My Guinea Pigs Are Being Aggresive To Each Other

Question
Hi I am new to this website so there are somethings I might not understand but whatever. So I have this guine pig named Baltazare he is almost 1 year old I got him about six month ago and saw he was kind of lonely so I decided to get a new one. So I got a new one named Melkior and he is about 3 month old. He got along prety well with Baltazare. But last FridayI noticed he had an ear infection (but he is fine know) and that same day Baltazare bit him and Melkior SQUEALED really hard! Bu know whenever I put their cages next to each other they get pretty aggresive with each other. If any of you know what I should do please answer back. thanks

Answer
Unfortunately most boars will not tolerate another boar in their space. Sometimes a very young baby will be accepted but once the baby reaches sexual maturity the testosterone begins to take over and a territorial fight begins.

You have to remember that these are herding animals. Just as with wild horses, sheep, lions, wolves, etc. there is always one alpha male and only one. As the young males are born they're allowed to stay within the herd until they begin reaching their maturity and challenge the alpha male. That's when trouble begins. They will fight to the death unless one of them gives up, at which point they are banished from the herd.

Boars are hard wired with this instinct. They reach a point when that instinct is telling them that the other is an intruder, and even though there are no sows present they react to their hormonal drive and will begin to fight. These fights can and will cause serious injuries if not actually the death of the weaker pig.

The only option you have is to separate them and keep them apart. Introducing on "neutral turf" doesn't work. Once in the cage the senior, or alpha, male will fight for his territorial rights.

The only exception to this is when you have an old boar that has past breeding age and you introduce a baby in his cage. Even then, once the baby reaches a certain point he begins to pick on the older one. It's the way nature works and we cannot change it. Even neutering doesn't always change this unless the boars were neutered before they approached their sexual maturity.