I got my grids from Robert May - http://www.shopfittingsonline.co.uk/
and I have got my two girls in an 11 x 4 (grids) cage - which is extremely huge but the average size you would need for two pigs is 2 x 4 (grids) - although the bigger the better

I am Char-x



Depends on the piggies. On average those who live indoors do tend to live slightly longer, but on average I would say guinea pigs with no obvious health problems (e.g. a heart pig, diabetic etc), a good diet and happy etc should be around 8-10 years.

You say they have their vaccines? Piggies dont need vaccines? Unless you mean just the rabbit?

How are you sure the guinea pig eats from his bowel and the rabbit from theirs? Since the nutrition would be completely different? E.g. the guinea pig needs the added Vit C.

You probably know this but piggies should have access to green pepper really to ensure the vit c and its very nutritious for them. For example I feed mine round lettiuce, corriander, a baby carrot, 1/4 green pepper and a seedless tomatoe in one day - sometimes supplemented with a small amount of dill and parsley. Whereas fruits shouldnt be given too often as pigs are sensitive to sugar, especially if they eat a mix which is heavy in it.

Your vet may know about it, but unfortunatly many vets dont know much about guinea pigs medical side let alone care because they barely study them at uni - aprox 2 months on all exotics. Which is why the vet I use, although I have to travel for him, has specialised in guinea pigs - I wouldnt trust anyone else. I'm not saying you vet is bad or anything, just surprised he hasnt said anything, but I guess if your bringing money

I am slightly worried you say your rabbit etc goes out with chickens again there is always a chance of salemella (sp) being transferred. And a giant flemish with a guinea pig?
I'm sorry but thats just ridiculous. Feel free to tell me to calm down again but honestly I dont see why you wouldnt just get a friend for the animals of their own species? Its much fairer and safer on the animals So many people have said how thier rabbits and guinea pigs have got along fine for years, and then one day they go out and theres a dead or injured pig. I just dont see the sense in creating a high risk enviourment - maybe I'm odd though and like peace of mind.

Does your rabbit not binky around?


If I was you I would have his health checked out by the vet - make sure there is no underlying problems and do your research regarding neutering. Heres some useful links :
http://www.guinealynx.info/links.html#neutering

http://www.cavyspirit.com/neutering.htm

He is a great age considering he is healthy and a good weight for being neutered, and it will be much easier to bond female and males together compared to a dominant male and younger males - you could get a baby male however you cannot be sure of their personality and most pigs get abit big for their boots during adolescence (sp) and if he is also dominant boy then there could be possible problems.

Also if you neuter then he will be less likely to get the dreaded and extremely common (and smelly!) impaction problem as they age. Not to mention if theres any more loss then it will be easier to find him another female - rather than have the same problem down the years.

If you choose not to get him done then I would go to a rescue that will be able to fit personalities to your piggie. If you choose to get a baby boy then I would say get the boy neutered - it doesnt stop their dominant behaviour, like it would in dogs - they simply cannot impregnate anymore. It will just mean that in the future if your older male goes first, you can choose a female which would be easier.

But if you neuter then make sure that you get a very good guinea pig vet, not all are actually that up on guineas because they are exotic animals and infact my vet said unless you do it specially (as he does) then you get 2 months roughly on exotic animals in uni On the guinea lynx forum I think they have a list of good vets, if not ring the local rescue and ask them who they use - the more experiance the better.

http://www.guinealynx.info/vet.html

I hope this helps, and makes sense...

I have kept small furries for over 40 years and hand on heart can safely say they have all lived 6 years plus.
Yes I know all about the vit C, green peppers, carrots etc.,veg fruit and different mix to the rabbits.
Rabbit is vaccinated , guineapig has regular health checks.
I DO NOT feed lettece regular as if you go on sites and check this....lettece can cause Colic Rabbits should never be given access to lettece regular either infact wise not to give at all really.

The disease you mention by the way is Bordetella NOT Bordella as you state and it carries by close proximaty rather than being airborne.

Our chickens are vaccinated against salmonella...it would not be wise for us humans to eat thier eggs without thier vaccinates.
No my vet is not in it for the money..I actually know him, and no he doesn't tell people to keep them together but he does trust the judgement of myself as I am home all day and he knows if I had a rabbit or guineapig that didn't get on they would be separate
And I worked in Veterinary Practice for over 21 years.

