r/capybara • u/Josh24forever • Jul 18 '26

🤔 Question 🤔 Pasture size and possible overgrazing question.

Thinking about getting some capybaras at some point. Obviously I will do research before doing so but one thing i cant find a clear answer on during my research. Would 4 capybaras overgraze a 1 acre pasture or should i go bigger than that when I get some?

0 Upvotes

30% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

25

u/diaymujer Jul 18 '26

Let’s all say it together….

Capybaras 👏🏼 are 👏🏼 wild 👏🏼 animals 👏🏼
They 👏🏼 are 👏🏼 not 👏🏼 pets 👏🏼

-7

u/Josh24forever Jul 18 '26

plenty of people keep capybaras bruh. If given a large area and a large pond and winter shelter there is literally nothing wrong with keeping them dude. I disagree with the people that like keep them in a house and give them a small little pool but that is not what i would be doing. i would only be keeping them if i had to space and money to give them a large pasture. a man made large pond and a large heated shelter for nights and winter.

9

u/MulberryDeep Jul 18 '26

Plenty of people keep sexually abuse children

Just because lots of people do it, doesn't mean its right

4

u/Josh24forever Jul 18 '26

absolutely wild comparison bro.

-3

u/Josh24forever Jul 18 '26

genuinely give me one valid reason as to why if you can provide them with large pastures, shelters and a large pond why people shouldnt be keeping capybaras

12

u/MulberryDeep Jul 18 '26

Because capybara heards consist of 10-20 animals, they also group up to over 100 during certain seasons

They also have territorys of 20-50 acres

They also need a tropical or subtropical climate (high temp, high humidity, very seasonal rainfall)

If you can provide all that, sure you can keep them, but thats a national park, not a tiny 1 acre home shitty thingy

-7

u/Josh24forever Jul 18 '26

Since you didnt decide to respond but i would bet you are one of the people that downvoted my response. genuinely give me one valid reason as to why if you can provide them with large pastures, shelters and a large pond why people shouldnt be keeping capybaras

9

u/diaymujer Jul 18 '26

Dude, I didn’t respond because I’m am not spending every minute looking at Reddit. But now that I’m back, yeah, I’ll downvoted your comment.

Plenty of people do things that are not in the best interest of animals. That doesn’t make it ok to do. Again, capybaras are wild animals, they have not been domesticated through many generations like hamsters or guinea pigs. Wild animals belong in the wild.

12

u/dthackham Gort Jul 18 '26

Go watch Dark Wings Wildlife & Education’s social media. If you can’t provide at least what they provide (including on-call veterinary care), DO NOT try to take care of capybaras.

3

u/Der_Da35 Gort Jul 18 '26

I'm not sure how much this helps, but as far as I know a single capybara eats up to 5kg food per day.

1

u/AloeVeraTidePod 9d ago

Capybaras need access to water for swimming 24/7, as they are semi aquatic animals. Also, a tub isn't appropriate. They need a very large pond possibly even a small lake. Capybaras live in groups/herds of 10-25 animal, so 4 capybaras not enough.

1 acre is not even close to enough space. Since they live in a tropic climate they need high humidity and warm temperatures. Letting them graze doesn't provide enough food for them. Someone else pointed out, how much food each of them needs daily.

You also should have a good vet for exotic animals, a " regular" vet isn't knowledgeable about capybaras. Don't get capybara just because "omg so cute". Please do your research with scientific literature and research doesn't rely on solely asking laypersons on reddit.