• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Thumping of feet

linz0104

Young Bun
Hi, I've got a rescue mini lop male called murphy, at night times he thumps his feet on the hutch continuously, is this because he used to be a house rabbit? Please give me some advice, hes driving me and the neighbours crazy!!! :?
 
im glad someone has asked this question.bluebell has started to do it loads just lately.she is even loosening the bottom of her hutch.neighbours are starting moan too.x
 
It might take a while to work this one out.

My first rabbit tended to live indoors by night and outdoors by day. When I'd had her about a month one evening she was really awkward with me about coming in so I let her stay in the hutch. She was banging her feet a lot during the night, I just assumed she was grumpy, as I could see no reason for her being upset. Next day it was obvious her mouth hurt and she needed a dental, the foot banging etc was because of the pain.

This next one is a bit bizarre .. Another bunny, a house rabbit. A family of wild mice moved in and Scrat was scared of them because they were pinching her food. (ah) While I was working on catching the little mice (and in the meantime keeping them away from her) I actually believe Scrat was scared of the dark because she thumped her feet if I put the light out... even long after the mice had gone. (Nobody believes me when I tell them a rabbit was scared of the dark!!)

I don't know if you know that Murphy was a houserabbit or you are guessing this could be the problem but it does sound like he could be adjusting to his new environment.. how long have you had him? If he is well in every other sense it may be just he needs time to adjust. If he is used to more company perhaps he's wanting attention? Could there be anything like cats moving about that could upset him?
 
tried most things

Hi, thought it could be my cat, as she sits on the doorstep waiting to come in, so i let her in and went back to bed, murphy stopped the banging for a while, then started again, so like you said thought it might be the dark, and came down and switched the kitchen light on, stopped again for a bit and then started again. He doesnt do it at all during the day, thats the annoying thing, hes always just sitting by the cage door at night staring out, then sleeps most of the day!!!

The lady at the rescue place where i got him told me he was a house rabbit originally, which i do believe, as I put him on the grass in the run for the first time a week ago, and he just stood there as if he'd never seen grass before!!!! But if you let him out in the living room, hes bouncing about like a maniac!!

I think I'll try him for another week, and if he doesnt settle I'll have to get a pet carrier to keep him in at night indoors, other than that put his hutch in the shed, he might feel better in there!!

I have moved his hutch around a couple of times since hes been here, dont know if thats disturbed him, but surely he would do it in the day if hes that upset!!! also there are guinea pigs in the cage underneath him, dont know if hes funny about that!!!
I know its not medical, he had his jab last week, and the vet gave him a proper check over, and said hes fine, that animal is just a mystery!!!!:roll:
 
It does sound like he's scared of anything besides himself that goes thump in the night:lol: It does definitely sound like he was a houserabbit, doesn't it? I'd be going for the options you are doing. It will take a bit to adjust but at least there's not too much dark for him right at the mo. Good luck with him. I've just got a rescue rabbit in the last week. He too was a house rabbit and still is.. the first 24 hours when he saw me he ran in to his cage, he now runs out of his cage when he sees me, the change is amazing now he's used to his new home (he's stopped pooping everywhere now too:roll:)
 
Well little Floss has a tendancy to thump.

When I first got her she thumped every night normally around dawn strangly enough. I must have spent most of the night laying awake listening for her and then looking out to see if there was something frightening her! Gradually she got to do this less, I think she just got used to the going ons around her and that she wasn't in danger! I was out with them one evening and our cat walked on the shed roof and she started with her thumping, so quite possibly this is what was causing her thumping in the wee hours of the morning (although not our cat as she's kept in at night).

Then a few weeks ago she was thumping like mad and it wasn't stopping, just gone midnight I look out the window, was dark so difficult to see but I was pretty sure I could see a fox in the garden, fortunatly heading away from the rabbits... all calmed down for a while. Then the thumping kicked off again... out of bed I get to look out of the window (now 12.30) and what do I see but a damn fox on top of the rabbit run (which attached to their shed) - so I shout "FOX"... Mum jumps out of bed... Dad comes rushing out of the study... all of us heading for the back door... in some kind of mad midnight rush! By the time we got outside the fox had scarpered without a trace, but I'm sure it was a fox, nothing else would have been such a large "shadow" in the dark! I tried to calm Floss down and sooth Barley (who was in the most sheltered part looking rather worried!)... but nothing worked so I just left them to it. Floss thumped for a quite a while longer, I don't think me or mum slept much either, listening out for more commotion.

Come morning all was calm and the rabbits back to their normal self, and I'm happy to say that we've not seen Mr Fox again (and I hope we never do - but I fear we will :().

That's a long story but the basis of it is that you rabbit probably has is reasons for thumping, possibly scared of something... perhaps scared of "nothing". If she's like Floss and it will settle once she gets used to her new surroundings (have you had her long?).

Hannah
 
I have had him about a month, and he has been doing it most of the time, apart from the odd night!!!
I got another rescue rabbit on friday called summer, and she doesnt do it at all, how strange, but she does seem to go in her bedding area more than murphy does, he likes sitting at the cage bars watching the world.
I wonder if he gets a cage mate if he would be any happier??
 
We too have been experiencing more problems recently with one of our buns thumping at night. We got both of them in December from a rescue and they used to thump a bit but not loads and often there was an explanation - eg cat in the garden.

Recently Sooty has been thumping loads more at night time and she is quiet as anything during the day. Often she thumps just as it is getting completely dark and then at regular intervals during the night. We sleep in the bedroom at the front of the house and we can hear her from the garden. Her sister Truffle never thumps.

If we do go out at night to see what is scaring her there is never anything to see so we just can't work it out. We have even put 2 layers of carpet in their hutch to muffle the noise but I think she sees it as her challenge to thump even louder!!

We even bought solar spike lights in case she is scared of the dark but that doesn't seem to have helped.

We would love to know what is frightening her so that we can do something about it but we are baffled.

In some ways it comforting to know we are not the only ones struggling at the moment with this!
 
:D MY BRIDGE BUN BILLY:love:, WAS AN INDOOR BUN, BUT WOULD THUMP HIS FEET WHEN WE WENT TO BED. MY FIRST INSTINCT WAS TO GO DOWN TO HIM, BUT I KNEW HE WAS SAFE, PLUS LIKE A CHILD THEY SOON CATCH ON FOR ATTENTION,:roll: (IF I THUMP MY FEET, ME MOM WILL COME A RUNNING!) :lol::lol:.SO I USED TO LIE IN BED LISTENING, THEN AFTER 10 MINS HE STOPPED, BUT HE OFTEN DONE THIS, AND IT WAS BECAUSE HE WANTED TO COME OUT.!:D
 
I re had an outbreak of thumping rabbits this spring - sure enough it was the fox. Now we have electric fencing and new totally enclosed runs that the hutches sit in - no thumps.
 
bluebells hutch is locked in a shed at night so i know nothing can get in to her.wat could be making her stomp?just bein stroppy?x
 
I had a no thumping night last night!!! hooray!!!
Didnt do much different, so hes hoping hes stopped doing it, i did ignore him the night before, so maybe hes cottoned on, didnt let him in the house either, put him in the run outside, dont want him getting to used to coming indoors, think that might be part of the problem!!!:roll:
 
Back
Top