Housing 2 male guinea pigs

Question
We got a male guinea pig little over a month ago, and did'nt asked how old, but did'nt look very old, any way looking on the internet they sugest having 2,and that you could have 2 males, so we got another one just the other day, brought him (CoCoa) home and put CoCoa and Squeeks on the floor, Squeeks went to CoCoa started smelling him and seemed to get along. I put them in the cage I have for Squeeks, and it seems that Squeeks chases CoCoa around, and does'nt let him eat out of the bowl. I went to our vet supply store and got a larger cage for them, and was wondering if that would stop Squeeks from chasing and not letting CoCoa eat if it was a teritorial thing going on, and if so should I put the new guinea pig in the cage first, and let him run around, and get settled in before I put in the bigger one

Answer
Housing two boars together can be a very tricky task. If they're raised together since they were tiny they will sometimes live happily without any issues. If you have one that is already been by himself, and if he is starting to reach sexual maturity (which happens about three or four months old it's not so easy.

They start reaching sexual maturity at about four months of age, but some have an earlier start on the hormones. Because these are herding animals they do not tolerate another boar who might challenge the breeding rights of the herd.

This is true of all herding animals whether it's horses,hippos, cattle, sheep, lions, etc.  There is always only one alpha male. As young males are born into the herd they are allowed to stay only until they begin reaching maturity and making passes at the females. That's when the fight begins. The alpha male will fight for his territory and will not stop until one of them is either dead or retreats in defeat.

Once the battle has been fought the winning male reserves the right to take over the role as the alpha and none of the females are allowed to breed with anyone but the 'king.'  If the older male loses he is banished forever from the herd. If the young challenger loses the battle then he is banished.

If there are no females around then sometimes you can get two boars to reside without trouble. But very often as one of them gets older the hormones drive them to do what Nature has hard wired them to do: Be the only king on the hill.

If you start hearing one of them growling, posturing with the hair standing up on their back and swaying back and forth a serious fight is imminent.  So you need to be diligent in watching to see if they're going to be willing to live together peacefully.

Maintaining control of the feed bowl is one way of showing who is boss. If that's all that you see and there's no evidence of serious fighting you may be able to keep them together. Try putting another bowl on the opposite side of the cage. It may be that in time Squeeks might relent and allow Cocoa to stay, but there are no guarantees.

Although they do like company there are many pigs who spend their lives with just their people as company. Boars especially are okay being alone. If you want Squeeks to have someone to converse with you can always put their cages close together so they can touch noses and 'talk' to one another without being able to fight.

A guinea pig bite can and will easily get infected. I wouldn't risk the health of either one of them just for the sake of company.