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.

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.

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.

#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.

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.)

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.

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.

#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.

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.

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.

#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.

This rabbit has a big thrown-into Flop vibe.

#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.

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.

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

Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks

Em at Dust and Doghair

Iris at Iris’ Original Ramblings

Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style

Leslie at Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After

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.