Fighting male guinea pigs

Question
Hi, I hope you can help.  My girlfriend took in a couple of unwanted and unloved male guinea pigs.  They were about 6 months old when she got them and has had them about a month now. She bought them a larger hutch and all was well although there was one that was the more dominant of the two although no fighting or teeth chattering.

In the belief that having their man bits removed would stop them scenting whilst out and about on the carpet, she took them to the vet.  On their return they were a little subdued (understandably!), but about 24 hours later all hell broke loose and we had teeth chattering and they flew at each other.

No blood was drawn, and the one that was dominant was the one doing the chasing.  We immediately separated them with the aggressor going into a spare cage and the other staying in familiar surroundings.  We put them back together briefly but the teeth chattering started again and we separated them before it escalated.

From what I've read on here there seems little hope other than bathing, thorough cleaning of the hutch, and crossed fingers.  Is this right or is there more we can do?

I guess the surgery was the cause of the fighting, are they simply trying to re-establish who is the dominant one and once this is sorted they will go back to how things were?  

My poor girlfirend is feeling very guilty having had their bits lopped off and this happening, I hope there is some way we can restore harmony!

Many thanks in advance,

Dan

Answer
Hi Dan,

Just so you know ... male guinea pigs don't tend to make a mess of the carpet or mark their scent, and it's not recommended to have piggies neutered unless you want to keep them with the opposite sex. However, you seem to have been lucky and found a good vet!

I can only imagine that your boys are very confused now that they don't have their manliness. They don't have the testosterone they need to establish who is boss! Un-neutered males can take a while to bond, but once they do, it should be for life.

From what you've said, neutered males behave nothing like females (they don't fight) so I'm going to recommend you treat them like two males who've never met. This means (you guessed it!) thoroughly cleaning out their cage, bathing them in a good shampoo (I recommend Just For Boars from www.gorgeousguineas.com), possibly rubbing a bit of vicks on their grease glands (near their bottoms) and noses, and putting them back in the cage with their favourite food ... and crossing your fingers.

Good luck!

Jenny.

PS - You or your girlfriend should wear gardening gloves when you reintroduce them. If you need to split up a proper fight, your hands will need protecting. Don't split them up for circling, rumbling, mounting, humping, or teeth-chattering ... only biting.