Comments | chinchilla_love: Adorableness

sylvercheetah in chinchilla_love

Adorableness

Mar 10, 2010 12:39

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 ( Read more... )

Comments 12

chinchiller March 10 2010, 20:50:21 UTC

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 ( ... )

sylvercheetah March 10 2010, 22:45:38 UTC

I appreciate your concern. To answer your questions as best as I can ( ... )

sylvercheetah March 10 2010, 22:45:53 UTC

Oh and we are definitely getting both of them fixed.

chinchiller March 11 2010, 00:54:42 UTC

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 ( ... )

Thread 6

elbatnavuope March 11 2010, 15:22:53 UTC

I can't remember where I read it, and I can't seem to find the site again, but if I remember correctly, rabbits can also be carriers of disease that could be fatal to your chin... so besides the concerns brought up by chinchiller, there may be some health concerns as well.

chinchiller March 11 2010, 15:29:18 UTC

I thought I remembered something about this as well, but I couldn't quite remember what it was exactly. I thought it had something to do with bacteria in their feces. I couldn't really find anything online though so I opted to not include it, hoping the other reasons were more than sufficient to deter the OP.

neumeindil March 11 2010, 21:35:42 UTC

Try here:
http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13693

4 dead, 1 possibly dying, and just keeping them separated would have left everybody with happy homes.

To Set the Record Straight sylvercheetah March 11 2010, 22:57:45 UTC

*sigh* We put the separator back in, which is sad because they so enjoy each others company. But I'd rather have all my animals alive and healthy than dead ( ... )

Re: To Set the Record Straight chinchiller March 12 2010, 00:42:00 UTC

Oh, this is so good to read. Thank you so much for considering the issues and making the best decision you can for both critters! I'm happy to hear about the new cages as well. :D

Just for the record, the reason to not get chinchillas fixed is threefold. First, chinchillas won't suffer diseases or terrible problems like your previous rabbit did. Second, their behavior is not affected by being fixed, like it is with, say, female cats. Third, their bodies are so tiny, delicate, and sensitive that what is just regular surgery for most animals quickly becomes invasive and major. It's just all around unnecessary except in extremely rare circumstances.

Please do not feel like you were ever being attacked and please don't feel you need to be defensive. We all just want what's best for your animals, like you, and wanted to make sure you had as much information as possible.

Good luck and give your fuzzies a petting from us! :)

Re: To Set the Record Straight sylvercheetah March 12 2010, 14:57:25 UTC

No, as an animal lover I absolutely understand. You see something that is potentially harmful for an animal and want to change that behavior.

I had no idea that getting them fixed didn't change their behavior. We just assumed that he would be a little less aggressive if we got him fixed. Of course that was because we had all gotten serious bites at one time or another, but now we know what the deal is - the cage is his, he doesn't like hands in it unless they're feeding him, and he gets annoyed if he hasn't gotten out to run for more than a day.
Thanks for that information though. It sounds like getting him fixed is unnecessary pain & trouble for him and a waste of money for us.

We are still learning what he wants to teach us. We hope to have a long happy life with our furry critters.