Adorableness

[sylvercheetah]

We have both a chinchilla and a rabbit. They get along and we let them play together. Recently, as of last weekend, we decided to take out the split between their cage and house them together since our chinchilla gets lonely and barks in the middle of the night sometimes

Comments

[chinchiller]

I'm trying to be as gentle as I can here, especially since you seem to be enjoying this set-up so much, but this is a really, really bad idea and could be potentially fatal for both animals.

• They don't have the same dietary requirements except for hay. Rabbits should eat fresh vegetables, which can kill your chinchilla from bloat. They also should not be eating the same pellets unless it is an extremely high quality rabbit pellet. How are you keeping them from eating each others' food?
• They need different housing requirements. A rabbit needs a long cage with no more than about one ramp and shelf low to the ground while a chinchilla needs a tall cage with lots of shelves to hop on. I'm just afraid the rabbit might fall and get hurt. How are you addressing the issue of the tall vs long cage?
• Your chinchilla needs a regular dust bath and rabbits don't. Rabbits have really sensitive lungs and could be harmed by all that dust in the cage plus it could irritate her eyes. Even if you only let your chinchilla dust for a few minutes, he'll be shedding dust for hours. How are you planning on handling the dusting issue?
• I don't know what kind of a rabbit it is, but it could potentially get to be larger than the chinchilla. Even dwarfs can get pretty big and pretty much every rabbit is significantly stronger than a chinchilla. Even if she does remain smaller, it still has that powerful rabbit kick that could seriously injure your chinchilla's delicate bones or eyes with almost no effort. One hard, playful kick could kill your chinchilla. That's not even getting in to their teeth and nails. If she is not spayed, she could get pretty aggressive later on. How are you protecting your chinchilla from these accidents?

These are four major reasons to not do this and this list is by no means exhausted. This is just not a good idea and I just can't stress that enough. A chinchilla and rabbit should not be left alone unsupervised, let alone live together.

Just let them play together, supervised, outside of their cages. If you have two cages, there's absolutely no reason to house them together and there's no justification (not even adorableness) to willingly put them in harm's way. If you want a friend for your chinchilla, get him a chinchilla buddy and house them together after proper quarantining and introductions. Until then, please put them back in their respective, separated cages as soon as possible.

There was a lot of back and forth before posting this, but I think it needs to be said. I expect others haven't said anything yet because they don't want to rain on your parade or are having trouble phrasing anything due to the sheer amount of glee coming through your post. I don't want to upset you either, but I'm genuinely worried about both animals.

[sylvercheetah]

I appreciate your concern. To answer your questions as best as I can:
* Dietary: We have both chinchilla pellets and rabbit pellets, but primarily they eat hay. Pellets are dispensed like treats. The chinchilla shows no interest in her vegetables. All the treats that are not safe for both species are dispensed out of the cage.
* Housing: The cage is long, and high. It is actually a "remodeled fish tank." So on one side we have built shelves. Gizmo spends most of his time on the different shelves and perches we have on that side. Clover runs the length and will climb the first level (which is a longer level and not just a shelf) but nothing else.
Originally we had a separator in the tank so they each had one side available to them. We only took that out this past weekend, but we did not dispose of it so we can put it back in whenever necessary.
* Bathing: We have the dust bath out of the cage, and give it to Gizmo periodically. So far Clover has shown no signs of irritation in her eyes or breathing.
* Generally they stay/sit next to each other, except for those few disputes over the large water bottle I mentioned. No signs of aggressiveness or kicking or anything of the sort. Although if the chinchilla is feeling like he would prefer alone time he will let the rabbit know with one of his many barks. She obeys him without question, so I'm not too worried (at least right now) about her ever being aggressive towards him. As far as kicking, she has an upcoming vet appointment - she doesn't hop much, and when she does it's not right. I don't know if she's really capable of it or what. Of course if she has a neurological defect we will have to evaluate the repercussions of caging them together.

This is only/has only been a trial period anyways, to be perfectly honest.

[sylvercheetah]

Oh and we are definitely getting both of them fixed.

[chinchiller]

First, neither chinchillas nor rabbits should ever live in a fishtank, not even a modified one unless you removed the glass and replaced it with wire.

Second, it doesn't have to be aggressive behavior. Rabbits kick and hop when they get excited and, from what you've said, this one's not done growing yet and will only get more powerful. It doesn't take a pattern of behavior to cause a problem. It takes once.

Third, chinchillas should not be fixed. Ever. The only reason to do that is if you're housing male/female together and, even then, it's highly frowned down upon and suggested to separate and pair with the same gender. It's just an unsafe and unnecessary procedure.

I'm glad that this is just a trial, but I still highly suggest you keep them separated. You're putting them at an unnecessary risk for harm simply for your own amusement.

This is still a bad idea and will still be a bad idea until you separate them. It's an even worse idea now that you've disclosed that the rabbit might have a neurological problem. Rabbits should only be housed with rabbits. Period.

Just because something bad hasn't happened, doesn't mean something bad won't happen.

[neumeindil]

Thanks for saying all this calmly and politely. I hadn't even begun to figure out how not to sound like a pet nazi in my explanation.

[galtine1]

:echo: And that's coming from a former breeder/show/rescuer-person.