Mixing different species - Paw Talk

LuvMeBre · #1 03-03-2007, 08:44 PM

Does anyone have experience with keeping two species of animals together? What happened in the end? Please share. I thought I would share my experiences (well kind of) with you, but if I share mine you’ve got to share yours

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I am very cautious about keeping two different species of any kind of animal together, and rarely would take the chance of two different species being together unless I was being extremely cautious. This isn’t about me, though…this is about one of my friends…

Story #1: My friend owns 2 hamsters and 2 guinea pigs. Her hamster, JJ was out of his tank while I was talking to her on the phone and she decided to she was going to introduce her two guinea pigs, Dynamite and Princess to him. I said “be extremely cautious and introduce them in a civilized way…have Laura (her sister) come into the room and hold JJ while you hold Dynamite or Princess. Introduce them one at a time”. She did so and both guinea pigs were fine with JJ, they were very curious about each other at first and explored each other a little bit.
She decided to let the three run around the room and they did great, playing with each other like they were all one kind of mammal. She had them out for a few minutes together and they ran around the room together.
After that she introduced JJ to the guinea pigs’ cage and put his igloo, bed, etc. in the guinea pig cage. He was in there with them for a “grand total” of 10 minutes before he slipped through the guinea pig cage bars :p . So he got along well with the two, but the cage wasn’t suitable for him so he was moved back into his own tank.

For any of you who have never introduced two different species (breed, kind, whatever, lol) together, whenever and if you do, remember to be extremely cautious. They could end up dead if you aren’t.

Thanks for reading and please share!

Ambieruns10 · #2 03-03-2007, 09:03 PM

http://www.paw-talk.net/forums/f16/r...her-34072.html

http://www.paw-talk.net/forums/f13/c...ter-37665.html

If you do a search, you can probably find more threads about it.

Padfoot · #3 03-03-2007, 09:05 PM

This is not to encourage having different species together... but I have one...

When I was about 15/16 I had 2 male guinea pigs: Dali and Picasso. Dad was building a big cage in the backyard that was divided in half to house the 2 gp's on one side and my male rabbit, Blackie, on the other. Dali died before the cage was finished, and when the cage was finished I put Blackie on one side and Picasso on the other. Blackie was an old rabbit... 7-8 years old.. and he was always very peaceful and quite. Well, they were able to see/smell/touch each other through the wire mesh that divided the cage (1/2" x 1/2"). Dali kept just squeaking at Blackie and looking for a way into his cage, so after a couple of weeks of this, I decided to put Blackie in Dali's cage. Blackie didn't cared much aboud it, but Dali was in love with Blackie. After having them playing in each other cages for a couple of hours in a couple of consecutive days in a row, we decided to take down the wire mesh dividing the cage and let them share the cage. They lived like this for a year or 2, till Blackie died. Dali passed away about a moth after Blackie.

Now... remember that rabbits and guinea pigs have very different diets and feeding them the same can lead to dietary insuficiencies. Also, rabbits are very powerful and can easily kill a gp.. at that time, I didn't knew better.

Vanilla_Rat · #4 03-03-2007, 09:16 PM

I don't encourage it at all! I know people do it,but you have to be extremely careful when doing so.

I have introduce baby rats to mice and they got along well and played.However when the rats grow up,I don't risk it anymore.

luvnature · #5 03-03-2007, 09:37 PM

i wouldnt "experiment" with it. Having pets is not a game to see what might or what could happen...could it be done or let me see if i could do it....Nope! not a good idea. Not when there is a possibility of a pet getting hurt. They depend on us to keep them safe.

karlh · #6 03-04-2007, 03:08 AM

LuvMeBre: No way... unless you want a war on your hands..

luvnature · #7 03-04-2007, 10:44 AM

Good point Karl

...........why would anyone want a war. War is sad and there is always someone who gets hurt

i hope this time someone takes advice they asked for.

karlh · #8 03-04-2007, 11:37 AM

And don't forget, hamsters are very, very territorial individuals.. they will defend their 'space'... have you not been bitten on your finger when you invaded your hamster's space... I have been nipped, not bitten, but that was a good enough signal to keep out...:-) So can you imagine what might happen to another animals?

Kalilady · #9 03-04-2007, 03:06 PM

I had a rabbit and a guinea pig together too. They did very well together. The guinea pig has died now, but the rabbit is still here with us. As someone else pointed out, you do need to make some arrangements for the differences in their diets and be careful when introducing them. It was funny to see them snuggling together and the gp following the bunny around the house.

Kendalle · #10 03-04-2007, 03:12 PM

i think its possible to keep 2 species together people do it all the time with out questioning it... cats and dogs cats and birds fish bunnies alot of times you have a free roam cat and dog or a fish bowl with no lid on it or a dog and a bunny... and lots of people who let their iguanas free roam they have cats and dogs as well i think it could be that way with small animals as well like cats and hedgies live together often and what not...

i dont think its always a good idea but it is done and works out well often.. just cant expect it to work and just mix pets

karlh · #11 03-04-2007, 04:27 PM

Kendalle: Fair enough idea, providing one does not eat the other...

rockman0 · #12 03-04-2007, 06:44 PM

my uncle has a dog and two cats and they get only great. my dog also gets along with my hamsters. i caught her licking her lips once, but she still didn't do anything so i trust her.

Kalilady · #13 03-04-2007, 09:51 PM

I have a Husky that about 6 years ago, I would have swore would never tolerate chickens or cats. I wouldn't say she is the best of friends with them, but she leaves them alone when they wander into her area and I'm just amazed. It's like she knows they belong on our farm so she may as well leave them alone. It took me a long, long time to start trusting that she would be ok, but she does well.

mebri123 · #14 03-04-2007, 11:53 PM

my dog is a boxer and he gets along with the ferrets and the degus
i let them run around the house. my degus i have never let out at the same time as the ferrets
I think the ferrets would try to eat them
way to afraid to try that

Vanilla_Rat · #15 03-05-2007, 03:27 AM

My mom has a cat and often I bring my rats down for a visit and believe it or not,the cat could care less.Thats because since he was a kitten,I would bring the rats down.I would NEVER trust the cat and rat alone tho...altho I know,my 31 rats would gang up on that one little kitty!

Also mom's dog,CoCo (who also lives with the cat BTW) likes the rats.He gets really excited and wants to play with them,however he plays way too rough...so the most I let him do is sniff and sometimes lick the ratties!