species comparison

[Fia Baby]

My son's 7 year old guinea pig died over Thanksgiving, and he's devastated. He's mentioned maybe wanting another, but he's also interested in something with a longer life span (although guinea pigs are pretty long-lived...). I'd like a comparison of guinea pigs vs. chinchillas vs. rabbits. One issue I have is allergies. I'm allergic to guinea pigs, so the strategy I insisted on was daily cage cleaning with fleece/towels. This was a lot of work for him, but he handled it really well. I'm assuming I'd be equally allergic to chinchillas, but I've read that chinchillas tend to be hypoallergenic to at least some degree. Is this true? How do rabbits compare? Also, guinea pigs eat a lot of fresh foods and drink a lot, so they urinate quite a bit... What about chinchillas and rabbits? How do they compare as far as temperaments? He liked that his guinea pig was very mellow and enjoyed cuddling, and would probably be disappointed with an animal who was more standoffish.

 

[TikiMyn]

My rabbits have been cuddlier and smarter in general then my piggies. Piggies were more active, sometimes also very cuddly though. My rabbits would be more involved with Life in general. A friend fostered chins for a while, they were not very friendly and active at night. I wouldn’t keep a piggie or bunbun alone though, they do so much better with a friend If one piggie snuggled up is good, imagine two!

 

[Leanna]

My brother had a chinchilla that hated everyone but me and him. He did not care for our younger siblings, and we were the only two that could sit still and whisper. I think they spoke too easily to be a good pet to little kids.

I will say we had to rehome the chinchilla because of my allergies.

Advice from my allergist was too avoid bunnies altogether as they produce the most dander. However, every bunny I've met has wanted to hang out. If allergies aren't that big of a concern, I'd go with a bunny.​

 

[Fia Baby]

Thanks guys!

 

[melissasparrots]

I've had a couple of chinchillas and guinea pigs over the years. I prefer the chinchilla to live with. They produce less urine and are far less of a bother to clean up after and keep relatively stink free. They can shed and I have had chinchilla hair on me after holding one and I would find it around the chinchilla cage too. Chins are quieter overall but they can make an oddly alarming barking sound at unusual times. They are wilder though. As far as I can tell, you need to get a chin from someone that handles them young. Once loose, a lot of chinchillas are hard to catch. Although both of mine did enjoy getting their face rubbed. Sometimes you have to catch them first before you can pet them. I had one second hand white chin from someone who got it from a breeder. He was reasonably tame, though not as placid as a guinea pig. I had another grey one from a student who got it from the pet store and wanted to give it to me because he couldn't keep track of it. He told me he lost it in his bedroom for over a week and couldn't find it, otherwise he would have given it to me sooner. It did become somewhat tame, but still pretty skittish. I had them both as class pets for quite a while. Both were age unknown when I got them, but they still lived many years with me.

 

[Fergus Mom]

I don't know much about any of the creatures in question, but I did think of a ferret, and some have told me they thought they were cuddly. I'm so sorry your son lost his pet! Ferret - Wikipedia

This was a trivia game question that I always wanted to verify - illegal to own just one guinea pig in Switzerland. In Switzerland, it's illegal to own just one guinea pig because they're prone to loneliness

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

Don't chinchillas require dust baths? that alone would be why I wouldn't want one. I'd have to google it but just don't want to right now.. Pooped from cleaning a cage outside ( big cleaning) I love the sounds guinea pigs make but I've never owned one.. they are so cute! I used to raise rabbits quite a long time ago. Their urine can be quite strong so daily cleaning is essential. Of the breeds I raised ( english angoras, jersey woolies, netherland dwarfs, rex, fuzzy lops, french lops, and the dutch) the dutch rabbit has the best personality traits. If you have a male they tend to spray urine so neutering is a must.... females can be temperamental because they cycle often and for the health of a doe she should be spayed. I've had them live up to 9 years before they had health issues. Ferrets are adorable but have a strong smell of musk, poo looks like it would be nasty to clean after and they have a shorter life span than the piggies. Unless you can find European bred ferrets the gene pool of ferrets in the US lends them to health issues at early ages. ( talked to my vet about them when I was considering one long ago).

 

[Begone]

I love ferrets but not to a kid is my advice. And I will never have a ferret in my house if I had birds, never ever!!
And if you castrate them they don't smell.

 

[Fia Baby]

Degues have also captured my attention... I agree with everything above - piggies are great but they smell without daily cleaning, and I've heard that rabbits are even worse for odor. I loved my guinea pig when I was growing up, but my parents made me keep him outside (which I HATED, and I'd never do that...). I have the same fear about ferrets and birds... At this point I think he (my son, Elias) is settling into the idea of NOT having to clean a cage daily, and I think he may decide not to get another pet for the time being. There are no shortage of animals at our house though - we still have 2 dogs, 3 cats, 2 parrots and 4 alpacas...

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

Degues have also captured my attention... I agree with everything above - piggies are great but they smell without daily cleaning, and I've heard that rabbits are even worse for odor. I loved my guinea pig when I was growing up, but my parents made me keep him outside (which I HATED, and I'd never do that...). I have the same fear about ferrets and birds... At this point I think he (my son, Elias) is settling into the idea of NOT having to clean a cage daily, and I think he may decide not to get another pet for the time being. There are no shortage of animals at our house though - we still have 2 dogs, 3 cats, 2 parrots and 4 alpacas...

