Rats and rabbits in the same room?

[Fen]

Hey there!

I currently have five rats and am pondering the idea of rabbits. The rats have a cage in my room, and i would most likely let the rabbits have full access to the room, possibly with a confined spot for them to go when i’m not home (which isn’t often, i’m usually home all day and when i got out it’s not for long). However, the room is also used for rattie playtime. I’d rather not let them interact if that would be safer. 

I’d like some ideas and opinions on how to keep them both safe, such as putting the rabbits somewhere else for an hour or so while my rats are out. Of course, i won’t be getting rabbits for quite a while yet so if this situation doesn’t seem ideal then rabbits will definitely wait a few more years. I know there’s already a thread on this but i’d like some more updated opinions as well, considering that thread is from 2008.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I had a rat for over a year in the same room as 2 bunnies. They weren’t free roam most of the time, however. The rat was never free-roam in there and was in a cage on a table so there was no chance of interacting. I would be worried about someone (not sure who, the bun or the rat) nipping someone. So, I guess I don’t really have much advice. Only to say I did keep the two in the same room successfully until my little ratty passed away.

I currently have a hamster who is a bit of a cage houdini and I found him once in the rabbit room and my free roam bunny didn’t seem to care less, so who knows?

[Meg]

I don’t know rats, but I have a bit of experience just from the times that my bunnies and I have, um…. had lots of house mice in our apartments, some of which I’d find in the bunnies’ area trying to eat their food. The bunnies didn’t seem to notice/care at all if there were mice near them, and the mice likewise seemed to know that the bunnies were not predators, and everyone just kind of kept to themselves. (Of course my buns have not been very territorial.) The main concern for me was that I didn’t want the mice getting germs on the bunnies’ food. Probably not a concern for your pet ratties, but maybe the food eating part might be?  

Another thought is that bunnies are crepuscular (more active around dawn and dusk, generally pretty chill during the day), so you could probably have rattie playtime while the buns are in chill mode.  I know some bunnies are more assertive/active than mine, but mine tend to hang out in their hidey houses for much of the middle of the day, and my guess is that if ratties were playing elsewhere in the room they wouldn’t bother coming out to investigate.

I guess I’m saying, I would guess it wouldn’t be a problem. But that’s just a guess.

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