# What is up w/ the tossing of the food dish when done eating??



## juliew19673 (Jun 24, 2008)

Curious about this behavior.. Is it a male thing? He does this ALL the time.. I know you can buy dishes that are directly connected to his pen so that he doesn't make a "mess" (not really that bad to clean up so I let him) but why?

Randy if your around, I'd be curious to know if wild buns throw things around like this for some dominant behavior or are they saying they now want to be groomed or want out of the pen?

Funny buns...


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## Bo B Bunny (Jun 24, 2008)

Now, think like a bunny! 

Done with food..... food in bowl like confetti if you toss it....... 

PARTY! Oh yeah, cool toy! Let's do this again sometime! 

Plus, Mama looks at me and I get attention when she's cleaning it up..... I think she likes when I Do this!


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## juliew19673 (Jun 24, 2008)

*:roflmao:Bo B Bunny wrote: *


> Now, think like a bunny!
> 
> Done with food..... food in bowl like confetti if you toss it.......
> 
> ...



LOL! I think you hit it on the head! In thinking about it he does get attention as I'm asking "why?".. I constantly over think him (he IS so much smarter in my mind).. 

I must laugh at myself now.. :wink


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## cheryl (Jun 24, 2008)

Gosh i have three main bunnies..Zak...Marley and Chocolate Bunny who just love tipping the plate over while the other bunnies are still eating their pellets....i just don't know why they do that....but yes they do it all the time as well....naughty little bunnies.

Cheryl


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## Bo B Bunny (Jun 24, 2008)

cheryl, think like a bunny..... who I believe are intelligent little pranksters! That's why they binky when they get caught doing something! LOL! 

flipping the plate = pie in the face....... great comedy!


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## cheryl (Jun 24, 2008)

*Bo B Bunny wrote: *


> cheryl, think like a bunny..... who I believe are intelligent little pranksters! That's why they binky when they get caught doing something! LOL!
> 
> flipping the plate = pie in the face....... great comedy!


Haha yeah..i believe that to be very true....cheeky little things they are lol...even when they are naughty little buggers.


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## Bo B Bunny (Jun 24, 2008)

He might also be saying... "OK, you're done, it's time to play with me again!" or "Ok, you're done.... I'm saving that for later!"


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## slavetoabunny (Jun 24, 2008)

You're lucky, mine like to toss their bowls around before they are done eating. I have the food and water in lock-crocks now so they can't toss those, but Sparky really enjoys a "tossed salad" in the morning. My foster, Harley, is funny. He always drags his food bowl to the exact center of his pen.


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## Luvmyzoocrew (Jun 24, 2008)

funny my guinea pig, who is a male, flips his pellet bowl, and my male rabbit digs in his while there is food in there. My rabbit use to dump it until i got a heavy ceramic dish but he still pusshes is and pulls it all over the cage,lol.


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## Bo B Bunny (Jun 24, 2008)

Well, you ALL are lucky because I have a horse (Kota) who will back up to his feed bucket and take a big poop when it's empty. We had to change him to a floor pan to stop it! My FIL was ready to kill him! LOL!


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## juliew19673 (Jun 25, 2008)

I have to agree with you all - feeding dish = attention, and THEY all learn very quickly that you pay attention to this ONE thing.. 

What they HELL do they do in the wild to get attention from each other? This is what I'm curious about.. 

Funny critters, buns, guinnea pigs, horses, etc are.. Never had a cat do this - seems to bespecific to animals that are "penned". 

Thats kind of sad when you think about it.. :X


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## gentle giants (Jun 26, 2008)

*slavetoabunny wrote: *


> My foster, Harley, is funny. He always drags his food bowl to the exact center of his pen.



ROFL! Max has to rearrange his fod dish before he can eat, too. He doesn't put it in the center of his pen, but wherever I put it is "not right" LOL. So he will take a bite, drag it over here, take another bite, drag it over there, and keep that up until it's in the right spot, wherever that is.

Julie-the reaon cats don't do stuff like that is because it's beneath them to act up for attention! LOL


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## ThatsMySimi (Jun 26, 2008)

Ash does this too, but he's not usualy done eating. He eats some, then spills it... I just ignore it now... He eats it up off the floor... I always just figured he liked "searching" for the room around the floor of him cage... *silly babbits!*


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## juliew19673 (Jun 28, 2008)

*ThatsMySimi wrote: *


> Ash does this too, but he's not usualy done eating. He eats some, then spills it... I just ignore it now... He eats it up off the floor... I always just figured he liked "searching" for the room around the floor of him cage... *silly babbits!*



YES! I thought Baxter! did it as he was trying to tell me "I'm done slave - take this away", but then Bo B Bunny suggested it was for attention, which also makes sense "I'm fed now play with me".. I tried a little experiment and just started to pour his pellets on the floor and he now drags his food bowl over to tell me first thing in the morning "I'm hungry!".. LOL!!! He is like a naughty child that has been figured out.. So after he dragged his food bowel over this AM to be fed I put the pellets into it - he ate some and then DUMPED IT OVER!!! Just to show I guess he is still in control... 

Silly guy he is..


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## mouse_chalk (Jun 28, 2008)

Lol! This thread made me laugh! 

I can tell you that it's not just a male thing though. Chalk and Mouse have their 'dinner' on the shelf, and recently Chalk has taken to throwing her food bowl off the shelf, at around 5pm everyday, so she can then snooze in that spot for a while.

