📅 Sunday, 15 March 2026 · No. 4

The Flop Diary: My Evening Rest Photos

💤 Behavior Diaries · ✎ 4 min · by Azmi in Meknes

Flop Diary Evening Rest Photos — same angle, same light my log photo

Azmi's note My personal log from Meknes, not vet advice. Just what I did and saw tonight.

Evenings are flop time at my home. When my rabbit flops on the side, I snap a photo and note time and spot. This is my flop diary, pure fun and rest notes. I do not interpret health from flops. This is only a rest album plus time and place notes. If rest patterns change suddenly with appetite loss, I contact a vet and pause the diary.

Where they flop in my room

Favorite spots: the cool tile by the door, the rug edge, and under the chair. I note each flop with time, place, and one line like after play or after tidy. Over two weeks, most flops happen between 19:00 and 21:00 on the tile. The tile spot is 40 by 60 cm of bare cool floor I keep clear, no mat there on purpose because flops cluster there on warm days. The rug edge is the second spot: soft edge where the rug meets tile, perfect for half-flops with chin on rug. Under the chair is the quiet spot: dim, enclosed on two sides, chosen on noisy evenings when the street is loud. Each spot has a different flop style and I have photos to show it.

I love comparing the tiny flop versus the full side flop. Tiny flop is chin down, paws tucked, eyes half closed, 5 to 10 minutes. Full side flop is dramatic: thump-free drop to side, legs out, sometimes a soft sigh, 15 to 40 minutes. In my two-week count, tiny flops were daytime and full flops were evening only. I keep one example photo of each taped inside my notebook so I label consistently. Without reference photos I mixed them up in week one.

evening flop on rug edge — Evening flop on the rug edge. Soft lamp light, no flash.

My flop log, four weeks

Date	Time	Spot	Context
Mon	19:20	Tile	After zoomies
Tue	20:05	Rug edge	After tidy
Wed	19:45	Under chair	Quiet evening
Thu	20:30	Tile	Warm day

Week 1: 5 flops, 4 on tile 19:00 to 21:00, 1 under chair. Week 2: 6 flops, tile still leads, first rug-edge full flop after a long play session, photo 214. Week 3: warm spell, 7 flops all tile, longest 38 minutes on Thu 20:10 after curtains closed. Week 4: cooler, mix returns, 3 tile, 2 rug edge, 2 under chair during a loud street wedding. Total month: 22 flops, 14 tile, 5 rug edge, 3 under chair. Peak window stays 19:00 to 21:00. Morning flops: zero. My rabbit never flops before noon, mornings are alert, evenings are melt.

How I photograph without disturbing

The camera stays in the same room so I do not disturb. I keep the flash off and use soft lamp light. My method: phone on silent, brightness low, sit on floor two meters away, one photo, no approach. If ears lift, I stop, no second shot. Lamp is a warm 2700K side lamp, never overhead white. I crop later instead of zooming closer. Each photo gets the same caption style so my album stays organized: date-time-spot-context, like 2026-09-18-1920-tile-after-play. That filename is my log, I can sort the folder and the pattern appears without opening the notebook.

Light notes for Meknes evenings: summer sunset is late, so 19:30 still has daylight mixing with lamp, photos look blue-yellow mixed. I keep white balance auto and I do not edit color, so comparisons stay honest. Winter 19:30 is fully lamp, warmer tone. I note season in the caption so future me does not think the rabbit color changed. It is only light.

Why I keep this diary

My friends laugh at the flop photos and ask if the rabbit is okay. For me, the diary shows normal rest patterns. I do not interpret, I just collect. After a month you will have a sweet album and a clear picture of favorite rest places. That helps me arrange mats and keep those spots clean. Example: tile flops meant I now mop that 60 cm square daily with water only and I keep it mat-free. Rug-edge flops meant I vacuum that edge twice a week and I moved the rug 10 cm from the wall so the edge lies flat, fewer snagged nails. Under-chair flops meant I dusted under the chair and covered one sharp foot with a sock. The diary directly shaped three tiny home moves, each with a before and after photo.

If you start a flop diary, keep it short: photo, time, spot. Pair it with a play note, my sunset zoomies diary pairs nicely with this rest log, play then flop, every evening. On days with zoomies 18:30, flop follows 19:20 on tile. On quiet days with no zoomies, flop comes later 20:30 on rug. I do not claim play causes flops, I only see the order repeats. That order is the joy of the diary: zoom, flop, sleep, repeat.

Flop photos are mine, shot silent and flashless from across the room. Rest notes only, no health claims. Sudden behavior change plus appetite change means vet first, photos later.