, they can only be placed in the one corner as that's the only JACK in the apt. She must be standing on her hind feet to bite the power cord. I'm surprised she doesn't get a bit of a tingle (electricity going through the cord). I give her things to chew to discourage (dog biscuits). Unfortunately, she's unique in that she won't chew wood or other rabbit chew toys. I've tried everything-she only likes to chew her pen (plastic). I'm tempted to give her an old slipper, if I had one-but she'll injest the fabric (she's done this when I gave her old t-shirts or towels for bedding; this rabbit is one bunny who won't nest in a towel, she'll thread it & eat it).

[snoovy]

A rabbit is more likely to sleep through the night (or play quiet in a pen) if its had adequate free run and play time durring the day.

I highly suggest you put mats on the floor of the pen (like little rugs from ikea/zellers/target/walmart) these will muffle the sound of the thumping so its very quiet. you might wan to see what can be done about rearranging furniture, or putting up a partial covering on one wall/between the cage and the floor to lessen vibrations or noise coming directly at the cage, even a little external wall barrier of some sort that will make the rabbit feel as if they are hidden a bit from plain view or more in a cozy spot will make the rabbit feel a bit safer at night.

Go to the hardware store and get some thick but bendable PVC tubing the exact length of your power cords, take an exacto knife and slit it down one side the full length of the tube and insert the powercord into the tubing so its covered completely by the PVC tube. The rabbit will go after the tube and not get to the cord, potentially saving your rabbit from electrocution. Another option is to blocade the one outlet with desks/wood boards/so the rabbit cannot get to it and attaching your cords about 3 feet up the wall and running them to appliances that way. I do both of these things in my house. You can get little hooks at a hardware store to run about 3 feet up the wall and hang the cords on to keep them off the ground.

Hope this helps.