Thumping

Do boy rabbits generally thump more than girl rabbits, or have I just got a miserable so and so?

Dougal thumps at everything, if you don't feed him quick enough, if you try and get him to do something he doesn't want to do, if you come into the room without saying hello, if one of them accidentally shuts the pen door (that's been sussed though). I don't know if it's just because he is unsure and unsettled still, but I'm just a bit worried he is unhappy.

Is this normal?

And when you come in from the garden with more hay

Yep boys are notorious thumpers. Bruce isn't too bad, he tends to limit it to after being picked up or when genuinely worried. Rocky next door ocassionally has a good thump as well. However his predecessor could keep up a rhytmic thump for hours, mostly at night.

Thumper liked to thump! Hence her name

I don't think it has anything to do with gender but more about the individual rabbit and how they choose to express themselves.

Thumper often thumped with excitement (running around Thumping when there were impending treats), it wasn't all irritation and fear of spiders Could Dougal be Thumping in excitement at times?

He's not been with you long and is still settling in really. Maybe it will calm down when he's used to you all and his surroundings a bit more

It sounds like "i'm really peeved off with you" thumping, but it could be excitement I suppose. When I brought the hay in, Florence saw me coming up the garden and jumped in the house waiting, whereas Dougal waited until I got into the house then thumped. He'd already had a good thumping session when I was trying to get him into the house to hoover, so I don't know if he was still annoyed about that

It's so loud, he's got really powerful back legs. I hope he never kicks me!!

I hope you are on the ground floor are you?

Thumper once thumped on my stomach when she was young. I was lying down and she was standing on my stomach. Ouch It knocked the wind out of me

I learned a valuable lesson that day

Sheamus thumps a lot, never really at my bf always at me. Normally to say im a 'bit peeved at you' or to my bf 'stop picking me up dammit' accompanied with some foot flicks lol Its normally because hes not getting his way or has been told off for eating something he shouldn't ie the carpet. He used to get especially noisy and sometimes aggressive/growly around his food and wouldn't let us touch it .... he seems to have calmed a little after his neuter tho.

Yet Marshall my bun .... i dont think i have ever heard him thump. so i guess it like so many things depends on the bun.

Thumper2001 wrote:I hope you are on the ground floor are you?

Thumper once thumped on my stomach when she was young. I was lying down and she was standing on my stomach. Ouch It knocked the wind out of me

I learned a valuable lesson that day

OUCH!

He's downstairs yes, our bedroom is upstairs though and he's getting into a habit of when I turn out the lights, say goodnight etc, waiting until I get into bed then thumps. I can't ignore it incase it's something terrible so I get up and see whats up, he had me up three times last night!! Each time he was sat in the dog bed and both came running over to see me Maybe he's scared of the dark

I'm sure I did something to deserve being thumped on

Aww bless, sounds like he is still a bit unsettled. Hopefully he will settle down.

I always got up when Thumper did it too. I couldn't lie in bed and listen to her all upset about something. Usually it was just a spider that I'd have to chuck outside.

I swear she used to see the spook in our flat too! Funny things happened in that flat!!!!

He is probably just adjusting to his new surroundings. Bruce will still start thumping sometimes when the neighbours' dog is barking - it has been there for several months now, you would have thought he'd have got used to it.

cheryl'n'bruce'flo wrote:He is probably just adjusting to his new surroundings. Bruce will still start thumping sometimes when the neighbours' dog is barking - it has been there for several months now, you would have thought he'd have got used to it.

I'd be thumping too!! I like dogs but gawd, barking ones really **** me off!!

The funniest one was when hubby put him on the sofa. When he jumped back down he gave us the most evil look when he thumped at us!! I shouldn't have laughed at him, because it was obviously a big deal in Dougals eyes but it was hilarious!

Most of the time he's fine, he's getting braver with coming over and stuff, but when he gets upset about something, he tells us!

I dont think its gender specific....its bun specific.

Daisy thumps disapproval at me all the time......but Annabelle - OMG what a stroppy madam. The thumps and then strops off all the time.

