A mystery solved?

arachyd · #1 03/28/10, 09:21 PM

This morning Dust Bunny was busy making bones and piling up every bit of hay in the hutch to make a nest. A little later she had her back to me but was making the unmistakeable head-bobbing motions of a rabbit pulling fur. Usually this results in a huge white cloud of fluffy hair all over the hutch. She kept doing it, even stretching her legs out one at a time to pluck under them. I enjoyed watching her from behind for about 10 minutes but still no cloud of hair. Puzzled, I walked to the other side of the hutch so I could see what she could possibly be doing since it appeared I was wrong about the hair pulling. I was shocked to see her busily attempting to pull hair with a mouthful of hay. She was oblivious to the fact that she was accomplishing nothing - just kept hitting her belly and chest with the hay bone she held in her mouth. I reached in and took it out of her mouth and she continued the activity but this time she made some real progress. This might explain those times when a doe makes a lovely nest but does not seem to have pulled any hair to cover the kits.

trinityoaks · #2 03/28/10, 09:50 PM

How funny!

Backfourty,MI. · #3 03/29/10, 05:22 AM

That is pretty funny, You'd think they'd know what they were doing wouldn't you.
Crazy rabbits!

MaggieJ · #4 03/29/10, 08:40 AM

Silly girl! Shows just how much of the behaviour is instinctive - and hormone driven! Not much thought going on at such times, it seems.

Backfourty,MI. · #5 03/29/10, 01:34 PM

When I went out to take care of all the critters this a.m. I had 1 doe pulling fur, had a mouthfull of it & fur all over the front of the hutch. She couldn't figure out how to eat the treat I brought her & her favorite alfafa hay. She kept going from one to the other with the fur still in her mouth.
Like Maggie said it must be the hormones!