Is this normal?!

Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Hawkertinger

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2009
Messages
52
Reaction score
0
Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
My little baby Butterscotch, we think she's a flemish giant...is best friends with the baby guinea pig, Dusty. Is this eventually going to be a problem? They're inseparable. Dusty cries and cries for Butterscotch when they're caged up for the night. Its so sweet to watch em together, but are there issues I might not be considering? I'm eventually going to get those NIC cubes to make a cage when we've got more room (Had no idea we had a big bunny on our hands when we got her)...would letting them run around together be a bad thing? Or would they really need to keep separate spaces? Maybe a cage where I could just insert one little square and then they'd be separated be ok? Its like these two were born together, lol.

Thanks :)
 
Technically I am supposed to tell you that rabbits and guinea pigs are supposed to be separated; guinea pigs can be hurt by the size of the rabbit and also rabbits oftencarry bordatella and can possibly pass it on to a pig.

However. personally, if you can set up a close but separate home for the guinea pig to be next to the bunny I would feel that it was worth it to keep them close because of the bond.

Another option would be to get your rabbit another bunny friend and your guinea pig anoher guinea pig friend ; I have heard that most of he time the rabbit is less involved in the relationship than the guinea pig.

Whatever it is importan to not allow a larger size rabbit to accidentally hurt a little piggie.
 
Oh my goodness, that is so sweet!

Sometimes animals do bond very closely when one or both are babies. Maybe it's related tothe fact that they miss their litter mates? JMO, but if it were me, I'd probably allow very supervised playtimes between the two. Bunnies are friends with other types of household pets cats/dogs - why not a piggie?

I'd agree with Angieluv. Seperate but very close cages would give them visual contact. We have 2 does that practically maul each other if in the same cage, but they are absolutely inseperable...with an NIC panel between them! They always lay touching each other through the panel, and often will groom one another. If one has had enough or wants her privacy, she can still move to the other side of the cage, out of range of her little friend.

The same would probably work for a piggie and a bun. If you felt more comfortable, you could always keep the cages seperated by several inches, to avoid actual contact between the two.

Edited to add: As an owner of several Flemmies, I have to say...don't they ROCK?! Your "little" gal is gorgeous!



 
We have piggies and bunnies in our outside pen where they have plenty of space to interact (or not).
99% of the time the bunnies leave the pigs alone...the only time that was the exception was when Rosie was pregnant, then we had to keep her away from the pigs as she would NOT tolerate them at all.
The piggies and bunnies pretty much ignore each other.
 
Hehe, I absolutely LOVE my butterscotch. She's an absolute princess. And yeah, they both are about the same age, maybe a week or two apart. They're also the same size right now, which is nice, but won't last too long. Right now though, I have a big playpen I let them run around in together. There are hiding spaces and stuff, but usually they fall asleep snuggled up. My concern is the snuggles, since buttercup will be big enough to accidentally squish Dusty. We're getting a house before the end of the year, and we'll have probably a huge NIC enclosure for em, separated by just the panels. Gonna get another bun and another piggy too, so they can have buddies. I'll probably end up getting another giant, hehe :)

Just so sweet right now watching them together. Dusty loves going for rides on Butterscotch...its like the bunny express.
 
My bunny Cocoa shares a big cage with Rufus my guinea pig. They are best friends and Rufus always lays close to Cocoa. Cocoa always allows Rufus to eat first, so the fat cute piggy gets to eat the best veggies :D !!! They really like each other a lot and i would never separate them. Nothing bad ever happened to them, but it is true about bordetella. I guess, as my vet told me, that Cocoa and Rufus are both healthy and they can stay together. Maybe you should talk to your vet and have them checked. If they are best friends it is sad to separate them!!
 
Your guinea pig goes for rides on your bunny? That sounds ridiculous and adorable! I think they would be fine companions, of course you have to consider all that Angieluv mentioned. I don't think Buttercup will ever squish Dusty, since big and little bunnies can bond without squishing each other, and mommas take care of tiny babies without hurting them.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top