Jumping rabbit
Christian M. Jenkins
dotan...@aol.com wrote:
: My pet bunny jumps in the air and snaps his neck from side to side
: What is this?
This is just another bunny expression of well-being. It means he's
happy and is being an energetic little bun. Don't worry.
(If, on the other hand, he just sits there and shakes his head
frequently, or continuously tilts his head to one side, you should
take him to a qualified rabbit veterinarian.)
: Also I heard it's not good to give rabbits lettuce is this true?
This statement is frequently heard but only *partly* correct. It is
not very healthful to feed bunnies ICEBERG and similar types of
lettuce (the common, round, pale type). Icebergs pale leaves are
mostly water and have little or no nutritional value.
You can feed many other kinds of lettuce, and the darker the better.
Romaine is good. So is "green leaf" lettuce, as well as red. In
fact, almost all greens are good food for rabbits including parsley,
spinach, carrot tops (as well as the carrots ;^) , and collard greens
to name a few.
It's worth mentioning that rabbit nutrition isn't nearly as simple as
everyone thinks it is. One might even compare it to keeping a
balanced diet in people (though bunnies don't need the four basic food
groups that we do). Volumes could be written on the subject of Bunny
Nutrition.
***
Bottom line: Feed your rabbit a variety of robust veggies (~1 cup per
5 pounds of bunny) every day, and plenty of Timothy (not alfalfa) hay.
(Sorry to go on for so long. :^) Hope this wasn't too hard to
follow.)
Good luck!
---Chris Jenkins, Minuet, and Feather
Chris Gamble
In article <19961205025...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
dotan...@aol.com says...
>
>My pet bunny jumps in the air and snaps his neck from side to side
>What is this?
This is the bunny dance! My bun does this too, as well as running around the
room,jumping straight up and doing 180 degree turns and giving a couple of
head shakes. It's quite amusing isn't it? Anyway-it is a sign of a happy
bunny.
As for lettuce, I think the reason that lettuce is not recommened is that it
has little nutritional value to it.
Things you shouldn't feed your bun include raw beans,raw corn,potato
peels,rhubarb,or any scraps that are too old to eat yourself. Bunny's system
is less able to tolerate spoiled food than you are-and mold is leathal.
My bunny's diet includes pellets,carrots,parsley,cilantro,apples(cored-the
seeds are poisonous),some kale and lots of hay.
Timothy L. Krahling, Sr.
Christian M. Jenkins wrote:
> And if you think a dwarf is something to see (which it IS), imagine a hefty 11
> pounder doing it!
Yea. Mass x Speed = Right of Way.
>> What about bananas -- raw, not dried?
> As long as you keep it down to "treat" level, that's fine...
> Just use your judgment (and try to be conservative).
We always keep a supply of fresh Timothy hay available to her. Whenever she eats
carrots or bananas she goes right to the hay afterwards. It's as if she knows she
has to add roughage. Sometimes she passes on the hay and goes right for the
cardboard or newspaper.
> What's your bunny's name, BTW?
Thumper -- She is actually my wife's rabbit. I resisted getting one for too long,
but now Thumper is a member of the family. After we raised two sons together, my
wife says this is the daughter she always wanted.
When I brought the rabbit home we didn't even know what sex she was. The vet
confirmed a 2 1/4 pound baby girl a few days later. My wife named her Thumper
because it seemed generic enough to fit either a boy or girl. So, naturally, I
thought we had decided on 'Thumper.'
My son and I set out to build a cage right away. We closed in one end of the cage
to make a darkened hutch (1'W x 2'D x 2'H). In the front of the hutch we cut an
arched door and I used a soldering iron to burn 'THUMPER' above it.
When my son carried the wood plank upstairs to show his mother, she was sitting at
the table with a list of names (including 'Thumper') on a pad of paper. "Which one
of these names do you like?" she asked. Pulling the board from behind his back, he
answered, "Thumper."
Boyana Norris
dotan...@aol.com wrote:
>
> My pet bunny jumps in the air and snaps his neck from side to side
> What is this?
My bun Peter does this and more. He lives with a guinea pig, and
seems to have adopted some of her behavioral habits. The funniest
thing they do is what my vet called "stampeding". They trot around,
then suddenly jump straight up (pretty high), and then shake
vigorously in mid-air. At first we were worried about this (thinking
it wasn't normal), but our vet assured us it was only a sign of
youthful exhuberance (sp?).
Another thing that only the bun does is jump high, and then
stretch his legs horizontaly to one side while he is at the
highest point. It looks very funny.
--
_ _ -- Change is inevitable,
/ ) ( \ except from a vending machine.
( ) ( ) (unknown)
|-----oooO---Oooo---------------------------------------------|
| Boyana Radenska Norris |
| rade...@uiuc.edu, http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~radenska/ |
| _ (217) 333-0155 |
|----oOOo-( )-oOOo--------------------------------------------|
( @ @ )
\ /
-/|\-
Timothy L. Krahling, Sr.
Christian M. Jenkins wrote:
>
> dotan...@aol.com wrote:
>
> : My pet bunny jumps in the air and snaps his neck from side to side
> : What is this?
>
> happy and is being an energetic little bun. Don't worry.
Let me put this out to the group. I'm curious to see if other rabbits do
this:
My 2.5 pound female will sometimes decide she has to be somewhere else RIGHT
NOW. I'm not exaggerating when I say she can literally become a brown blur
as she races from the bedroom to the living room and back again. Sometimes
she'll circle the coffee table before running back. With the turns she
makes, combined with her speed, she has has to be pulling 4-5 Gs. It's come
to be known around my house as, "Just Thumper blowing the carbon out."
