Sleeping like a rabbit

  You know how people say they slept "like a baby" to mean that they slept well?  My babies have never slept well, they toss and turn all night and wake at least once a night, calling for me.  I would much rather sleep like a rabbit.  When they first got here, they were pretty skittish and didn't sleep all the way.  They would lay down and relax, but not fully close their eyes...waiting for a predator or 6 year old to gobble them up at any moment.  Now that they have been here a while, they seem fairly sure that my kids won't eat them and that we do not also raise large birds of prey nor pumas.  So now they sleep, like really sleep.  They flop over on a side, very dramatically and with a loud thump.  They close their eyes, all the way and they sleep.  They sleep like they are dead...on a few of the hottest days, I have actually checked them to make sure they were just sleeping and had no succumbed to heat stroke before my very eyes.  They sleep so well in fact, they don't even bother to right themselves to "let go", if you will.

Sorry for the graphic nature of this picture, but in the spirit of full disclosure, I thought you should know.  Because they are so...fuzzy and because they like to lay with one leg slightly back and one slightly forward, they naturally have a little depression near their bum.  While sleeping, they poop and it just sits in this little depression which is quite annoying if you are the one who must groom the rabbit in question.  This fresh little poop, sits in this depression and "dries" to the fur.  Yuck.  So when I see this, I "accidentally" bump the cage so Poopy Butt wakes up and gets up, hopefully while the poop is still able to fall freely to the tray below.  Otherwise I have to pull the bunny out and clip the poop from the fur.  So if you ever decide to raise rabbits, this is just one of the interesting things you get to look for!  You're welcome.