Why does Slipper thump in the middle of the night?

Every night? Regardless of whether he's caged or free range?

It wakes my OH up & he worries about how the neighbours will react & he already hates Slipper. Slipper is firmly bonded to Blueberry; they're joined at the hip and I'm worried he may one day ask me to rehome Slipper. Even if I could bring myself to rehome Slipper, I could never let Blueberry go - he's all I have left of Badger.

Anybody have any suggestions? None of the others have ever done it, just Slipper, so it can't be a danger signal. He is neutered too :wave:


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This is going to sound weird, but could he be having anxiety? One of ours thumps at night, less than she did now. When I go to her she is obviously distressed, running and thumping. I hold her until she calms down and then she is usually quiet the rest of the night. Could he be hearing something? Or smelling something? Sometimes with Bugsy it's because people are smoking downstairs and she can smell it through the window. Or because people are shouting. It must be really stressful for you being caught in the middle *hugs*

FondueKid said:

This is going to sound weird, but could he be having anxiety? One of ours thumps at night, less than she did now. When I go to her she is obviously distressed, running and thumping. I hold her until she calms down and then she is usually quiet the rest of the night. Could he be hearing something? Or smelling something? Sometimes with Bugsy it's because people are smoking downstairs and she can smell it through the window. Or because people are shouting. It must be really stressful for you being caught in the middle *hugs*

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I'm not sure. It's about 1am in the morning when he does it. He used to be in a hutch outdoors when my ex had him (long story) and apparently he did it then too. Then I got him (Slipper :lol back last summer & he's been an indoor bun ever since. He was in an indoor cage than I discovered RU & got him neutered & bonded in a quad with a whole bedroom upstairs to themselves. Then Badger died & the remaining three fell out so had to take it in turns being caged up for a day whilst the other free ranged the room. Now I've got a double decker hutch each with each level 6x2x2 for them. Yet through all this, he's thumped at a similar time every night. What I don't understand is that if it was anxiety, a) why aren't the others doing it? B) he's not alone so the others should provide comfort and c) there's no one around at that time to disturb him. Only the woods at the back of my house which is full of wildlife so there's associated noises there. But he did it before he came to me too. Confused! :?


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I don't know why it would be that he is thumping but I just thought I would add that often one of my bunnies thumps when she hears something (that I never hear) and the other doesn't. It's always Maddie who does the thumping and she's the more dominant one of my two, so I think she does it to protect Millie. Millie very rarely thumps at all. I'm not sure if that helps here because like you say he use to do it before too and it sounds like he was alone then?

Kirotea said:

I don't know why it would be that he is thumping but I just thought I would add that often one of my bunnies thumps when she hears something (that I never hear) and the other doesn't. It's always Maddie who does the thumping and she's the more dominant one of my two, so I think she does it to protect Millie. Millie very rarely thumps at all. I'm not sure if that helps here because like you say he use to do it before too and it sounds like he was alone then?

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He was alone but there were two other bunnies in the hutches next door & below. Silly us didn't know about bonding & pairing up bunnies so we had three singles. Then he was on his own when he came back to me and then was in the sight/sound/smell vicinity of others again. So maybe that's it? He hears something we don't & is protecting the others? I think he is the dominant one over Blueberry now. I'm not sure who was top bun before though.


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Nahla thumps all night for no reason too; she's my most anxious bunny and she's fear aggressive... I genuinely think it's just because she gets anxious at the slightest noise.

The thing with the others being there - Bugsy does it even when she's right next to Chestnut flopped out! Maybe they think they're guard bunny? Does anyone free range at night? Could he be worrying about the sound of others in an area of his territory he doesn't have access to?

He could be saying, "hooman, come and feed me" :lol:

Hi one of mine used to thump super lound at night and keep it up for hours!!! He was a french lop as well, so by super loud i mean super super loud lol! Dont know why he did it when the others were not so i thought maybe it wasnt an alarm, or maybe he was just more sensitive than the others to a danger?? Anyway never sussed why!
Anyway i was pregnant and super stressed in-case the neighbours complained as we are in rented house, and was actually scared being thrown out or having to rehome him so i made a post on here and some1 recommended rubber matting on the floor it helps loads with the sound!!!!
Sadly he went to the bridge a few weeks ago but i think i will use matting for the rest of the hutches/sheds incase the others decide to have a go at any point in the future!!
Stable matting ok i think or somewhere does old conveyor belts cheaper but i dont remember the name but some1 else might know. hope this helps

Sonic thumps most nights. We do get foxes around but they never seem to bother him, I think he just wants some attention!

Zoobec said:

He could be saying, "hooman, come and feed me" :lol:

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That's probably it :roll: greedy little sod :lol:

supersonic said:

Sonic thumps most nights. We do get foxes around but they never seem to bother him, I think he just wants some attention!

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Another possible contender - he's a right diva!


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FondueKid said:

The thing with the others being there - Bugsy does it even when she's right next to Chestnut flopped out! Maybe they think they're guard bunny? Does anyone free range at night? Could he be worrying about the sound of others in an area of his territory he doesn't have access to?

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No, nobunny free ranges any more, they spoilt it for themselves by falling out. They now have to content themselves with a double decker hutch each with each level 6x2x2. Only way I could accommodate everybun now :roll:


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