Rabbit's like to rest up all day, so they are ready to play when you come home! How many of us have watched our bunnies zooming around at 10 PM, as we are ready to settle in and drift off? Well, wild rabbits move around mostly at night, and although our domestic house rabbits are different in a lot of ways, they do still tend to follow ancient sleep patterns. Rabbits do get their 8 or so hours, but usually while we are at work.
If you are new to rabbits, their sleeping habits might not only be a little disturbing at night, but the flops can be alarming! A rabbit can flop suddenly over on it's side, then be very still, looking for all the world like your bun has just fallen over from a heart attack. Not the case...once you catch your breath and calm down a bit, you will see that your rabbit is still breathing and you may see some little jerky movements as your friend "dreams". Refresh your "bunny-speak" here.
Sometimes, your rabbit's eyes will be partially or fully open during sleep.
So how can you tell when your rabbit is sleeping? The nose stops wiggling. Yup, they eyes can be open, there can be all kinds of mouth and foot movement, but if that nose isn't wiggling, you can guess your friend is asleep.
Rabbits wake up fast! This makes sense, since they are much preyed upon in the wild. They don't sleep deeply, and any disturbance will have them up and ready to run. So giving your rabbit a nice quiet safe place for sleeping is a big favor.
Sweet dreams to all the rabbits out there!
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