Question about guinea pigs and rabbits

by Sophie
(Inverness)

My son wants a rabbit and my daughter wants a guinea pig. Is it OK to keep a guinea pig and a rabbit together? Would they be quite happy together? Do they both eat the same food?

Reply

You can keep them together.

Guinea pigs and rabbits can become very good friends and they can live together.

You might want to consider the housing – rabbit needs a big cage. Also, you need to provide a way for them to get away from each other, a little house for the guinea pig and removable top for the bunny (so he can hop out).

How will they get along depends on their individual characters. Rabbits can be a little bit more territorial while guinea pigs are very calm pets.

You can introduce a grown up pet to a baby of the other specie but you can also get both of them together and let them grow up together. Think of what bunny breed will you get, because a big rabbit can unintentionally hurt the guinea pig.

They sometimes try to mount the guinea pig so if the rabbit is too big, the guinea pig can be hurt. What can also happen is the rabbit accidentally jumping on the guinea pig while hopping around.

I guess a good solution for this would be getting a smaller rabbit breed (like American Fuzzy Lop, Dwarf Hotot, Mini Lop or Himalayan).

When it comes to food, they will eat the same fruits and vegetables and you can feed different pellets. However, it looks like bunnies like to eat food from other pets plates cause they think it is nicer. So if this happens feed both animals with guinea pig pellets. You also need to supplement vitamin C to guinea pigs.