She'll do this a few times, then (as quickly as she started) she'll flop down
and spread out where she stopped. It's as if she wore herself out. I almost
expect her to look up and say, "Man! I'm gotta fell that in the morning."
IT IS ONE OF THE FUNNIEST THINGS I'VE EVER SEEN. I'm convinced if she didn't
want to be caught, there would be nothing we could do about it.
> : Also I heard it's not good to give rabbits lettuce is this true?
>
> This statement is frequently heard but only *partly* correct. It is
> not very healthful to feed bunnies ICEBERG and similar types of
> lettuce (the common, round, pale type). Icebergs pale leaves are
> mostly water and have little or no nutritional value.
>
> You can feed many other kinds of lettuce, and the darker the better.
> Romaine is good. So is "green leaf" lettuce, as well as red. In
> fact, almost all greens are good food for rabbits including parsley,
> spinach, carrot tops (as well as the carrots ;^) , and collard greens
> to name a few.
>
What about bananas -- raw, not dried? I think Thumper would kill for a piece
of raw banana. I noticed the dried banana slices in the "bunny snack foods"
and tried giving her a raw slice. I've always given new foods to her in very
small quantities and one type at a time so I could watch her reaction, e.g.
change in stool, urine, etc. I have to admit I probably get as big a kick
from her 'chewing' the banana as she does. She looks and sounds like 'The
Dinner Guest From Hell.'
We've had Thumper for about 6-weeks now. Within the first week I had her
'kissing' me for carrots. I used thin slices of carrots (for repetition),
her curiosity and lots of patients. Laying on the floor, with my head up and
carrot slices in clenched hand, I make kissing sounds while repeating
"Kiss-Kiss." Her curiosity, getting the best of her, she would stand on her
hind legs to investigate the sounds coming from my mouth. When she did, I
turn my cheek, make a single kissing sound and open my hand. She took to it
like, well... like a rabbit to carrots. It wasn't long before she was going
right to my hand after 'kissing' me.
Now, all I need to do is get the on the floor -- sometimes before I can get
the first "Kiss-Kiss" out, she's there trying to reach my cheek. To the
casual observer, it looks like I'm getting kisses for carrots. Never fails
to get few "ahh"s.
Within in the first day or two, SHE PICKED where she wanted her litter box to
be -- both in the house and her cage. I learned that from the House Rabbit
Society web page. Except for a few pellets just outside her box, she doesn't
go anywhere else. I think, and maybe someone here can shed some light on
this, the pellets just outside the box is either markings or pellets that she
thought about eating then decided against it. Any thoughts on this?
Thanks,
Tim Krahling, Sr.
tkra...@erols.com
Lisa Masterman
In article <32A892...@cs.uiuc.edu>,
Boyana Norris <rade...@cs.uiuc.edu> wrote:
>dotan...@aol.com wrote:
>>
>> My pet bunny jumps in the air and snaps his neck from side to side
>> What is this?
>
>seems to have adopted some of her behavioral habits. The funniest
>thing they do is what my vet called "stampeding". They trot around,
>then suddenly jump straight up (pretty high), and then shake
>vigorously in mid-air. At first we were worried about this (thinking
>it wasn't normal), but our vet assured us it was only a sign of
>youthful exhuberance (sp?).
Dana Krempels of the Miami HRS calls this a 'binky,' which is just
the perfect word.
--lisa, mom of Ben the Binky King and Eve
--
// Lisa Masterman http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~masterma //
// mast...@cis.udel.edu Associate, SFLAaE/BS //
// "You want this done faster, you do it yourself. You know how bad //
// machines are with natural language." - from _Sleepy_, by Kate Orman //
Robert Benner
On 5 Dec 1996 02:51:00 GMT, dotan...@aol.com wrote:
>My pet bunny jumps in the air and snaps his neck from side to side
>What is this?
>Also I heard it's not good to give rabbits lettuce is this true?
Hi,
Both our bunnies do the jumping and flying thing, we call them
Binkies!
Pogo our 12 yr old holland lop has slowed down a bit.
He saunters across the room at a liesurely *ate hops about 2 inches
in the air and then looks at us like hey that was a big one ;-)
We clap and say ya hoo. If I can do that at his age I will be happy!
Jennifer Royce
"Timothy L. Krahling, Sr." <tkra...@erols.com> wrote:
>Christian M. Jenkins wrote:
>My 2.5 pound female will sometimes decide she has to be somewhere else RIGHT
>NOW. I'm not exaggerating when I say she can literally become a brown blur
>as she races from the bedroom to the living room and back again. Sometimes
>she'll circle the coffee table before running back. With the turns she
>makes, combined with her speed, she has has to be pulling 4-5 Gs. It's come
>to be known around my house as, "Just Thumper blowing the carbon out."
Ahh... the Bunny 500. Right in the comfort of your own living room.
(It's really funny with 2 rabbits... they run into each other.)
>What about bananas -- raw, not dried? I think Thumper would kill for a piece
>of raw banana. I noticed the dried banana slices in the "bunny snack foods"
>and tried giving her a raw slice.
Banana is a very good yummy treat (just a little of it). I have a
foster bunny right now that growls and squeeks at me, but all of a
sudden she's my closest pal if I have a banana.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jennifer Royce (and Bailey and Zoe and Cosmo)
twor...@spectra.net - http://www.spectra.net/~tworabit
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Alex T. Kagdis
dotan...@aol.com wrote:
>My pet bunny jumps in the air and snaps his neck from side to side
>What is this?
>Also I heard it's not good to give rabbits lettuce is this true?
This is "Bunnie Dancing". Your bunnie is expressing happiness. I also
think that they are showing off to those of us who are more gravity
challenged!!
About lettuce, no it's not good. Way too much water for so little
nutritional value (next to none).
Happy bunnie keeping!!
kim!