Neutered male

Question
I had my male guinea pig neutered over a month ago and am having problems integrating him back with my females, one of which is his own mother. The other two females don't seem too bothered by him but his own mother chases him away and he backs off chattering his teeth when I try them together so my male guinea pig is living separately. His mother is the largest of the females and my husband thinks she sees the male as challenging her leadership - could this be right and do you have any suggestions please?

Answer
Guinea pigs unfortunately do not have the same family values as humans, and your guinea pigs will not really remember or care that they are mother and son!

I'm going to give you the same advice that I give to someone who wants to introduce two males to each other for the first time:

* Fully clean out their cage
* Bath them
* Put them in together (just the male and the mother) with some of their favourite food and see if they bond.

This should mean that the male loses his scent and the female will accept him as part of her group. However, I do not think it generally works to keep a neutered male with more than one female, so you may need to separate the group and have two pairs.

If you have any other questions, just ask.

Jenny.