While there still seems to be some debate about whether or not prairie dogs can bond with other animals, the general consensus seems to be that they’re too moody and aggressive in most cases! It seems like a majority of experts have long recommended keeping a single prairie dog unless you live on some kind of big farm where you can keep a bunch of animals happy.
This is largely due to the fact that prairie dogs are just so incredibly social that they’ll start to go berserk if they don’t get the proper attention and bonding. Some people think it’s a good idea to adopt two different prairie dogs, so that they can keep each other company.
The problem with doing this is once they start to bond with each other, they won’t really get a chance to grow close to you. In some cases, they could even start to see you as an outsider and turn on you in the process!
That’s why so many people have suggested that it might just be best to keep a single prairie dog. If nothing else, then they’re certainly energetic enough that one should be more than enough to keep you company.
You might even end up feeling that bonding with your prairie dog was the very best part of the whole experience! A bigger problem, though, is faced by those who might already have some animals in the house.
Here’s a pet prairie dog that just wants to hug his cat friend. But will the cat let him?
Do Pet Prairie Dogs Eat Other Animals or Pets?
Unfortunately, while I’ve never personally experienced anything like this, I’ve run into some credible accounts of this happening. It’s even possible for some larger pets to kill prairie dogs.
Sometimes, this might be inadvertent. Imagine if you had a playful husky who wanted to pal around with a prairie dog.
Your pet might end up accidentally seriously injuring or killing a prairie dog in the process. Of course, some canines and felines might also look at prairie dogs as a source of food.
In nature, prairie dogs mostly eat plants, but they’ll also chow down on insects and arachnids. If you have more exotic pets like spiders or hissing cockroaches, then there’s a good chance that prairie dogs might find them delicious!
Some prairie dogs have been caught killing ground squirrels in the wild, which might be due to the fact that they’re both competing for the same types of food. There’s a possibility that they could still have some of this instinct left in them when they’re domesticated, so those who have small pets will want to watch out.
This is especially true if you have a larger sized prairie dog who seems a little rambunctious at times. It’s conceivable that he or she might strike out and attack any smaller animals that you keep.
Those who have critters in tanks, like fancy rats, might want to keep their enclosures well out of the reach of any prairie dogs that they have.
Do Pet Prairie Dogs Kill Pet Snakes?
While it isn’t exactly their usual behavior, prairie dogs are more than capable of defending themselves against snakes. I’ve come across a pretty famous video that depicts a mother prairie dog protecting her young against a fairly mature rattler, so there’s no reason to suggest that a pet prairie dog wouldn’t hurt pet snakes.
The whole issue here is whether or not your animals feel threatened by one another. In most cases, you’ll want to keep your prairie dog completely separate from your snakes if you have any.
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Keep in mind that prairie dogs take a whole lot of energy and care, so if you don’t currently have any pets you may not want to increase your workload by getting a snake as well. That being said, if you already have one then it might be best not to let the two of them interact to avoid any unfortunate circumstances.
Outside of flat out separating your pets, though, there are a few ways you could get a prairie dog to play at least a little nicer with your other pets.
How to Get Your Pet Prairie Dog to Get Along with Your Other Pets
Before you try anything, it’s important to remind yourself that prairie dogs really are every bit as social as enthusiasts warn. You might want to seriously consider having one a sole pet simply because it takes so much effort to bond with one.
That being said, some pet owners have had really good results raising young prairie dogs alongside puppies, kittens or even equally young bunnies. Since the animals are all domesticated and raised together, they end up maturing into more cooperative critters that get along.
Others seem to have good results with slow introductions of mature animals. They simply allow their prairie dogs to interact with other animals over a long period of time in a controlled environment and take frequent breaks to ensure that neither of them get attacked in the process.
Those who want to attempt to use this method to introduce their pets will want to be sure that they could separate them again if anything bad happens. You might want to consider using some sort of infant separator or fencing, which could be put back in place to quickly separate the two animals until you could get them under control.
Normally, you wouldn’t want to introduce any two mature animals that are natural enemies. Therefore, it’s probably not the best idea to try and introduce a prairie dog to a snake.
Some domestic canines and felines might also think of a prairie dog as a potential meal or even a threat, so caution should always be used when you’re bringing these kinds of animals together once they’ve matured. Even those who are just a year or two old might have had more than enough time to awaken all of their fighting instincts, which could cause some real problems.
