Rabbit and guinea pig feeding in same room

Sharing a room between a rabbit and a guinea pig is actually a really common setup, but feeding them separately is genuinely important — their dietary needs overlap but aren't identical, and you don't want one raiding the other's food. Rabbits are often underestimated as complex animals: hay should make up around 80% of their diet, they need real space, social interaction, and enrichment to stay healthy. Getting the feeding station right from the start means less stress for both animals and less mess for you. So — one rabbit, one guinea pig? And are they in enclosures side by side, or do they free-roam the room at different times?

That's a really practical problem. When they're free-roaming together, loose hay piles are an invitation for chaos — they'll drag it around, sit in it, and yes, eat from each other's stash. What I'd suggest is wall-mounted or enclosure-mounted hay feeders for each animal inside their own enclosures, so the main hay supply stays contained and associated with their own space. Then during free-roam, you can put out small amounts in fixed spots rather than loose piles. Does each enclosure currently have a hay rack, or are you starting from scratch on both?

In that case, the Rosewood Boredom Breaker Naturals Hay Bar is what I'd go with for both. It's a solid wooden hay feeder that mounts inside the enclosure, holds a good fistful of hay, and crucially it has a tray at the bottom that catches the bits that fall — which genuinely cuts down on floor waste. It works well for both rabbits and guinea pigs, so you can get two identical units, fix one in each enclosure, and they each have their own dedicated hay station. It's not expensive, it's robust, and it keeps the hay associated with their own space rather than becoming a shared free-roam resource.

Honestly, if they both have full hay bars in their enclosures and the doors are open during free-roam, most rabbits and guinea pigs will pop back in to eat rather than needing hay out in the open. Hay is less of an urgent snack food and more of a constant background need, so as long as access is easy, they'll self-regulate. If you want to offer a bit during free-roam, put it in a small fixed ceramic bowl or a second smaller hay rack in one corner — somewhere that becomes a predictable spot rather than loose hay spread across the floor. That way it doesn't become a tug-of-war between them.

It attaches with wire hooks that loop onto mesh or bars, so it works with most standard wire-panel enclosures. If either enclosure has solid wooden or plastic walls without bars, you'd need to add a hook or use a small bungee to secure it, but most hutch-style or C&C grid setups take it without any modification. It's one of the reasons I like it — no tools, no drilling, just clip it on and fill it.