Inter-species bonding

[Eepster]

 We have been vaguely considering getting a companion for Porky.  My son thinks Porky would like having a friend during while my son is at school.  My son has also been asking for a guinie pig or chinchila.

I’m a little torn about the idea.  On the one hand, every thing is great right now, so why risk rocking the boat.  On the other hand, I’m a sucker for more animals.

Would it be easier to bond Porky to a guinie pig or chinchila than to another rabbit?  Would I need to get Porky neutered?  Could they really share living quarters sucessfully?

[Sarita]

Definitely would not work with a chinchilla and I don’t recommend a guinea pig either. I help at a guinea pig rescue and they do not recommend this – rabbits can unintentionally kick a guinea pig and their diets are slightly different.

Also rabbits carry bortadella that they can transmit to piggies.

Lastly with guinea pigs, they have bedding all over their cage and cannot be litter trained so it would be a hot mess to clean up and rabbits don’t need bedding all over their cage only their litter box.

I’m no chinchilla expert but they also have chinchillas and chin’s need a tall cage with lots of levels but they aren’t the same type of levels that you would put in a rabbit cage – more like a treehouse type housing.

Better off with another rabbit.

[Elrohwen]

Yep, definitely better off with another rabbit! I visited a rescue that had some piggie/rabbit pairs, but from what I’ve read I don’t think I would want one if for no other reason than having litter everywhere. My pair share a 4’x8′ pen and having to clean litter out of that whole thing would be a nightmare!

Definitely no to chins. They have very different personalities and needs and can be difficult pets to raise. They’re more spunky than pigs and could easily get into a fight with a rabbit.

[Beka27]

I’ve heard bun/pig pairing compared to sharing an apartment with someone who speak a language entirely different from yours. You could probably co-habitate well enough using non-verbal forms of communication, but it’s not the same as having someone there who actually speaks your language. Even tho they are both small and eat similar foods, doesn’t mean they should be housed together.

With that said, I know some people have done it in the past, and some shelters do it to maximize space. But it’s certainly not ideal. And another thing to keep in mind, not all rabbits may accept a piggie friend. There is still the possibility of fights.

Now, another option would be to get a piggie and keep it separate. I’ve also known people who have allowed their bun and pig to share some veggies and play together a little bit, but each had their own “species-appropriate” habitat.

[LBJ10]

Rabbits can also pass stuff to chinchillas that is harmful to the chinchillas. You’re not suppose to house rabbits and chins together. I loved my chinchillas (had them before the rabbits), but they were very difficult to care for. People think rabbits are “fragile”, but sometimes I think chinchillas are worse. Plus they can have some serious attitude! My girl was a little B! LOL

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Chins also need dust bathes that rabbits (and most other small animals) can’t be around due to inhalation issues. And frankly, bunnies are just better pets IME. Buuuut, there is a really cute youtube video of a bunny grooming a chin, and then he asks the chin to groom him back and the chin just sits there like, uh, no.

[bunnyfriend]

One time my sister’s very elderly guinea pig met my rabbit that passed away, the poor little piggie tried to snuggle up to him and made cute noises, but the bunny hopped right over him…and the guinea pig kept following, very sad ): Totoro went up to the pig’s cage and gave him bunny kisses through the bars though haha (:

[Lintini]

Just chiming in on what everyone else has been saying. I’ve raised guinea pigs and chinchillas and I would not keep them together, especially not chinchillas. I would also never recommend a chinchilla to a household with children. They simply do not care to be handled, they are delicate, and I never had great luck potty training any of mine. Also I had a female who loved to spray me and bite. Chin was a brat. With the dust baths and all the jumping around…there was poop all over the place.

When I was little and my parents didn’t know any better, we kept rabbits with guinea pigs…and we always wondered why we “didn’t have good luck” with rabbits. They seemed to always pass away early in age. They were being fed guinea pig pellets and pigger pellets are not good for them. Looking back at that now makes me so sad that things could have been different and I wouldn’t have had to go through that pain as a child losing my pets.

You will be way better off getting him neutered and getting a rabbit companion, not a different species of pet.

[LBJ10]

Lintini – Mine were “litter trained”. Having a litter trained chinchilla does not mean the same thing as having a litter trained rabbit. Chinchillas can be taught to pee in a litter box. I don’t think anyone has trained them to poop in a litter box, but I could be wrong. Anyway, I think it is something that is passed down from parents to babies. They learn through example. Both of mine were great at peeing in their litter box. But yes, they did poop practically everywhere. It’s a good their their poops are small, like mouse poop. You can easily vacuum them up. You’re right, they hate to be handled. My boy would sit on my shoulder while I sat on the couch though, no problem. He was pretty passive though by chinchilla standards.

[Lintini]

Well that is lucky for you then. Mine loved sitting on my head. I couldn’t imagine keeping them with a rabbit though.

[LBJ10]

I agree, it wouldn’t be a good idea to house them with rabbits. Actually, it is recommended that if they live in the same house, they live in separate rooms. I guess it is a really worry that a rabbit could pass something to a chinchilla. The way they communicate is different too, so I can see how they could easily end up hurting each other.

[TriBun]

This is a little off-topic and maybe controversial, but I just have to say I don’t think chinchillas should be kept as pets at all. They don’t like people. They can get USED to people, yes, but they are simply wild animals and happier in the wild. I always feel bad when I see chinchillas in the pet store, or hedgehogs for that matter. They don’t belong in a cage in someone’s room.

[LBJ10]

Chinchillas are certainly exotic, but they have been “domesticated” for awhile now. They have their own personalities and quirks, just as bunnies do. They are different though too. I like to think that my chinchillas liked me. They really, really liked my dog. It was sort of weird, but they couldn’t get enough of her.

[Lintini]

That’s funny. I was looking at videos on youtube after seeing this thread and I can see now why people can get an idea to house them with other types of animals.

[Monkeybun]

Posted By TriBun on 10/11/2011 03:56 PM
This is a little off-topic and maybe controversial, but I just have to say I don’t think chinchillas should be kept as pets at all. They don’t like people. They can get USED to people, yes, but they are simply wild animals and happier in the wild. I always feel bad when I see chinchillas in the pet store, or hedgehogs for that matter. They don’t belong in a cage in someone’s room.

 

Alot of people say that about rabbits.

[Stickerbunny]

I don’t see how Chins are much different than rabbits, to be honest. They don’t like being handled, but neither do most rabbits, Stickers goes days without letting me even so much as touch her. They are harder to litter train, but then, my rabbits haven’t used their litter box for 21 days reliably. I know someone who has a white chin who is her baby, he is in a cage next to her computer and is friendly enough.

All animals honestly are happier in the wild – take ANY wild animal out of the wild and put it into a cage and it will be miserable. Breed one in captivity though and they don’t know any different, nor would they survive in the wild if released. Though, as with everything, I prefer if people adopt the homeless chins and such rather than pet store buying.

[Sarita]

They also need a big old wheel in their cage to make them happy…might piss bunny off!

[LBJ10]

LOL Sarita, yes they love their wheels! My girl was too big for even the biggest one at the store, she kept breaking them. So we got them a Flying Saucer and they LOVED it!

[Lintini]

Oh lord I almost forgot about the darn wheels running ALL NIGHT LONG.

[LBJ10]

Oh gosh, it sounded like there was a train in their room!

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