The food bowl almost always flips and lands upside down, thereby trapping the remainder of it's contents inside. Now, Big White Scary Bunny Snowy, will go into their cage trying to steal food, and not be able to get it! It's like a little bunny security system LOL!


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## jcl_24 (Jun 28, 2008)

It sounds like a bunny way to communicate that "this bowl is empty now, that's no use to me!" :brat:

Jo xx


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## Fancy355 (Jun 29, 2008)

*gentle giants wrote: *


> *slavetoabunny wrote: *
> 
> 
> > My foster, Harley, is funny. He always drags his food bowl to the exact center of his pen.
> ...



LOL Miss Lily does the same thing with her food bowl. No matter where I put it, she slides it all over the place until she's done eating. When she is done eatingthe empty bowl becomes a play toy that she tosses all around her cage.When that doesn'tget our attention she starts beating on her water bottle. Drivesmy husband nuts because her cage is right beside the couch where he lays down to watch tv. Needless to say, he ends up letting her out to run around and we can hear the TV.

Smart little BunBun


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## EileenH (Jun 29, 2008)

How much fun would it be, if after you finished you dinner, you could fling your plate instead of washing it?

Tossing is fun!


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## golfdiva (Jul 6, 2008)

Hate to throw a monkey wrench in the engine (wait, no i don't hate it, I love doing that! lol!), Hershey throws his bowl too but:

he's not penned, he has a whole room to himself, not even a pen in sight!

he doesn't get attention, cause I'm rarely around when he does it!

I just figured after he's eaten the top part of the pellets, its get more difficult to get to the pellets so he throws the bowl and the pellets fly, then it's easier to get at them. Seems like if I keep the bowl pretty full, (and velcroed to the bottom) he does less throwing!


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## pinksalamander (Jul 6, 2008)

William always did this. I think they just enjoy tossing it. You know how a little kid will never play with their own toys but will find a toy in everything else?

Fran  :hearts :brownbunny


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## juliew19673 (Jul 10, 2008)

I have since come to realize since starting this thread that at least, with Baxter! he uses his food dish for:

1. Eating food out of

2. It's a play thing.

3. He can throw it against the bars of his pen and get attention.



So its not "one" behaviour, it is a "tool" that he can use to garner whatever attention he "so" desires.. Buns might not have a "voice" perse, but they can be VERY noisey when the situation calls for it (in their mind)..


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## golfdiva (Jul 17, 2008)

> o its not "one" behaviour, it is a "tool" that he can use to garner whatever attention he "so" desires


Interesting, as using a tool used to be the definition of "human"! lol!


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## juliew19673 (Jul 19, 2008)

*golfdiva wrote: *


> > o its not "one" behaviour, it is a "tool" that he can use to garner whatever attention he "so" desires
> 
> 
> Interesting, as using a tool used to be the definition of "human"! lol!



Seriously Baxter! is the LOUDEST of allanimals I've had (cats, birds, dogs) and he has NO voice really - he can't bark/hiss/chirp.. 

He is to smart for his own good and I amso enjoing -watching him progress in his life to the fact of "telling" me what he needs/wants.. 

He actually has a much "clearer" voice, than the cats/dogs/birds I have rescued.. Go figure?!


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## PixieStixxxx (Jul 21, 2008)

*Bo B Bunny wrote: *


> cheryl, think like a bunny..... who I believe are *intelligent little pranksters*! That's why they binky when they get caught doing something! LOL!
> 
> flipping the plate = pie in the face....... great comedy!



While I was lying on my stomach in bed, Smudge thought it'd be funny to jump on my back.. crawl onto my bottom, and...pee!

Then he binkied, jumped off the bed, and ran!


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## juliew19673 (Jul 22, 2008)

*PixieStixxxx wrote: *


> While I was lying on my stomach in bed, Smudge thought it'd be funny to jump on my back.. crawl onto my bottom, and...pee!
> 
> Then he binkied, jumped off the bed, and ran!



Another great "Thread" would be "Why do Bun's Get So Excited" when they do Something wrong that is SO cute"... LMAO! 

Its the Binkying after the bad behavior that always makes you not want to "Scold" them! Curious how the rest of you (do not) handle this?


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## BunnyMummy (Jul 24, 2008)

I havent posted for a while but this forum topic made me giggle especially as we had something similar a few days ago.

My husband was standing in the doorway watching the buns in thier upstairs home, giggling his head off. When i asked him what was up he explained to me that pebbles and Bam bam obviously had a difference of opinion as to where the food bowl should go ( they share the food bowl which is a ceramic dish) 

Bambam wanted it toward the centre of the cage, yet Pebbles wanted it to stay where it was near the water and litter. It was then that a battle ensued of dragging the bowl out to the centre only to be pushed back into place by Pebbles. 

Idon't know who won (more than likely Bambam) but it was a funny thing to see the disagreement.


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## Richard0600 (Jul 26, 2008)

(god is it just me or does this reply box..take forever to load..)

Anyways... When i first got Dumbo and Latte we had a Plastic food dish for
them...which worked out great when they were babies...but the second they 
got bigger they enjoyed tossing the food bowl around...whether its 
throwing a fit.. 
organising their pen... 
or doing it for fun..
(which i highly doubt cause most of the time it looks like they are mad at
the bowl lol..) 

Anyways we got them a big heavy ceramic bowl now.. now all they do is dig out ALL
the food...I believe they dig it all out to get to the pellets that they like..and discard
the rest on the bedding for later when there are no pellets left..

I swear rabbits are fiesty and picky little creatures..


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