Rabbit and rats together???

[Jack Sparrow]

I have a new rabbit now, 5 months and 2 weeks old and very playful. His name is Sirius (again I know, I love the name, can't help it.) I find that my male rats need more exercise, they don't use the wheel like the girls and Davy Jones is about the size of 2 solid boys rats.

Sirius (the rabbit) has a big area in the entrance where I let him play free when I am home. The boys could use that area too (girls would go through the bars of the fence, so not safe for them.)

I am wondering if it is possible for one rabbit to interact with some rats. Smokey has 3 dogs interacting with her rabbit and it is not a problem so why not one rabbit with some rats?

Anyone knows if that would be possible? Of course, they would need to be introduced as I would never throw my rats in there with Sirius. But do you think that would be possible for them to be together for about one hour a day?

 

[Fidget]

I had a rabbit with my ratties but she was only 5 weeks old. She didn't hurt the ratties and got on with them til she got fed up with them grooming her. (1st meeting good, 2nd & subsequent she'd jump on the bed but leave if the ratties were there.)
After that she would pee & poo on my bed (the place where she interacted with the ratties) every time she came on the bed (when the ratties weren't there anymore). She'd done good for a week before that, never did it on the bed til her first peaceful meeting with them.

 

[jorats]

Way back when I had rabbits, my rats actually attacked the rabbit. So I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[theratlady]

rabbits can also be quite territorial and aggressive i never had a problem with guinea pigs and rats but i could see rabbits and rats possibly being a problem. i have one ferret that loves the rats and i would NEVER reccommend trying that combo either. i found out when i had my suicidal stray rat who all of a sudden decided she didnt have to stay on or even near the cage. i found her asleep with logan in the FERRET cage!!! :doh:

 

[lj]

Really? My rat shares her room with the rats. They sometime run around the room with her. Mostly they are out either on me or running in my room. But sometimes they are out with her. She tolerates them very well.

Tolerate being the key word.

 

[Jack Sparrow]

Really? My rat shares her room with the rats. They sometime run around the room with her. Mostly they are out either on me or running in my room. But sometimes they are out with her. She tolerates them very well.

Tolerate being the key word.

Not sure if I get that. Your rat shares her room with the rats?

 

[jorats]

I'm sure she means rabbit share the room with the rats. :wink2:

I too have heard that plenty of times where the bunnies are ok with rats.

 

[lj]

Bunny bunny is free range in the same room that the rats have their cages in. They get along well, but the rats aren't free range with her alone.

 

[Debbie]

Well, I have Rabbits, Guinea pigs and rats. None of which are ever allowed to "play together". I just would never take ANY chances with my babies. I have held a rat up to the bunnies and piggies through the cage bars, just to see how they might interact. My bunnies have no interest in the rats. My rats reach out and try to grab some of the bunnies fur :wink2: The piggies and the ratties seem interested in that "oh hey, what are you" kind of way. But again, I wouldn't let them meet otherwise.

The thing I would be most worried about is rats are both prey/predator animals...where as the bunns are prey animals. If your bunny is anything like my Samantha, she communicates (very loundly) by thumping, when anything is out of the ordinary. So a rat could actually trigger that fright/flight in a bunny. We had a tiny mouse in our house once, that the cat brought in. Sam was thumping like crazy, trying to warn the world of this tiny rodent (because of this, we managed to save the mousie from our cat, when we ran in to see what the deal was). BUT, a bunny could seriously injure or kill a rat with those powerful back feet. That's why piggies and bunnies should never be allowed together either.

Just my two cents.

 

[Alicemcmallis]

May I just say that you are awesome Debbie? I agree, there's not really any reason to put them together, and so much could go wrong if you do, so why risk it?