Weird Head Movements

[Marula]

Hi there,

I just bought a 10 weeks old Jersey Woolie and discovered that quite often she slowly weaves her head from one side to the other for a few seconds while sitting still. She seems fine, eating, hopping and grooming herself.

I saw the same behaviour at her breeder's on an adult buck of the same breed. He's also white with very light blue eyes.

Is this something I need to be worried about?

 

[tamsin]

It sounds like scanning - looks like they are watching a slow tennis match. It's common in rabbits, and other animals, with red/blue eyes. It's thought to help them with depth perception as their eyesight isn't as good.

It doesn't cause any problems but you might like to be aware your rabbits vision in general may not be as good so avoid sudden movements around her head and don't sneak up on her

 

[Marula]

Oh, interesting! I'd read something like this regarding albinos but wasn't aware that the ones with blue eyes might do the same.
Thanks!

 

[MiniLopHop]

My girl with dark eyes does the same thing. Some times when I go to pet her she seems startled, like she didn't see me until my hand was right there. I try to talk to her and it helps some, but even with that she sometimes startles.

 

[tamsin]

Out of curiosity, are her eyes the normal brown or are they darker/reddish? Some of the pointed breeds (Siamese etc.) with dark red eyes seem to have the same issue.

 

[plasticbunny]

I'd say she doesn't see very well and weaving gives her a better idea of depth. All albino rats do this, too.

 

[Marula]

Thank you everyone!

 

[MiniLopHop]

Mine is a mini lop and her eyes look black unless you shine a light and they glow red. Coincidentally she was at the vet yesterday that commented on the scanning. She has a very slight head tilt that I never noticed until he pointed it out. He thinks that she may have had head trauma or some kind of infection before we got her since this has been a stable characteristic since December.