Male guinea pig humping his brother

Question
Hi,  I have 3 male guins, all brothers. 2 from the same litter (Honey & Guinness) and we then took on a 3rd from the following litter (Frazz). (I breed guinea from 2 pairs I keep at the school i work in). They all get on well but recently Honey has been 'humping' Guinness ALOT! Guiness keeps running away and squeaking! I'm worried about getting him neutered due to the risks. I thought maybe i could take him to school every now and then to be with one of the females, as a more natural solution? Would this be ok as I have a vague memory of reading somewhere that once a male guin has been with a female it can't live with males again. Is there any truth to this?

Answer
Hi Kelli

First of all, it sounds obvious, but are you 100% sure all 3 are male? As a breeder I presume you are sure, but I ask just to be on the safe side.

Humping between males is normal. Its part of a ritual that males go through to determine which of the 3 is going to be the dominant male in the group.

Neutering often doesnt remove these tendencies from males, plus, as you say, its a risky operation. You should find that the behaviour settles down shortly as it only usually last for a week or so until the pecking order is sorted.

Regarding your last question, there is part-truth in the statement you have read. If a male returns to other males with a female's scent on him the others will go crazy and fighting will probably occur. However, the problem shouldnt occur if the scent has been removed from the male before re-introducing him.

My advice would be to leave things as they are in the expectation that the humping will soon cease. I recommend this because you have been lucky in getting 3 males to get along well and removing one then re-introducing him may also lead to fighting.

Andy