Banging in the night

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RoxyBunny

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Joined
Feb 7, 2008
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Location
South Wales, , United Kingdom
Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum asI have only just got my cute bunny Roxy on Saturday. I rescued her from a lady who was moving house and did not want her. She has not been out of the cage for the last 2 months so is very timid and does not like being held. I have had her in the house for an hour each night so far so that she can get used to me and my partner butI think it will take some time.

However, the last few nights we have been woken up in the middle of the night by a banging sound from her hutch. Although we have been out to see what she is doing, she always stops when we get close. It can be quite a regular banging, and then she will stop and just when you think she has stopped for good she will start again! I have no idea if she is banging herself against the hutch or if she is banging her bowl.

She also does not appear to be drinking much. The lady did not take good care of her old bottle as it was all green inside(!) but I don't think she is drinking from her new one.I have put a bowl of water out todayto see if she prefers this.

We took her to the vets who said she was in good general health.

I'm sorry for the long post butI have not had a rabbit before, so I am not sure what is 'normal' behaviour and I wanted some advice from those in the know.

Thanks for your help.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum!

I have two lop bunnies, Benji and Pippin, and I have the same problem as you.

My Pippin sleeps as sound as a bug in a rug, but my Benji makes a lot of noise. He plays with his toys in the middle of the night (throwing his ball around etc.) and he also thumps in the night.

Thumping is probably what you are hearing; regular loud taps/bangs, whichare warning sounds that can mean "I'm angry!" or " I'm scared".I can hear them from my bedroom- the other side of the house.

He used to thump every other night for about two or three weeks, and then he just stopped- now occasionally he thumps (maybe once a month), and when he does I get up (doesn't matter what time it is) and go outside- check there are no foxes around (once there was! Nose to nose with him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, and he wa sjust sitting there and thumping) and then I sit with him for a while and stroke him.

Of course, I am not suggesting this is what you have to do whenever your bunny thumps, but it works for Benji; after I go down and see him he usually stops thumping.

I spoke to my vet about it (I work at a vets so I can just ask lol) and he said it might just be Benji seeing cats or shadows moving etc. which spook him.

I was thinking of getting a cover for his hutch (so he wouldn't be able to see anything to spook him!) but he has basically stopped doing it now, so there is no point.

As for the drinking, I used to think I had that problem; when I first got Benji (he was my first rabbit, who i adopted cos he was abandoned) I thought he wasn't drinking, so I gave him a water bowl too. Then it didn't look like he was drinking from that either, so I switched back to the bottle.

I then kept a careful eye on his drinking habits- and after watching for a few days I noticed he was drinking, and the vet says hes fine, so I guess that amount of water is fine for him.

This is what I always do just to make sure- very occasionally the little ball bearing they lick in the nozzle gets a little stuck (it seems that way) so every time I'm with them I just touch the end of the nozzle and make sure it isn't. It usually isn't but very very occasionally it is, and then i just get it working again.

Hope this helps.

Jen

(and Ben and Pip)
 
It must be thumping, as jcotton102 said. Since she stops banging her feet on the floor when she hears you approaching, she could also be trying to get attention. When my bun (rarely) thumps, I go pet him, tell him with reassuring voice that everything is okay and he doesn't need to be afraid of anything and I give him a couple of pellets just to divert his attention to something that pleases him. Most of the times this is enough to make him stop thumping.

In case this is not thumping but, as you guess, it could be that she's banging her bowl or other cage accessories around, she may be playing (remember that buns are most active during dust and dawn hours) or she may be afraid of something she heard and banging around trying to hide. If she's scared, you'll see her breathing faster, may be bulging her eyes and her heart beats fast also. I believe that she also needs time to adjust to her new environment, get used to your presence and relax. Your love and care will make her see that her home is a safe and loving place and, in time, she won't be so nervous.

Marietta
 
She could be playing or thumping or just hopping!

Bostarts throwing stuffsometimes if I sleep too late and I miss breakfast. :foreheadsmack:We had a mouse at one time that was coming in at night and eating the hay around Bo's cage..... after several nights of Bo THUMPING LOUDLY..... I saw the mouse LOL! Picture it:

"MOM!!! OMG MOMMMMMMMYYYY!!!" thump thumpthumpTTHUMPUMP "It's eating my food!!! it's here it's a thing it's going to get us!!!" Thump THUMPTHUMP!!!!!! :privateeyes

Clover thinks that she will one day chew through her cage while we sleep and hops around back and forth if she runs out of hay in the night (GOD FORBID!!!)

Tony hops..... plays...... chews..... throws...... thumps........
 
Basil did that at night for about the first three weeks I had him. I covered part of his cage with a towel to make him feel a bit safer and turned a radio on softly hoping to distract him. He is an inside bunny andhe seemed to be better when I had the TV or radio on. Once he stopped thumping at night I was able to stop leaving the TV/radio on at night. It took him a while to adjust to his new home.
 
Thank you all for your advice! I feel much happier to know that Roxy is not behaving strangely or hurting herself.

