Why do rabbits tremble? 6 common causes

How well do you know your rabbit? Do you speak his language, can you interpret his various behaviors correctly?

It is not always easy to draw the right conclusions, especially with these cute little hobbles!

It is in their nature as prey animals to hide pain and the like as far as possible in order not to be recognized by their predators as weak and defenseless. Thus, you must always keep an eye on your animal roommates and watch them closely so that you can immediately help the animal in question if something is wrong.

If you notice that one of your rabbits is trembling, this can have many reasons. Both uncomplicated and serious ones.

In this post, we’ll help you figure out the cause of your rabbit’s shaking and show you the most common reasons. We’ll also give you tips on how to handle it properly.

1: Fear and stress – main factors for trembling.

Rabbits are adventurous and curious, but in many situations their innate instinct to flee takes over. If they don’t have a hutch or other escape route available, they literally freeze in their panic and surrender to their fate, trembling.

Even being picked up and “forced to cuddle”, which is especially popular with children, usually means pure stress for the sensitive long ears, which they acknowledge with trembling.

Noise, such as loud music, slamming doors or thunderstorms, frightens the little munchkins enormously.

Also not to be underestimated is the stress for a newly acquired animal. It is afraid of the unknown, new environment and often shows a fearful trembling as a reaction.

2: Hiccups – harmless, but rather rare

Hiccups don’t happen often in rabbits because, as grazers, they usually don’t gorge excessively or eat too quickly. Nevertheless, it can happen that your munchkin swallows for whatever reason.

This is accompanied by small seizures that look like tremors and are disconcerting to many keepers.

Pay attention to the duration of the hiccups, as long as they disappear within 20 minutes, you don’t have to worry.

Here are some important tips for hiccups in rabbits.

3: Pain as a cause

As you know, rabbits are excellent at hiding their pain so as not to stand out as potential prey.

By shivering, the suffering animal tries to compensate for the pain.

Gastrointestinal upset can occur, for example, due to improper diet, and is very excruciating as the accumulated gases cause spasms.

Try to localize the source of pain by careful palpation, sometimes your sporty Hoppler has sprained his paw or bruised it during a romp.

4: Pure sunshine? – No, thanks!

Many rabbit owners think they’re doing their animals a favor by allowing them to run free in the garden during summer temperatures or by placing the cage in a sunny spot.

But the cool fur-bearers don’t like the heat at all.

On the contrary!

In any case, rabbits prefer the colder times of the year. Since they can’t sweat, direct sunlight can even put them at risk of fatal heat stroke.

Your long-eared rabbit irritatingly shows its discomfort in excessive heat by trembling, which is usually a sign of strong cold sensation. If you don’t know this, you can fatally harm the health of your fluffy hopper by exposing it to even greater heat out of ignorance, mistakenly thinking that your shivering pet is freezing.

5: Mites – The uninvited guests

If your rabbit is infested with mites, it will become noticeable through severe itching, among other things. Your plagued munchkin wants to get rid of the annoying vermin and becomes more and more desperate and stressed, because he does not succeed.

This can also lead to trembling, because the animal is completely overwhelmed with this situation and its nerves are completely shattered.

If it is about ear mites, one of the three different types of mites, explicitly the ears tremble, because especially these are affected. The other two types are fur mites and burrowing mites.

If you discover whitish dust in your rabbit’s fur or even on the cage floor, you can be relatively sure that a mite species has taken up residence.

6: Poisoning

Your rabbit is not an omnivore (attention: no meat!), his stomach is mainly adjusted to green food, hay, fruit, vegetables and salad.

But even from this it must not eat everything!

In the specialist literature and various rabbit forums you will find lists of foods that are poisonous for your animal darling. If the mishap has happened, watch out for the following symptoms:

• trembling
• lying on the side
• diarrhea Fever

Even green plants, which beautify your home as a pretty eye-catcher, can be harmful to your long ears. Especially exotic plants are incompatible for rabbits, often even poisonous.
The best tips on how to eliminate or prevent tremors in your rabbit.

There are many causes for trembling, so the implementation of a healthy and species-appropriate attitude of your animal should be in the first place as a generally applicable basic rule.

In this way, many triggers of this disease sign can be eliminated.

In addition, the following advice should help you to help an affected Hoppler immediately and to stop the trembling.

Pay attention to the diet of your pelt-nose, it should consist mainly of hay and green food. While fresh fruits and vegetables are important sources of vitamins, overfeeding them will cause painful gastrointestinal problems due to excessive sugar or starch content. Be sure to avoid a location in bright sun or drafts. A rabbit can quickly fall victim to heat stroke. Avoid all stressors, make their daily routine calm but not boring. Spend a lot of time with your munchkins, especially newcomers need time to get used to them.

Give them the time, talk to them calmly and quietly and don’t make jerky and quick movements right in front of their nose. Most rabbits do not like to be picked up. This should never be done under duress, if at all, it should be done in a professional manner and as briefly as possible. Putting them on their backs is an even worse and exceedingly traumatic experience for any rabbit and should be avoided at all costs. Hygiene also plays an important role, of course. If you always keep the run area clean and clean the cage daily, there is a good chance that your rabbit will not be infested with pests such as mites and the like.

Many causes of trembling you can largely stop yourself by prudent behavior or avoid them in the first place, but if the condition of your rabbit worsens, it even lies on its side and has cramps, then do not hesitate and consult a veterinarian immediately.

Especially the digestive system of the little fur bearer is sensitive and reacts to the slightest disturbance. If left untreated, the problem will quickly spread to other organs and cause them blatant damage.

You as a rabbit owner are mainly responsible for the little munchkins and their well-being and it should be self-evident to provide the long ears with a species-appropriate and as natural as possible life.

It is important to familiarize yourself with rabbit language so that you can “read” your animals. Dedicate yourself in detail to their needs and preferences and thus increase their health and quality of life.