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Writer's picturesallyinstpaul

Where Bloggers Live: Sleeping Rabbit Poses

Welcome back to the monthly edition of Where Bloggers Live! I am lucky to have joined a terrific group of bloggers who give a peek into the places and spaces where they spend their time.

Where Bloggers Live

Today's topic is...My Sleep Routine. But let's be honest here, my sleep routine is nothing special with no special hacks or insights for you to learn from. I have one pro tip: Go to bed early enough that you can get enough sleep every night! That's it.


So now we can move on to something more interesting: the many incredibly cute positions rabbits use for sleeping. It's actually not always obvious to human observers whether a rabbit is asleep or not because they often sleep with their eyes at least partially open! This allows them to continue monitoring their environment for threats even while sleeping. They can keep their eyes open for long periods because they have a transparent third eyelid that protects and moistens the eyes. (Cats have third eyelids too, so you may be familiar with the concept, but I think that cat ones are just a bit different from those of rabbits.)


Rabbits are "crepuscular," which means most active at dawn and dusk, and will sleep about 8 hours total in a day, on average, divided into multiple sleep/nap sessions, especially at midday and during the night. Some of these naps might last only a few minutes while others are longer. Domestic rabbits in safe environments tend to sleep in longer naps and for more hours of the day, up to 10-12 hours total, than wild rabbits. But both wild and domestic rabbits can go from fully asleep to awake and running away extremely quickly.


Let's review some of the popular bunny sleep positions as demonstrated by the rabbits of the Minnesota State Fair.


#1: The Sphinx


This rounded upright pose with back legs tucked under and one or two front paws sticking out slightly in front is a very common position for rabbits awake or asleep. This Netherland dwarf is "resting his eyes" (as my dad would say) but is probably not fully asleep because his ears are sticking up in an alert position.

Sleeping rabbit

This rabbit is in a modified Sphinx pose with his back leg sticking out at a bit of an angle. With his long ears gently relaxed against his back and his eyes mostly closed, he's definitely resting, possibly sleeping.

Sleeping rabbit

#2: The Loaf


This is the upright pose that puts the "bun" in bunny since all four legs are tucked under the body, giving the appearance of a loaf of bread. These synchronized loafers are in differing states of alertness: the rabbit in the back has the ears and head somewhat raised (more alert) while the rabbit in the front has both the ears and head in a much more relaxed position. But either or both of these rabbits could be asleep.

Sleeping rabbit

This lop rabbit is demonstrating a variation on the loaf theme, the Pillowed Loaf, in which she uses her dewlap as a convenient place to rest her chin while resting or sleeping. (The dewlap is a secondary sexual characteristic of mature female rabbits that provides a place from which she can easily pluck fur to line her nest and keep her babies warm.)

Sleeping rabbit

In very sleepy states, the Loaf position can turn into the Melting Loaf as the rabbit's relaxed body starts to flatten out like a ball of cookie dough in a hot oven.

Sleeping rabbit

At its most extreme, the Melting Loaf can start to look like a Melted Loaf or Rabbit Rug with the bunny's chin fully flat on the ground.

Sleeping rabbit

#3: The Sprawl


In addition to the Loaf>Melt sequence, a rabbit may also follow up a Loaf with a Sprawl as their body starts relaxing sideways rather than straight down. This Californian rabbit has sprawled with their body twisted slightly against the side of the cage and a back foot pulled out to hold the position.

Sleeping rabbit

When multiple rabbits share a sleeping space, they may sprawl against each other, using their partners' bodies to keep them propped in strange sleeping positions. In this trio, the rightmost rabbit is still mostly upright in the front (resting his chin against a partner's legs) with only his back half twisted to the side; the leftmost rabbit has twisted his entire body; and the middle rabbit has twisted even farther to the side, using his partner as a pillow.

Sleeping rabbit

This sleeping rex rabbit is showing a hybrid of the Melted Loaf and Sprawl positions in which the front of the rabbit has melted down to the ground on the chin but the back of the rabbit is fully stretched out.