Matt said when he walked past her run today she climbed up against the mesh and gave him a "ive never been fed look" when he carried on walking past she thumped at him! And then when he was on his way back she thumped at him again for good measure!

Katieb wrote:I dont think its gender specific....its bun specific.

Daisy thumps disapproval at me all the time......but Annabelle - OMG what a stroppy madam. The thumps and then strops off all the time.

Matt said when he walked past her run today she climbed up against the mesh and gave him a "ive never been fed look" when he carried on walking past she thumped at him! And then when he was on his way back she thumped at him again for good measure!

Sorry

Katieb wrote: Matt said when he walked past her run today she climbed up against the mesh and gave him a "ive never been fed look" when he carried on walking past she thumped at him! And then when he was on his way back she thumped at him again for good measure!

I love this Katie

Bruce thumps when he is confused (which is often, being a bunny of little brain) or scared. He's very rarely angry or disapproving, I don't think he's got the capacity to process such complex emotions

On the other hand, Princess Josephine is much more disapproving and demands things a lot more, but she's never thumped in her life!

Katieb wrote:I dont think its gender specific....its bun specific.

Daisy thumps disapproval at me all the time......but Annabelle - OMG what a stroppy madam. The thumps and then strops off all the time.

Matt said when he walked past her run today she climbed up against the mesh and gave him a "ive never been fed look" when he carried on walking past she thumped at him! And then when he was on his way back she thumped at him again for good measure!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a stroppy so and so.

Last night hubby lightly stamped his foot back at Dougal when he done one, it turned into some sort of thumping competition Although Dougal hasn't thumped since!! I didn't have to get up in the night purely to give him a stroke and tell him what a good boy he is

i think he's asserting his authority now his paws are firmly under the table you must be quicker and do as you are told by him

If you have a thumper thumping at them can be an effective way of stopping unwanted behaviour. If Bruce goes to chew something he shouldn't I thump and he stops and looks around. He tries again I thump. We go through this a few times and then he generally gives up trying as obviously something bad will happen if he chews that thing because someone is thumping. I have heard flo thump once, thumping at her has no effect whatsoever!

Ooooh that's interesting. I told hubby off for winding Dougal up when he done it but it might have been so bad then. He hasn't thumped at all today while I've been here, although I do have to give him a good brush shortly so I might get some lip for that!! He ran over to see me with Florence when I got hone from work which was lovely

I wouldn't do it too often for a little while whilst he is settling in but I am also known to return Bruce's belligerent thumps. He doesn't mind.

I got thumped after he went back after his brush!! That's not bad though, first all day. The daft thing was he was as good as gold when he was out and at one point snuggled up to me. So not sure what the thump was all about!

He was just making sure you knew he wasn't entirely happy about it

Thumping at them to stop them from doing something sounds like a good idea, 'no' doesn't seem to have much effect here lol.

Tigger, touch wood, hasn't thumped for about a month however she is a notorious thumper. Jeeves I've only ever heard once.

Had any grunting yet?? Recently Tigger will NOT stop grunting when it's tea time. She gets overly excited and fed up if I'm not fast enough/ start feeding Jeeves first.

Loll only thumps when he hears something outdoors that he's not happy about. He's quite the guard rabbit in that respect.

I never noticed the does thump unless they spotted a strange dog in the neighbourhood.

Starbuck was the same, he thumped a warning only at precieved danger. But Riley was just ... to put it plainly... a noisey s*d! He would tip his litter tray over, hop on it and stamp, stamp, stamp for hours. He would even stamp alternate feet... Left, right, left, right... . When he became a house rabbit he would hop up onto the third step of the stairs and stamp until I got up and lifted him down on the floor again... three steps up and he was stuck, too scared to go up or down!

Carla--Perhaps 'he' is the operative word here.
His bedtime thumps sound like a game toddlers
play when you are trying to get them to sleep
in their own bed. "MOMMY! There is a monster in
the closet! Daddy there is a alligator under the
bed!" Those words were from my youngest
grandson, Jay(he's almost 2) several nights
ago. To which his 5 yr old brother who was
almost asleep said "ALLIGATORS! Where! I
alligators!" Cute but not a successful nigh
time moment.