Dandi is neautered and very laid back to almost lazy although he has the run of 8ft by 11ft to go around in.
On the fruit front our guineapig gets half an apple once a week, pipped.
And alot of my help over the years regards nuitrients/feeding have been from Birmingham nature centre and other guinepig keepers.

As for him being with a rabbit, then your entitled to your opinion, which I am happy to read and appreciate, the same as I am happy with thier care, attention and handling that I give them.
Plus in an earlier post you mention that people shouldn't advocate that the two live together, I haven't all I have said is that over the 40 years of keeping small futrries I haven't had a problem, which I haven't.

Hope that clears a few of your questions up

I have to be honest Steph I have also kept the two together previously with no problems and although I know accidents can happen I wonder if alot of those are down to owners not knowing their pets and lack of space.

One of my current rabbits, Lizzie is a looney and quite a big girl so I wouldn't dream of letting little furries get in her way. Even though I have a huge run like you. I do also have a tortoise roaming the garden who is a salmonella risk, certainly not vaccinated like your chickens.

Judgement and experience counts for alot me thinks.

Do you visit the nature centre much? It's 10 mins down the road from me and I love the place.

Yes we do, I have found they are very useful both with information (written) and advice verbally. They have a colony of guineapigs, and the keeper is a mind of information, you can just ring them anytime and they will advise over the phone if you are in any doubt.

I did own a dutch rabbit, who was a monster and YES I agree I wouldn't of kept anything with him due to his dominance.
And yes I agree with education advice, but I also know my rabbit and he is extrememly docile, plus a lot of what our guineapig eats he is not interested in either

I think your right too, alot of experience goes along way, and as I stated people are allowed thier opinion, but I think we have to acknowledge too that as you say experience also counts

I just love guinea pig village! Well after he'd had a couple of pints I brought up the subject of new piggies with Dave and after looking faintly suprised for about a minute he said well I only have to feed them occassionally you do the rest so if you want SOME more carry on!!!!

New piggies please!!!

Phoning a lady about some rescues tomorrow

WOW thats BRILL news............ look forward to the pics xxxx

Sorry I'm not willing to make up experiance of having rabbits and guinea pigs together just because I dont want to put my animals at risk (or break the law). I'll take my experiance elsewhere.

Im sure your experience is invalueable, but it is more the condecending way you go about it, found myself feeling rather preached at.

Everyone took on board what you had to say, but people have different views, and as far as I am aware there is no law out saying you can not keep rabbits and guinea pigs together either, its only advised not too.

But people do have experience too, and they do get to know thier animals, I (as i have said) have never advised anyone gets a rabbit to go with thier Guineapig, I just know how docile my rabbit is, I know how big my guineapig is and what a brilliant weight he is, and I have no worries with either behaviour towards one another.

So for me we'll have to agree to disagree and leave it at that

Take a look at the recommendations the RSPCA have made to DEFRA re keeping guineas and rabbits together(or not), not only that they don't recommend it themselves- haven't done for years but techinically keeping rabbits and guinea pigs together would be breaking the law (albeit a law that is not easy to enforce, as most animal laws)

I'm not saying you dont know your animals, I'm saying accidents happen - you can know your animals but if your rabbit decides its happy enough to binky around it barely has control over him/herself and it can injure a guinea pig. But, I wont go into reasons again. Most the cases of guinea pigs ended up dead/injured my vet has said is not from rabbits being malcious or anything, its been accidents. The forums also are highly against it because of the amount of times people have come on with the exact problem - I guess exposure to it can make you much more aware and against it. If I hadnt of actually heard and seen for myself the results of what can happen I would think it was an option too.

But I'm not going to carry on to be slightly patranized (sp) because of lack of experiance with the animals together. I have enough experiance with cavies to know what my oppinion will always be on the matter. I'll leave it at that. We will have to agree to disagree, agreed.

Friends still then
And i do have a chief inspector friend of the RSPCA...so am aware of what your saying, but as your say not one that has been easy to enforce.

But I think re binking around, yes this does happen I have also agreed with you on that...but Dandi is out during the day...the guineapig is not, Dandi's binking goes as far as I can spit (which isn't very far at all). He really is a lazy lazy rabbit (honest)

So mates still....agreed