I expect that being in a new hutch with new surrondings must be a little scary for her. It also explains that she stops banging when she hears us coming- she does not like being picked up at the moment, but she seems quite contant with our company when we have her in the house.

I may try putting something over the front of the hutch for a bit, would love to be able to wait for her to stop being frightened , butI am not sure how many more 3am wake-up callsI can take!

Thank you!:biggrin2:
 
Clover loves to have me whisper to her. She hates being held, picked up, touched.... but I could talk to her all day and she'd sit there and listen intently.
 
If she's inside and it's quiet, and she's used to being outside.... she might be nervous about not having noise!

Maybe leave a radio station play in her room very quietly at night.
 
When we first brought our Fiver home, he would do this...thumping all night long, and he would stop if he saw me awake, and then start again the second I fell asleep again.

Fiver was rescued from the outdoors, wandering down streets, dodging cars, scared out of his mind. It was evident that he'd been outdoors for some time, and when he came home, he was in "survival mode" for quite some time. He was so so timid, and scared, and just freaked out in general.

There are a few things that helped with this. For one, I put a radio next to his cage with some soothing music, and turned it on at night, when he seemed the most scared. For two, I noticed that he was TERRIFIED when it was quite in here (in other words, when the TV was off), so I started to just have the TV on all the time, even when home (we leave it on when we leave the house), and it seemed to calm him down.

Another thing that helped was creating a space in his NIC cage where he felt like he could hide and be safe. He had a little space underneath his first level (up from the bottom floor), and we put a panel (zip tied) as a wall, to close in the space a bit more. Here's a couple pictures, to show you what I mean:

100_2359.jpg


And here it is from the inside the space:

100_2360.jpg


Maybe if you could provide your bun with some white noise or radio, and a good hidey spot, he would feel more comfy! :)

Hope that helps! :)
 
I have a radio on 24x7 for all mine...I really think it helps their stress levels stay down..cuz when we are at shows, mine are generally flopped out in their carriers half asleep if not completely gone...while alot of times you see some that you can tell are scared out of their mind....

Good thought on the lack of noise possibly...makes sense.
 
Welcome to the forum! :wave:

Is Roxy an outside bunny? Sorry, couldn't quite work it out from your posts|!

If she's outside, and used to being inside, it might be that either it's too cold, or just too scary for her, maybe there are animals outside that scare her, or she's just lonely! If she is an outside bunny, maybe you could try bringing her in for a few nights to see if that's the problem, and if it gets any better?

I don't know if you could try looking out the window before you go out to her, that way you might be able to 'catch' any 'intruder' and see if that's why... you might alsowant to make sure that her hutch is secure enough that no other animals can get in easily, to make sure she's safe!

Of course, it could still be that she's playing. attention seeking etc! :D
 
Hi,

Yes she is an outside bunny, but that is what she is used to. I was going to have the originalhutch so that she would feel more at home in that, but it had not been claened in months :grumpy:I would never have put her back in it. (As it was, it did not fit in the car either so I had to buy a new one anyway!)

I have looked out the window when she is banging but I haven't seen anything. I am wondering if it shadows from the big tree next to our house that is frighening her.

I would love to bring her in as she seems so content stretched out on our rug with us in the evenings, but I don't want her to think that this will be a permanent thing as we cannot keep her asa house-bunny.

She is so inquisative in the mornings when I change her water etc but the second you try to stroke her she runs and hides. I will just have to learn to be patient and give her time. She seems to be taking to my other half more than me though:?

Thnaks for making me feel so welcome, and thanks for all your replies.:biggrin2:
 
OH!!! I thought she was in the house at night doing this.

LOL! She's probably playing or trying to let you know she wants to come inside LOL!
 
Rosie, what a cute-cute-cute muzzle inquisitively protruding from the hay pile!!! How absolutely lovely!!!!Fiver made my day!

Marietta
 
God that picture is adorable!!!! What a cutsie pie.

Someone spoke of maybe mice being in her hutch earlier.
I have a wheelie bin right by the hutches so I can buy bales of hay cos I run out sooo quickly. I open it and bundle hay into their bedrooms and in their hay racks.
I went out about 6 o clock the other evening (dark becuase its winter) and opened the wheelie bin and a little something was sitting in the middle of the hay.
Then it jumped out at me and ran away, and it was a mouse!!!!

So I have put a brick on the lid so that nothing can squeeze in there, becuase the hay essentially is their food, and I don't really want other animals in there!!!!!

Yeah I wouldn't worry too much about Roxy- as everyone said she might just need to get used to the smells, sounds and sights of her new home. It might take days, or it might take weeks.
If its every night and she seems really frightened maybe you need to think about covering her hutch or trying to see whether cats come regularly into your garden at night etc.

Good luck!!

Jen
 
I agree with everyone else, she's probably just playing or thumping her foot...or rearanging her cage, etc.

Either that, or she's having a war with the other animals (if you have any, or it's just imagination) and she's shooting them with a gun! YIKES! :ph34r2

Emily
 
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