Rabbit thumping through the night

[Stinkerbunnies]

My Blackie Chan ( we think he is a Havana/lionhead ) is super sweet. He never normally thumps or grunts. We're coming up on a year of having them, and this new behavior. At 6:50 A.M I woke up to thumps. When I turned on the light, I saw him thumping, moving to another corner, then thumping again after about 15 seconds. He is also breathing a little weird, and his nose is making sounds kind of like a grunt. I picked him up, and he stopped. Well, he is now on my bed, glaring down at Big Wig. He'll thump every couple of minutes or so now. I was wondering if this was normal. Big Wig didn't seem bothered at all by it. Could it be seperation anxiety? He usually sleeps with my sister. I was wondering if he might be sick. Thanks for letting me know.

 

[Stinkerbunnies]

Oh, I forgot to add that his nose looks fine. He is more of my sisters rabbit though. But Big Wig will make a slight noise, and Chan will run back to me. He is normally the rabbit who is afraid of everything, as Chan runs away from birds, as Wiggles scares them off.

 

[Cookiemonster]

It is very possible that it is anxiety...

 

[Stinkerbunnies]

Okay, thank you. My sister said he was making the weird noise with her too. He stopped thumping, and we are starting to let him out during the night.

 

[Stinkerbunnies]

He does make a weird grunting sound ( not a grunt ) I really need help! Please, any advice is welcome, and please anwser the pole up at the top of the thread.

 

[JBun]

It could be that he is upset about not being with your sister. If this turns out to be the cause of his thumping, he would need to be with your sister again to stop the behavior or give him time to get used to the change, but he may still thump for a while until he does. If anything else has changed recently, those are also potential causes for upset.

Or it could be he is hearing something during the night that is making him nervous or upsetting him. It could also explain the digging behavior that has started. If he is hearing something that is causing the thumping and digging, then you would need to figure out what could be causing the upset. It could be an odd sound coming from outside, or something inside. Maybe even a mouse, or I've heard of buns getting upset at a spider being around.

Or he may just not like being locked up at night. If the thumping stops when you get him out and he doesn't seem upset anymore, then this might be the problem. But if he is still upset and thumping even when you let him out, then there is probably something else bothering him.

You have to use your detective skills with bunnies since they have limited ways to communicate with us.

 

[Stinkerbunnies]

Thank you! I let him out today, and he didn't thump, but was running around so happily that he was bumping into walls. Thanks for the advice! You really do give the best.