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Rabbits and Guinea Pigs

janine

New Kit
Hi,

I am soon to have my two baby bunnys and was wondering if guiea pigs are ok to saty in the same run or hutch as a rabbit. I thought it was ok, as I saw them together in a pet shop, but my friend has been advised otherwise as the Guinea pigs apparently get too demanding which annoys the rabbit. Can someone shed some light on my question?
 
Guineas prefer the company of their own kind as they are very vocal animals, Plus rabbits when they reach their 'teenage' years and start becoming frisky will mount a guinea pig causing them quite alot of damage, and rabbits when they kick out in frusteration can really harm a piggie

My guineas are sometimes (very rarely thou) in the garden running about when the rabbits are out but since i have a big garden they are never near each other to pay any attention to other one.
 
I personnaly would not recomend keeping guinea pigs and rabbits together for even a short period of time. I look after the guinea pigs section of Animal Rescue and Care (although I do foster indoor and outdoor rabbits for Donna as well). This year we have had admitted 2 guinea pigs with broken limbs whom were previoulsy living with rabbits and we have been informed about a number of guinea pig deaths from injuries sustained whilst living with rabbits.

Some guinea pigs and rabbits do manage to live together quite happily, however many of the injuries occur when the rabbit becomes frightened and 'thumps' unfortuntely often the guinea pig may be under foot. Guinea pigs can bully rabbits by plucking out their fur, rabbits can also get bossy and push about guineas and also get frisky with them which can result in injuries.

Hope that this doesn't sound too hash ... I don't mean it to.
Janice
 
Where are you getting the bunnies from?

Just a note of caution make sure you trust the person sexing them as you may have gathered from some of the posts here, more often than not a mistake is made and you end up with babies (especially from a certain well known pet chain).

Have you checked out your local rescues as they may have babies available and would be a much safer bet at getting the sex you want and a pair that will live together happily, they may already be neutered and vaccinated if over 6 months old?

Also two female rabbits will live together well but both need to be spayed to prevent uterine cancer. Two males will live together if kept together from birth but will need to be neutered asap before they start to fight. A male and a female pair works best but the female will need to be spayed and preferably the male neutered too (especially before they get to the age they can mate).

HTH

Caz
 
Thanks for your advice, I'm actually getting my rabbits from a friend, and will be getting them "done", they are from the same family so I'm hoping that they will get on ok, as they do at the moment. The reason I ask is because I will be keeping the bunnys at my boyfriends house as I stay there most of the time, but his brothers girlfriend wanted to keep the Guinea pigs too and as I have a largish run, I was wondering if it would be ok for them to play together. But I really don't want to risk it.
 
I guess if you had separate time it would be ok. Most folks here have runs attached to the hutches so the buns can go in and out when they want. Are they outside buns?
 
Just really wanted to add that some pairings do work.

We have a male rabbit & male guinea pig housed together. We adopted them from someone we knew as a bonded pair and these two are absolutely fine. The rabbit often grooms the guinea pig and yes the guinea pig is very vocal, he often has me in stitches with his constant moaning, which the rabbit puts up with!

The rabbit was about a year old and the guinea pig about 4 years old when we got them. The rabbit often sits in his run, whereas the guinea pig is less adventurous and will stay indoors and have a good moan whenever anyone walks by.

I wouldn't recommend a pairing, but just wanted to add that it is possible.


Cristian
 
Just to add to what Cristian said, we too have two bunnies and two piggies living together, and have done for about three years. The piggies snuggle up to the bunnies to keep warm! They do have a very large run though and both the bunnies and piggies have separate places to go if they want some peace and quiet. Again, not recommended, but can work sometimes.
 
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