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Strange behaviour.

bunkin

bunkin

Warren Veteran
I don't think this is a health problem as my bunny is nearly 7 and has been doing this occasionally all his life.

He lays with his back legs out sideways and seems to be very sleepy, he is happy to be stroked in this position but he refuses to eat or drink while like this. This lasts from an hour to half a day and then suddenly its as if he wakes up properly and rushes around and eats everything.

It always happens after we explerience days of rain.

We have rushed him to vets twice and as soon as we put him in the carrier he returns to his normal self so perfectly fit bunny at vets!! He has had two thorough exams and vet could find nothing amiss.

WE have had a week of almost constant rain and yesterday it rained all day so he spent the day either in his hutch or under his weahter protection is his enclosed area. He ate all his food overnight and used his litter tray normally but this morining he is laying with his back legs out sideways half asleep and ignoring us and everything. Probably by lunchtime he will be back to himself.

Does anyone elses rabbit do this??
 
My two rabbits spend most of the morning like this, after they've had breakfast. They are just relaxing. The legs stretched out position means the rabbit is in a very relaxed and comfortable state.

I leave their cage door open most of the day (they are house rabbits) but they rarely come out before about 2pm. Then they come alive around tea time and it's like having two toddlers running around the house! :lol:

It sounds perfectly normal to me, as long as they are eating and pooing normally. They do seem to suddenly wake up, as if they were either asleep or miles away deep in thought. I wouldn't worry at all.

:)
 
Sounds very much like a "bunny flop" (resting) to me.
Thumper did this a lot but I couldn't take a photo of his head on it's side on the ground cos the whirr of the camera always made him lift it up.
DSCF4828.jpg

Some bunnies are "out cold" when they do this ="dead bunny flop" again normal, completely relaxed, resting behaviour although alarming to the owner.
 
Thanks both. As per usual he spent half a day laying out with eyes half closed refusing food or water and not using litter tray and then suddenly he woke up as such and ate everything in sight and has been fine since.

It always happens after a few days of continious rain as if he goes into some sort of hibernation or depression!
 
I would agree that he is just resting. Possibly you just notice it more when it has been raining? He sounds like a happy, relaxed bunny and just enjoys flopping out for a while. My two will flop for hours at a time especially in warm weather like we are having now. They will both let me stroke them whilst flopped out and this just shows how comfortable they are with you. :) All bunnies are different and some buns will flop more than others so don't be alarmed. At 7 years old he will probably be slowing down and enjoying simply doing nothing :)

IMG_2154.jpg
 
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