THUMPING????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi friends,

so my bunny peach is exactly 6 months old right now and in the past few days has begun to thump her feet a lot. she is not scared (will randomly thump when she's in her box eating, thump but never stop eating), I don't think she's angry because she'll do it when I'm not even in the pen with her, so is this just like a weird puberty thing? Is she trying to get my attention because she wants pellets?

Also today I'm not sure if she peed on the floor, stepped on it and it kind of flung at me, or if she intentionally sprayed pee at me. She is getting spayed march 25. I kind of assume it's a weird puberty thing bc shes not being aggressive toward me at all and when she gets scared she just kinda sprints away so I know it's not that. If she's angry for whatever reason I want to fix it but I genuinely don't know why she would be because the thumping isn't a reaction to me picking her up or cutting her nails or anything like that.

any advice appreciated. her spay honestly could not come soon enough she's been pretty insane the past 2 weeks

Thumping can mean 2 things a happy rabbit or a scared/mad rabbit. In this case, it seems like a happy thump. Biscuit thumps while I let him run around and does zoomies. You say she sort of flung the pee. It could be a foot flick (you can look on youtube for videos on it) it lets you know hey I'm mad/annoyed. It's like the rabbit middle finger. Sometimes you don't know why and it could be very well something you did in the past because rabbits can really hold a grudge.

Brie Prsnk said:

Thumping can mean 2 things a happy rabbit or a scared/mad rabbit. In this case, it seems like a happy thump. Biscuit thumps while I let him run around and does zoomies. You say she sort of flung the pee. It could be a foot flick (you can look on youtube for videos on it) it lets you know hey I'm mad/annoyed. It's like the rabbit middle finger. Sometimes you don't know why and it could be very well something you did in the past because rabbits can really hold a grudge.

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I'm not entirely sure what happened with the pee, i was literally standing up in her pen picking poops off the floor and i felt wet drops on my foot, and i looked down and there was a pee on the floor. low key kinda felt like she did it on purpose but idk.

When she's on the hard floor in my kitchen she tops has 2 pee accidents in 24 hours. but i moved her pen into my room today and covered the floor w pee pads and I kid you not she peed on the floor 3 times in an hour. she did them in different spots all over the pen so maybe was trying to mark her territory????

her peeing right now is literally out of control so hopefully her spay helps

is she litter trained... if not that's why, she doesn't know where to go so she just goes where ever she wants to. If she is litter trained make sure you are emptying in 1-2 a day, you seem like a responsible rabbit owner though so I don't think that's the problem! I think she is just making sure to mark her territory even though she doesn't need to because she is peeing outside her pen. Good luck though, I hope her peeing stops!

Sounds like puberty to me. Does get all kinds of cranky when they aren't pregnant and Springtime makes it that much worse. A few weeks after her surgery hopefully she'll be back to normal.

Thumping can mean "warning".

bunnylove2024 said:

is she litter trained... if not that's why, she doesn't know where to go so she just goes where ever she wants to. If she is litter trained make sure you are emptying in 1-2 a day, you seem like a responsible rabbit owner though so I don't think that's the problem! I think she is just making sure to mark her territory even though she doesn't need to because she is peeing outside her pen. Good luck though, I hope her peeing stops!

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ok so she is litter trained (still poops on floor but doesn't pee) when she's in my other room on a hardwood floor. when i bring her in my room where there's a carpet covered in pee pads she'll do some pees in her box but a ton all over the pee pads. I change her litterbox at least twice a day because she eats more hay when it's completely clean. I feel so bad bc i know she loves to run on the carpet but if i leave her on carpet for a few hours it ends up costing me $7 in pee pads which every day is simply not realistic.

I have a gigantic apartment that i live in alone and I would love nothing more than for her to be free roam--I don't even care about poops. But I just can't spend $7 on pee pads daily so she can run around my carpet. I feel like a horrible person I want her to be happy but her peeing is just too much right now--hopefully the spay next month helps

Cloverhouse said:

Sounds like puberty to me. Does get all kinds of cranky when they aren't pregnant and Springtime makes it that much worse. A few weeks after her surgery hopefully she'll be back to normal.

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Haha cloverhouse.....my buns don't need springtime to thump. I love your reasoning. We are coming into autumn and they still thump. Must be "thumpertude".

My female doe Cointreau free roams in the kitchen. She is basically litter trained apart from a few territorial pellets to mark the hallway doorway (and occasional wee.....grrr) where my buck Kahlua lives. I am trying to bond them together in neutral territory. It is a slow process. She is willing, but he is more assertive and a little aggressive. They are both desexed. She has certainly been a LOT EASIER to toilet train since she was desexed 7 months ago.
In her litter tray to try to save money, I use newspaper and cardboard. But this only works for me...
Because would you believe she sits using the toilet on 3 red bricks!!!! Go figure!!!!!
Photo later if I can find it.

I don't know how much experience you have with rabbits, but maybe a few things I've observed over the decades might help.

Pee pads usually have a scent attractant in them. Animals pee on them, and they are good for training, but if you keep using them they keep the cycle going. Either only use them IN the litter box or ditch them altogether. NEVER use pee pads where you DON'T want the animal to pee, because they encourage rather than discourage the behavior.

Rabbits like to pee on soft things, like beds and carpet. They are drawn to it. Until she's doing better I'd suggest you don't allow her on carpet. Keep her in a smaller area with her litter box.

Rabbits litter boxes are often their happy place. They LIKE it to smell like them. That's why they keep peeing there, they scent mark it as they are own and happily sit there munching hay etc. I've had rabbits that threw tantrums when I'd change their litter. If you are changing it twice a day basically you are undoing all her scent marking which may be driving her to mark other areas more than she normally would.

I would stop changing the litter so often (most rabbits aren't like cats, they are happy to use a used litter box) and actually leave a handful of dirty litter in her favorite corner of her box to encourage her to keep using it.

Spaying will probably help, but getting familiar with bunny psychology will help as well. Some buns (but not most) can never be broken of the habit of peein on rugs, but I think the above suggestions WILL help, especially if you ditch the pee pads because they are simply ingraining bad habits.

Your bunny will be ok with limited run of the house until she's fixed and has gotten back on track with her training. I never let my rabbits into my bedroom. They both live in rooms with hard flooring which gives up plenty of time together and plenty of room for them to move about. If she can't be broken of the carpet habit, it will still be fine if she lives in the room with the floor.

If she doesn't want her hay in a dirty litterbox, put her hay elsewhere. The best situation is one you can live with and afford.

I mean even when I change it twice a day if it's on the hardwood floor she will still use it. She literally only has accidents on the rug. I'm sure puberty is the main issue here so hopefully after her spay shell be able to come back to the carpet bc she does the cutest zoomies and binkies on it