Why do my rabbits clean themselves after being handled?

[Homework9293]

I often hold my two female rabbits and everytime I put them back to their cage, they hop in and clean themselves.
Is this normal behavior? Just curious.

The hopping in part I understand.

 

[samoth]

Same after I'm done petting my rabbits for an extended time.

I'm pretty sure they're cleaning all the filthy human germs off of them. (They can see that we never lick ourselves clean!)

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Well, a friend once described them as "self cleaning appliances'--even when you don't handle them, they spend a great deal of time "cleaning".

 

[Orrin]

Ours groom themselves just after we've brushed them.