Gay Guinea Pigs

Question
Hello Andy,
I have a guinea pig which I've had for over 5 months now named Snickers, and he is an only guinea pig. I purchased him at Petsmart on March 18, 2007 and all this time I thought that Snickers was very lonely, so I tried convincing my parents to get one, and they finally did! I went to Petsmart again just recently to get another MALE guinea pig, on August 13, 2007 (Snickers is also male). I named it Hersheys and Hersheys is practically a baby! After buying it, I went home to bring it to Snickers, and when I did, Snickers started to sniff and touch Hersheys which I thought was completely normal, but then I started to notice Snickers trying to have "sex" with my Hersheys! I was completely shocked and I became extremely angry and worried because Hersheys looked like he was getting hurt from Snickers doing what he did, and I need to know if this is normal or not, if my Snickers is ever going to stop, does Snickers know that Hersheys is a male, and if Hersheys is actually getting hurt.

Answer
Hi Jinny

The behaviour you describe is totally normal. This is Snickers way of telling Hersheys that he is the boss pig. It should settle down after a few days.

If however any sort of actual agrression occurs such as fighting then please separate the pigs and let me know.

Andy