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Can a rabbit (male) and a guinea pig (female) co-habit

ailz

Alpha Buck
I've just bought my first, rabbit and guinea pig together. I was told by 2 different shops that I couldn't put 2 guinea pigs together, but that a rabbit and guinea pig would be fine. Now someone has told me that the rabbit might kill the guinea pig as he gets older (they are 3 months old).

I'm here to ask which is the truth. I don't want them hurting one another, but I was buying the guinea pig and didn't want it to be alone. Now I've fallen madly for the rabbit (Toshiro). They have the run of the living room when we are in the house and are only shut up when we are out or in bed.

Am I doing them any harm :?:
 
Hiya! I'm no expert on guineas (there are a few on here though!) but I do know that it's not recommended to keep rabbits and guinea pigs together. There are a few reasons for this:-

Guineas require vitamin C in their diet and rabbits don't. Rabbits require additional vitamin D. It is possible to get round (feeding lots of veg, making sure they get lots of sunlight etc) but not ideal.

What you were told about injuries is correct - when your male rabbit matures, which won't be long now, he is likely to get a bit randy and try and hump your guinea pig. This will be extremely distressing for the piggie and could cause it serious damage. Sometimes rabbits will get actively aggressive towards piggies, sometimes they won't. But also they can accidentally harm them, for example if they are scared, they could easily catch a piggie with their big rear feet and do it a serious injury.

Finally, both rabbits and guineas are social creatures but they will not understand each other's "language". It is far better to keep them with their own kind, they will be much happier this way. As far as I know, it is fairly easy to keep female guinea pigs together in a pair (I'm sure someone who knows more about piggies will be able to advise you better).

Both the rabbit welfare association and the RSPCA advise against keeping rabbits and guinea pigs together for the above reasons! As to what you do now - ideally, get another girlie pig for your existing one (www.guineapigrehome.org.uk has details of rescue centres with existing guinea pigs needing homes - you may find that one of them has an ideal piggie and will help you with the introductions). Equally, your bunny would be very happy with another bunny, but he needs to be neutered first - he is nearly old enough for this to be done, and 6 weeks afterwards, once his hormones have dropped off, he will be safe to introduce to a girlie bun. Again, www.rabbitrehome.org.uk has details of lots of rabbit rescues and many of those will help you find a suitable partner and introduce them for you, as it is important to do it in a certain way, otherwise there could be serious fights!

Hope that helps a bit, let us know what you decide to do :D
 
hi

excellent advice (unlike what you got from the pet shops :roll: ) - please get your little girly piggy out of harms way ASAP - at her age she will probably bond fine with either another baby girl pig or an adult female :D

Another good reason not to keep them together is that guins tend to have a bowl of food 24hrs a day - Bunnies only need a bit of dry mix, if any, per day (mine eat it in 10mins flat) - they would steal the piggy food and get fat - very unhealthy for the bunny.
 
excellant advice .

some bunnies do get on with piggies ( for a while in a run if supervised ) but they should always be housed seperatly. your bun is still maturing and his personality may change . keep a very close eye on him if you leave them living together.
personaly i would split them now before any damage is done.

Angie
 
It sometimes works but its not recomended, having a boy rabbit its going to hump the g/pig and could damage it, its not worth the risk. And as already bin said the food is different and piggies like lots of veg much more than is good for the rabbit. val
 
Welcome to the forum, I would have to totally agree with all the information you have been given above.

Unfortunately a few of the less informed pet shops do give out this wrong information on a regular basis, by homing animals alone it saves the issue of correctly sexing rabbits and guinea pigs.

Janice
 
Oh, I hadn't thought of that Janice. These pet shops are naughty aren't they?
 
Thank you

Hi

Thank you all for your help. We will be separating them this week by buying a guinea pig home for Moulin. We'll have to see whether we can afford (I worry about the unexpected things like vet bills) to get another one straight away.

A guinea pig cage is more open than the rabbit hutch anyway so perhaps she will interact with us more - we will certainly be trying to handle both of them, once they settle in properly.

Cheers :D
 
hi

sounds like a great idea - so long as she gets plenty of attention and exercise she should be quite happy living indoors alone :D

I was advised yesterday by a 'rabbit expert' to put a guinea pig with my rabbits that didn't bond as planned (not anyone from this forum I hasten to add!!) She's putting a piggy with her rabbit today, as she's always done it :?
 
oh dear elve, its not good that 'experts' think that :( trouble with pet shops is thats what most people go by as they know no different.

excellent idea to seperate your bunny and piggie :D and cost wise, i would say one piggie is no different to two, i began with 2 and have rapidly multiplied to 5 :roll: :lol:
 
I've now separated my rabbit and my guinea pig. I've got another guinea pig - the pet shop offered her (I hope they are right) to us for free as she has lost an eye - she's a brown/black and white one whose fur goes in all directions, and is certainly more friendly than Moulin - the original. We've not named the new one yet.

We bought an extra large indoor rabbit cage and thought to move Toshiro over but the doorway becomes a ramp and as it isn't solid I was worried about him hurting himself, so we put the pigs in the new cage and Toshiro is happy going in and out of his old one.

Since we took Moulin out he has run round it and jumped and run in one door and out the other - he seems happy.

Thanks again for all your help

Ailz :D :D
 
hi

I thought the original gp was a girl? :? Hope the pet shop can sex them OK or you will have a few more cages to buy :shock:

Sexing gps is usually easier than rabbits - the girls have a Y shape on their 'bits' whereas the boys have a Y with an obvious round (usually - it is on my piggies) lump in the V bit of the Y - hope that makes sense? :oops:
 
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