Sleeping rabbit

#4: The Flop


While the end position of the Flop can look similar to the Sprawl, the process of achieving it is quite different! The Sprawl occurs as the rabbit's body relaxes out of a Loaf (or Sphinx) position, but the Flop happens much more quickly and energetically. In a small Flop, the rabbit will quickly roll his body sideways so that he is lying on his side with his legs out. In a big Flop, the rabbit will throw himself into the air while twisting, landing on his side with his legs out. The Flop process can be very dramatic to see! Sometimes a rabbit will execute a Flop but be unsatisfied with their final position so they'll do an even bigger Flop. (Here is a video with many Flops demonstrated.) The Flop is a sign of a relaxed, safe-feeling rabbit and often indicates that a bunny is settling down for a good nap.


This rabbit has a small rolled-into Flop vibe.

Sleeping rabbit

This rabbit has a big thrown-into Flop vibe.

Sleeping rabbit

#5: Dead Rabbit Pose


Beyond the Flop lies the scariest-looking bunny sleep position of them all, the Dead Rabbit Pose. The rabbit is lying completely rolled over on his side, his legs are sprawled but almost stiff looking, and his head is entirely flat to the ground. The rabbit is completely still with no signs of life, let alone alertness, whatsoever. The first time I saw a rabbit sleeping in this position, my heart leapt into my throat. Needless to say, this rabbit is out like a light.

Sleeping rabbit

This trio of rabbits is helpfully demonstrating three positions all in one photo. We have a Loaf/Sphinx in the middle, a Sprawl at the left, and a Dead Rabbit Pose at the right.

Sleeping rabbit

Thanks for joining me in this review of rabbit sleep positions...in lieu of a boring description of my own sleep practices...though if you're interested, I'm a side sleeper whose life was pretty much changed by using a wedge pillow - highly recommended! I really should have mentioned the wedge pillow as part of how I fight allergies at home.


Next month's topic is The Best Gifts I've Ever Given or Received...and there are a lot of candidates for that title!


In the meantime, visit these lovely bloggers as they share their sleep routines:


Bettye at Fashion Schlub


Do your own sleep positions or those of any human or non-human animal members of your family resemble any of these rabbit poses? What term would you use to describe your own favored sleep position? (I'm definitely a Pillow Hugger. My husband has a sleep pose that I call The Mummy.)


Blogs I link up with are listed here.

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26 Comments


funsizedmrsw
Nov 26

Who knew that rabbits had so many differen sleep positions! A lot of them do remind me of how my cat and dog sleep, I wonder how they get themselves into some of the positions that don't look comfy. I used to be a side sleeper but as I've gotten older I prefer to sleep on my back.

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sallyinstpaul
sallyinstpaul
2 days ago
Replying to

I think you're right that there's a lot of overlap with cat and dog positions. It's interesting how our sleep preferences can change over time. My mom also prefers to sleep on her back...in her case it's because her hips get sore sleeping on her side. I actually have that happen to me sometimes too.

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Joanne
Joanne
Nov 20

I think the Pillow Loaf might be my favorite but they're all so cute!

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sallyinstpaul
sallyinstpaul
2 days ago
Replying to

Haha, pillow loaf is a good pick!

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Nick V.
Nick V.
Nov 17

Lovely shots! Thanks for taking part in the "My Sunday Best" meme.

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sallyinstpaul
sallyinstpaul
Nov 20
Replying to

Thanks so much, Nick!

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expatg
expatg
Nov 15

How adorable are all those sleeping rabbits! My dad would also say he was resting his eyes. Thanks for adding this cute post to the link-up, and have a great weekend.

Gail from Is This Mutton

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sallyinstpaul
sallyinstpaul
Nov 20
Replying to

I love how "resting his eyes" is like a classic dad statement, haha.

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Irene Kleppan
Irene Kleppan
Nov 14

How cute! The one with the four rabbits we call "The Spoon".

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sallyinstpaul
sallyinstpaul
Nov 20
Replying to

Oh "The Spoon"--I love that!

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