Confused with thumping

Sorry for the long post but I need advice because I don't think I read my rabbits very well and it is causing me a few problems. I was late for work again this morning because of strange behaviour and I worry they are sick. Quite often my rabbits don't eat if I give them pellets or greens and I immediately jump to conclusions and think they are sick as obviously if they don't eat it means trouble. I even took Norah to the vets a couple of times because of it and by the time we got back home she was fine. Jimmy has teeth problems but I know the signs with him because he grinds his teeth. Do they sometimes just not want to eat until they are ready too and it doesn't necessarily mean they are sick or starting statis?
This morning at 4.00am I heard thumping in the shed, it went on and on and on, after an hour I got up for work and went straight in the shed to see what was happening and Jimmy was sitting on the top shelf thumping and what I can only discribe as grunting with each thump. I have never heard my rabbits make any sound. I stroked him but he still kept thumping. I went to feed them both before work and he picked the kale up and literally flung it at me. He wouldn't eat anything, so again I was worried and thought he was sick. I tried to give him all his favs but he looked at it in disgust. I tried for ages and I knew it was getting later and i hate going to work worrying. I was just about to give up and just go to work and I looked in the shed window and he was eating the kale, I have came home from work and he is perfect. What causes thumping and does it mean they are feeling unwell?
Thank you


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Perhaps he heard a fox or something else which scared him. My rabbits sometimes thump but when I check everywhere I can't see anything! That isn't to say they thump for no reason! About the food, rabbits always eat when you give them something and they very rarely leave any of it. Overweight rabbits might not be as eager to eat but if one of mine doesn't eat I get worried.

Thumping is primarily a warning. Maybe there was a garden visitor (fox, cat?) he wasn't keen on & needed to let everybun know to be on alert. If this was the case he was probably feeling a little anxious so didn't tuck in to breakfast til he was fully relaxed. Glad he is fine now

joey&boo said:

Thumping is primarily a warning. Maybe there was a garden visitor (fox, cat?) he wasn't keen on & needed to let everybun know to be on alert. If this was the case he was probably feeling a little anxious so didn't tuck in to breakfast til he was fully relaxed. Glad he is fine now

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Actually This sounds about right. His wife was looking at him as if he was stupid though, but she is deaf. So they thump because they are warning others of a possible predator.that makes sense to me now, in future I will know. Thank you

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tonibun said:

Perhaps he heard a fox or something else which scared him. My rabbits sometimes thump but when I check everywhere I can't see anything! That isn't to say they thump for no reason! About the food, rabbits always eat when you give them something and they very rarely leave any of it. Overweight rabbits might not be as eager to eat but if one of mine doesn't eat I get worried.

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The food thing is bothering me. It is only since I opened the new bag of science selective they seem to be acting fussy but they love there kale and i do worry if they don't eat that. Norah is fussy and always has been, she doesn't like greens very much but she is a fantastic hay eater and prefers hay over everything.thanks for the reply at least I know now thumping is not a bad sign it is a normal sign.

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Thumping can be a sign of impatience and annoyance too, our Willow used to thump every time I let her out of the run for free range time; I think it was a sign of "hurry up, I'm bored". And she produces quite a spectrum of grunts, whereas her mate Charlie is completely silent.

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Lagomorphine said:

Thumping can be a sign of impatience and annoyance too, our Willow used to thump every time I let her out of the run for free range time; I think it was a sign of "hurry up, I'm bored". And she produces quite a spectrum of grunts, whereas her mate Charlie is completely silent.

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So grunting and thumping go together then and it's normal. I am very surprised at my Jimmy having an attitude, he is always so loving.i would expect that noise from his wife but not from him, at least I will know in future that it doesn't mean he is feeling unwell. Every day I learn something new about bunny's.[emoji4]

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glitterdust said:

The food thing is bothering me. It is only since I opened the new bag of science selective they seem to be acting fussy but they love there kale and i do worry if they don't eat that. Norah is fussy and always has been, she doesn't like greens very much but she is a fantastic hay eater and prefers hay over everything.thanks for the reply at least I know now thumping is not a bad sign it is a normal sign.

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This kept happening with mine with SS as well. With Smudge I would’ve just put it down to him as he has occasional tummy issues but it happened with Imogen as well. I ended up switching to Excel on advice of my vets.

My Maple thumps when she is impatient for example when I am tending to tobys meds. She thumps looking at me followed by periscopes.

She also thumps in the night if she is spooked by something. This is more her hunkered down loud thumps. It soon stops when I give her some noms. My maple is a house bunny so she can obviously still hear other animals outside.

My bridge bunny bam used to thump from about half six in the morning until he got is food. He would do it in a rythm. I'd stumble out of bed and chuck him some noms which actually back fired as this confirmed he would get noms after thumping.

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My female thumps and grunts randomly, I usually can’t see any reason for it - I have to assume she’s seen something in the garden through the patio doors or maybe she’s just being moody :lol: she seems to do the grunt as a warning on its own sometimes eg if she is annoyed with one of the boys.

My bridge pair were house rabbits.Rio,the boy would at times thump,pretty hard too.His wife bun Cleo would instantly go on alert and run to his side.This was usually in the living room,I assumed he heard something outside,they would be lying on the carpet.I never heard anything.Foxes ,cats etc,even mice make high pitched noises we can't hear.Rabbits don't have those big lugs for nothing.

Some of my buns thump when they hear me coming because they know this usually means food . But at others times can be because they are on alert about something or even once I managed to set two off because I went back to their house a second time because I'd forgotten something.

Also, some of them will dive into their food the second its put down, but other won't touch it until I've gone (but if I secretly look in the window they are eating and it's always all gone by morning) x

Mine will often thump at night. We have foxes in the fields behind us so I presume it is a reaction to them. Our dogs often bark when they hear the rabbits thumping.

My Baxter loves one of my cats and will be groomed by him and snuggle him during floor time. If the cat sits outside his pen, Baxter will run in circles and thump in front of him. I assume he's excited and wants to be let out.

Until we had Willow I thought rabbits were practically silent but she's quite vocal. She produces a whole spectrum of grunts. Warning grunts, greeting grunts, angry grunts, happy grunts.

Teddy and Pepper eat pellets at certain times (7.30am and 7.30pm) but occasionally he waits a little bit as he likes to eat at the same time as me (weird little cutie, he is).

Bella & Bertie don’t like me to watch them eat breakfast and dinner, so they’ll wait until I’m gone.

They all tuck into greens pretty much as soon as they are served

Little Pepper Bun is a grunter - she grunts A L L the time, wether happy or unhappy

Thumping worries me as they usually do it if something scares them.

Over time you get to know their personalities, likes and dislikes, and it becomes easier to read them x