Mini Donkey

[Warped]

We will be getting a white mini Jack donkey in a few weeks.

He was born March 30th 2009. This will be our first donkey.
We have 3 dogs,3 cats,12 ducks,and a bearded dragon,but this will be our first donkey.

My question is,i have read a lot about donkeys and from what i have read,they shouldn't be alone.That they get very lonely.

Should we get another donkey ( a jenny) for him.Or maybe a mini horse? I don't want him to get lonely. he'll gets tons of love and attention from us,but will that be enough?

 

[wynedot55]

if you can id try to get a jenny for him.but be warned most donkeys hate dogs.an they will stomp a muddhole in or kill them.if they get a chance.

 

[sterlng&sierra]

Another animal of similar size should do just fine; my donkey is now living in a pasture full of sheep, and he's doing great. They are also used to guard alpacas (great protectors!) and sheep, and can be around 24/7 without any danger to their charges. However, if you do get s sheep, be sure not to feed them both the same grain. Sheep cannot eat grain with hardly any copper in it at all, or they will die. I'm not sure about goats. Is he gelded? Because if you don't want babies you can geld him and get a jenny or a mini mare, and if you don't want to geld him, get another jack or a mini gelding.

 

[Warped]

No he is not gelded yet. We wasn't sure if we wanted to breed him or not. We don't get to bring him home until the 1st week of July.
The owner wants him to be atleast 3 months old before we take him.

The owner has a black/brown Jenny he wants to sell because she has never gotten pregnant in the last 4 years and she would make him a nice companion. But we wasn't sure if we wanted 2 right away since we've never owned any donkeys before.

 

[haviris]

If it was me I'd probably take both! He'll be alot happier, especially just being weaned!

 

[Warped]

he was asking $400 for the Jenny or $650 for both the Jenny and Baby Jack donkey.
Does that sound like a fair price for both even though she has never gotten pregnant before?

 

[StacyV]

I would take both! My miniature jack and jenny are inseparable. If I take one out of the pasture, the other will cry and pace until his friend is back. My donkeys are in a pasture with 5 goats, 4 ducks and ocassionally a dog or two and have never been aggressive toward any of them.

I think 650 is reasonable unless you were wanting them for breeding, since you dont know if the Jenny can become pregnant. You should probably be careful too, in case the 2 of them are related. You would want to breed them then. I think I would geld the jack. My jack is over 3 and is intact, I wish I would have gotten him earlier so we could geld him, he is all over the jenny at certain times.

Whatever you decide to do, Good luck! They are are wonderful "pets" and we love them!

 

[sterlng&sierra]

My jack is over 3 and is intact, I wish I would have gotten him earlier so we could geld him, he is all over the jenny at certain times.

Sorry to ask, but why can't you geld him? I'm more used to horses, and with horses you can geld them from weanling on up to 20+ if you are so inclined. I always figured that donkeys weren't any different; ours was gelded at 2 years of age (I was also two, but when he decided I was his jenny, and that my mom's 17hh saddlebred gelding was also his jenny, mother figured his balls had to go).

 

[StacyV]

You know.....I really don't know if he can be or not. I am pretty new to all of this too, I just figured once they reached a certain age it was too late. It may be something we look into in the future though. Glad you brought the question up, I was just always under the impression it had to be done when they were young.

 

[Whispering Winds]

Or, if you just can't find someone for him to play with, let me know and my 8 year old and i will come and get him and take him home with us . . .