Sleeping with your rabbit? Has anyone done it?

[yramnot]

The night before last, it got VERY cold in my apartment. In the absence of an available cat to buddy up with, I took both of my rabbits and put them up in my loft bed. At first I was a little afraid that they would jump off, but they didn't. They seemed acutely aware of the height, and never attempted to jump. That night was, unfortunately, the longest night of my life.

Jack and Peter settled in fairly quickly, and all seemed well with the world... for a while. They huddled up together in the crook of my leg and immediately went to sleep, grinding their little teeth contentedly while I played some quiet music. After dozing for ten minutes, both rabbits awoke and proceeded to cause all sorts of trouble for another ten minutes before settling back down to sleep again. The cycle repeated endlessly throughout the night. I was repeatedly awakened by rabbits rummaging through the garbage on my dresser, licking my face, climbing all over me, and just generally making a nuisance of themselves. The experience truly solidified in my mind the notion that rabbits do not share the sleeping habits of humans, dogs, or cats, not to mention it deprived me of some much needed REM sleep. The only good thing about the experience was that they didn't soil my bed.

I spoke to a couple of people after the fact regarding sleeping with a rabbit, and they cautioned against it due to the possibility of rolling over and squishing them. I don't know about you guys, but that does not concern me personally. When I have something in bed with me, I develop a very strong awareness of its presence. I have slept with sick gerbils to provide body heat, and never once have I rolled over on one.

So, I was wondering of anyone else has ever attempted this feat, and what your opinions are? Based upon my own personal experience, I can't imagine why anyone would want to. If anybody has stories, feel free to share. :biggrin:

 

[Flash Gordon]

i havent slept with my buns but thinkin about it now they sleep like that anyways ..they sleep for a little bit ..wake up,poop,eat,go back to sleep...repeat.too funny that mustve been a tough night..,i am such a light sleeper ,,im also very aware of anything unusual in my bed..which will make me not sleep well to begin with...but to add something that wiggles and wont be still wud drive me nutzo....i guess u wont be having another bunny slumper party anytime soon ..,huh?.

 

[yramnot]

Oh, certainly not. I think the only time I would consider it again is when they get old. I would imagine that, like cats, rabbits slow down as they age and sleep for longer periods of time. In which case, rabbit slumber parties might become more tolerable.

 

[maxysmummy]

i want to sleep with my babes but i don't think i can. sometimes when i have a lazy day i bring one of them in bed with me to hang out all day... once (before max turned into an aloof teenager) we spooned. he was a good spooner too. just too small to properly cuddle. hence why i want a flemish giant >.<

 

[jujub793]

my bunnies are NOT cuddlers :nope:

 

[tristaw.]

My bunny used to try to sleep with us but he was a trouble maker tugging at my hair and running over our backs lol. That's when I put him in a cage type thing at night I loved the idea but the reality was we weren't sleeping, we were awake a million times at night.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

From all comments, does not appear to be a good idea if you really want to sleep.

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

The most active time of the day for rabbits is during the evening and early morning, so they don't make good bed pets. Plus, most beds are too high for a rabbit to safely jump on and off of. So unlike a cat or dog, the rabbit couldn't safely "dismount" to use the litterbox or get water, etc.

 

[Yield]

Sometimes when I cuddle with my buns on the bed, I fall asleep briefly, but as soon as I stop petting them they get up and walk around, waking me up XD

Except for Silas- when the power had gone out, I brought him on my bed to cuddle cause it was FREEZING in the house. I fell asleep for a bit with him (he's too big for me to roll over on top of him anyways =P) and its was all fine and dandy until he started using my arm to dig at.. lol

 

[fuzz16]

RIP Mimzy, but she was a french lop who slept in bed wit me at the foot of the bed with the cat. after she hit her 6 month mark though she no longer did

my flemish giant buck sleeps every now and then at the foot of my bed and he would always sleep most of the night with me...bf doesnt let him in bed anymore though cause hes jealous

 

[Byfuzzerabbit]

My rabbit gets to sleep with me when I have a sleep over with my friends and we decide to start the fireplace. For the most part she just leaves us alone but if she demands a nose scratching she will start licking out face and such. It's a cycle of sleep, binky, eat/bathroom, and scratch my nose now!

I don't trust her on my bed because she has peed on it twice already.

 

[slavetoabunny]

Rabbits and sleep do not mix! When we were in temporary housing in Florida we had to have our rabbits in the same bedroom as us. We tried to let them free roam, but they did Bunny 500's over the bed all night!

 

[Acacia-Berry]

I used to think in my old house that my bunnies needed an overnight stay in my bedroom. So one night I took in Akina and she peed in my bed but was otherwise quite the cuddler

 

[elrohwen]

I know someone who does and it works very well for her (except for a few torn sheets!) Personally, I can't even sleep when the buns are in the same room - I just can't sleep through their racket. Having them in bed with me would be a disaster! Haha

 

[Dragonrain]

I've taken naps with them. When Berry was sick, I slept with her next to me quite a few times. But on a normal bases, no...they'd just keep me up all night.

 

[donaldsl]

Nesta is a great sleeper... when she sleeps. She like to run around the room while I attempt to sleep. One morning, soon after she came to live with me, she decided to jump out of her cage (before I knew she could clear it) and curled up in bed with me. ON TOP OF MY HEAD. I then moved and she scratched my eye... grrrr. But other than that she is fairly good about the bed thing!:angel:

 

[MikeScone]

I used to leave Scone MacBunny out all night. He didn't sleep on the bed very much - I think he was more comfortable on his blankie next to the bed on the harder floor - but he would jump up on the bed for petting before I turned the lights out, and he'd wake me up every morning with kisses. On rare instances I'd wake up at night and find him sleeping next to me, but it wasn't very common (I think - I'm a heavy sleeper, so for all I know he was there every night...). When I first let him out at night he would try to wake me up at first light ("crepuscular" means "active at dawn", after all), but he very quickly caught on that Dad didn't like to be awakened until alarm time.

I tried leaving Natasha out one night, but she promptly peed on the bed, so that put an end to that.

 

[goneforbaroque]

They seem to go through cycles of resting and running around like mad things. Even having a cage in my room is disruptive to my sleep

 

[jfinner1]

I've slept with my bunny before, but the set-up was a bit different. At the time, my spare bed didn't have a frame, so it was just the box spring and mattress on the floor. Easy for Xenos to jump on and off. His cage was in the spare bedroom, so I cuddled up with him on the spare bed and let his cage open in case he got hungry or needed to use the potty in the middle of the night. It was "his room", so everything was already bunny-proofed. I slept soundly through the night, and when I woke up, he was laying on my pillow next to my head. I could tell he'd gotten up throughout the night, some of his stuffed toys were moved around, but he hadn't done anything to wake me up. This was actually a fairly regular occurrence in my old house, which now that you mention it, I kinda miss... But I think my BF would get a little grumpy if I picked the bunny for a bedmate instead of him, lol.

 

[GorbyJobRabbits]

Besides peeing and pooping in my bed...... rabbits don't sleep for long, they're up more at night, and I just don't feel they safely belong in a bed. They've def not been there.