Rabbits and Guinea Pigs

[blossom]

We have a 10mth old rabbit who has just been neutered. He presently lives alone.

Living in a hutch next door to him we have 5 guinea pig sows aged between 1 and 3. Now, I know there are mixed opinions on whether rabbits and guineas should live together, and I'm not intending to house them together at all, but I wondered if anyone has any experience of rabbits and guineas sharing a run together occasionally, just for the sake of a bit of companionship for the bunny.

Would he still try to get it on with my lady guineas?

We used to have a female rabbit and female guinea who lived very harmoniously from babies, but this situation is a bit different.

My ideal would be to get a neutered rescue lady bun from the RSPCA but we have all the above and a hamster and hubby is saying "stop, no more furries".:cry:

Any comments or info really appreciated, thanks :hug:

 

[Joannesnails]

:lol: This does make me chuckle lol..I used to have a rabit called Roger he was alone with no other animals.Erm i think if i was you i wouldnt let them near eachother as they may have some friction xx

 

[Sassy Hassy]

well I bought a bunny and two piggies at the same time, all in their male glory, as the shop said they needed company. Well we had to seperate them in the end as the piggies lost the hair on their head where the rabbit latched on ... and I won´t say what ended up on the rabbit´s head, but it took some explaining to two young daughters!!!!! :green::green::green:

We´ve also had a female rabbit before that and tried to introduce a male one, but the girly was having none of it ... mind you she was pretty ferral anyway and would attack anyone who came near her.

I just love piggies though, their squeaking is just soooooooo cute! You could just try them together and be prepared to interveen in case there are fisiticuffs!

 

[pinkmummy]

Be careful if you put little piggies in with a rabit. Make sure you have a big piece of drainpipe or something similar for the little piggie to hide in if necessary. I learnt the hard way as my rabbit kicked our first little piggie to death about 8 years ago.:cry: They'd been fine for months but the vet said they're not really suited to living with each other.
Hope this helps with your decision.

 

[blossom]

thank you for your replies, goodness pink mummy what an awful thing to happen! We do have lots of pipes/tubes/igloos for piggies to hide in BUT even so I'm going to have to do some careful thinking. The bun is fairly placid and doesn't go mad . . . but I couldn't bear a piggy to get hurt, they are SO adorable.

 

[Exquisite Touch]

my pig lives with my bunny she makes a right racket squeeking and making herself heard they are so funny together.

pig stands on the bunnys head to get her point accross ha ha

 

[Lellipop]

Me and Judy both have rabbits they are fab love em

 

[1999judy]

Yep my rabbit is lovely..a great friend who brings me much happiness

 

[Lellipop]

Yep my rabbit is lovely..a great friend who brings me much happiness

Sounds like mine looks nothing more than a good stroke

 

[loualarta]

I had a rabbit and a guinea pig when I was younger and they lived together. They got on so well. When the pig died the rabbit totally changed, she seemed sad.
About 2 weeks later she died and I swear it was from a broken heart!

 

[Susie H]

Have always been told that piggies need company and rabbits don't. Have no idea from a personal point of view, just wanted to share a story from my bro's local paper from a few years back.
There is a pub that has a beware of the rabbit sign. The rabbit is well known to the locals and is often to be found hoping around the pub lounge looking for a fuss.
one night a couple of the local yobs broke into the pub and were attacked by the rabbit, one of the yobs had to have his calf muscle stitched back on:lol:
The yobs tried to have the savage rabbit but down and the case went to court. The judge ruled that just because the rabbit was friendly during opening hours didn't mean that it was always friendly and that just because they had seen the rabbit being friendly didn't make the sign the publican put up a joke and told the yobs they were lucky the rabbit was vaccinated because otherwise he, the judge would be tempted to make them pay for the rabbit to be tested against infectious diseases.
I've aways had a smile for this one:green:

 

[nemotail]

I have 2 female piggles and had a dwarf lionhead rabbit. They were unable to sex the rabbit when I got it and told me it was fine to house them together in the large hutch and attached run we have.
First few months they got on fine but when the weather started to turn the piggles became very timid, no longer coming out to play and sleeping or burrowing into hay when ever you opened the door. I actually thought they were trying to hibernate from the cold.
I was feeling sorry for the rabbit thinking he was being left out, turned out poor piggles have been scared half to death as the rabbit turned out to be male and had been trying to 'make friends' with them. Discovered small scars on on the back end of the piggles - not sure if they were scratches or bites. As they were old marks I thought maybe they had stopped so kept an eye on them for a couple of days but it got worse - saw rabbit attacking one piggle and the other had a small bite off her ear.
Unfortunatley no way of seperating them and no room for another hutch meant the rabbit had to go to a new home. He was a lovely rabbit so friendly and great with kids but no good for the piggles.

The piggles are back to their playful selves - I feel guilty about the rabbit but they are better off living seperatley. The lady who took the rabbit wanted to bread them, sure he was more than up for that LOL!

The pet shop I went to for advice said that if you plan to keep them together have ensure they are same sex or there will be problems.

Since he has been neutered I would give it a go but only for short supervised periods.

HTH

 

[blossom]

Hi again

Thanks for all the replies on this thread . . . I just thought I would update in case it was helpful to anyone else.

About a fortnight after the neutering op, all the more unappealing habits of a male rabbit (spraying urine everyone, being "overfriendly") stopped and for the last couple of months he has been happily sharing the run with our guinea pigs, who are all female . . . he's such a good boy now, he hasn't tried it on once.

We started with short supervised sessions but it soon became clear they were all getting on. I've even bought a bigger run for them all.

He "grooms" the guineas fur sometimes, licking the back of their neck - they must like it cos they just stand there with their eyes half closed!

The way it seems to work best is to have the guineas' little hideouts in the middle of the run so bunny has a clear "track" around the edge lol.

Anyway I'm waffling now.. . x