Yup... that's a handful of critters! Alpacas! Beautiful animals. Do they spit on you or is that just llamas?

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

This young lady does a good job at giving in depth detail about the degu. NOTE the part where she says they are like dogs and like to mark their territory with urine. I imagine that also means "stinky". They are cute lil' critters though.

 

[Shezbug]

My daughter had ferrets (stole them off me) when she was quite young. If they are well handled and treated right they are the best pets ever (better than dogs and cats as far as I am concerned). They are cuddly like you would not believe and also very very playful. If they are kept clean (daily cage cleaning and litter trained) they do not stink like everyone says they do. Ours loved baths and one I had years before I had kids used to break into the bathroom when the shower was running (everyday) for a shower. Our ferrets lived to be the oldest our vet (or any vet we had seen) had ever known of......they both got put to sleep at about age 14. I know of a man who had one for over 15 years, I think it definitely depends on breeding and also diet and care when it comes to age. The males have a reputation for having a stronger smell than females and the females must be desexed unless breeding them or they will die.

 

[Shezbug]

I love ferrets but not to a kid is my advice. And I will never have a ferret in my house if I had birds, never ever!!
And if you castrate them they don't smell.

That is not entirely correct @Eloy, they will still have the musky smell but not as bad. I believe some countries allow them to have the actual scent gland removed (by a vet of course) to make them less smelly and that will stop them making the strong smell that they hardly ever make anyway. Their urine can tend to smell a bit so cleanliness is the easiest way to make sure they do not smell offensive (I actually like the musky smell of ferrets).

Mine only released the bad scent maybe three times in their whole lives. The only times I had them do the real stink up was when they had a massive fright, out of the four I have owned in the past I can honestly only remember twice that one of them let go of the scent gland and one of those times was when some idiot roughly grabbed my ferret out of my hand to try and steal her. He never got very far and also got the only bite she ever gave anyone

You are also right about it possibly being an issue around birds if they are not carefully kept securely away from the birds. My dog would not ever mess with my ferret after his first attempt at it.....she took a nice little piece out of his ear and after that he was terrified to try and steal her food. I would be very very careful if I had ferrets and birds to ensure they had many barriers between them at all times.

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

My daughter had ferrets (stole them off me) when she was quite young. If they are well handled and treated right they are the best pets ever (better than dogs and cats as far as I am concerned). They are cuddly like you would not believe and also very very playful. If they are kept clean (daily cage cleaning and litter trained) they do not stink like everyone says they do. Ours loved baths and one I had years before I had kids used to break into the bathroom when the shower was running (everyday) for a shower. Our ferrets lived to be the oldest our vet (or any vet we had seen) had ever known of......they both got put to sleep at about age 14. I know of a man who had one for over 15 years, I think it definitely depends on breeding and also diet and care when it comes to age. The males have a reputation for having a stronger smell than females and the females must be desexed unless breeding them or they will die.

I had a ferret many, many years ago. A beautiful masked female I named " Ferret Fawcett" I did have to bathe her to cut down on some of the musk. As far as longevity... the ones bred in the US do not have a strong gene pool anymore and at best will live 5- maybe 7 years. Cancer is highly likely according to my vet.

 

[Shezbug]

I had a ferret many, many years ago. A beautiful masked female I named " Ferret Fawcett" I did have to bathe her to cut down on some of the musk. As far as longevity... the ones bred in the US do not have a strong gene pool anymore and at best will live 5- maybe 7 years. Cancer is highly likely according to my vet.

I love the name, lol. Oh that is so very sad that they have such a compromised gene pool and short life span over there. That is awful to hear that they have a high chance of cancer. Ours were so old their livers and kidneys started not functioning well anymore and once we knew they were slowly dying they got put down so they did not suffer. Our vet was very sad for us and actually did not charge me for putting them to sleep as she was so pleased and thankful at how well they were cared for, her exact words were "thank you for being so good to your ferrets for so many years, no one ever looks after them properly....they are a throw away animal for nearly everyone". When she said that it really broke my heart, they are the sweetest little critters. I recently found out that many people who offer to rehome them or advertise to buy them from you (pretending to want a pet) actually sell them for medical research

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

I might be wrong about the stop of imports. I couldn't find that information but I'm certain someone told me that but it was a long time ago. I did find this though. You were so fortunate to have yours for so many years. They truly are so endearing!

Ferrets may not even be legal to own in your area.
Several countries and parts of the United States have banned ferrets completely for a variety of reasons. Ferrets cannot be imported into Australia at all — and this makes sense, once you realize how many problems they’ve had with invasive, non-native species. In New Zealand, wild ferret-polecat hybrids were intentionally bred to control rabbit populations in the 1870s, disrupting native wildlife populations.

In the United States, ferrets are banned from Hawaii and Puerto Rico due to concerns about the potential spread of rabies. In California, ferrets are banned because of fears that escaped pet ferrets might breed and disrupt the local ecosystem — I think this is an unrealistic concern, given that most ferrets have been sterilized, but the law is the law. They’re restricted in New York City and Washington, DC. Some states, like Rhode Island, allow ferrets only with a permit. Always check your local laws before you set your heart on adopting a ferret — you don’t want your pet to be taken away from you, euthanized or denied medical care due to local laws.

 

[Begone]

4 alpacas...

May I suggest that he can have 1 alpacas as his own? (So much as he can do)
Sometimes another type of animal is good for them. Or perhaps one of the cats and dogs if he wants a indoor animal.n