Guinea Pig Hierarchy

Question
I've got two male guinea pigs and one female.  The female houses with one of the males (he's been neutered, our other male is not).  When all three pigs are on the floor playing the two males must be watched closely.  They will chatter constantly at each other (typically the unneutered male starts it) so I try to keep them separated (I'm not sure what will happen).  If he is neutered will his aggression decrease to a point that all three can live together or will they always need to be separated?  Can the two males establish a hierarchy if left to deal with their differences on their own?


Answer
Indeed, you have a very tricky situation on your hands. Chattering, is defintely never a good sign, and occurs most often between males, although it does happen with females too. Your first issue is that your neutered male is housed with the female. When ever you take the males out, the unneutered male can smell the female's scent all over your neutered male(even though they don't mate, her scent is still on him from urine and her natural feminine odors). This makes him jealous because he has no time with her. It's a good thing you keep them seperated, and you keep a close watch on them. Don't leave them unattended, as this can turn into a cruel situation. Especially if one of the males gets the upper hand. One of my pig's got bitten by another one, then got an abcess, which had to be drained by a vet assistant and costed quite a bit. The males will fight for now. Seeing as how it's the unneutered male who mainly starts chattering, I would suggest to go ahead and neuter him. This takes away his need to mate, and dominate. However, if you want, I suggest you give both of the males a bath in the same smelling shampoo. Then, I suggest you place each male in his own clean and by clean I mean soap and water cleaning(vinegar works good too by getting rid of the crusty urine build up at the bottom of the cage), and the bedding, and then, when you're ready, take them out and see how they interact. Hopefully by washing them, tensions will less. However, this does not always work. I had a pair of females it worked wonders for, then I had a pair of males that it did nothing for. They ignored each other for a couple of hours, then started the teeth chattering. Honestly, neuter the other male. Then when he's all healed up, bathe him, bathe the other male, and give them some floor time together. Hopefully, this shouldn't be an issue after that. BUT there are some rare cases, where a male just will not get along with another male in spite of everything. The best thing to do, is to introduce a baby male to an older male, or get a pair of brothers. As for seperation, it's hard to say if they could ever get along perfectly. They may always have differences. Just like you may not like a girl you see out in public, or one of your friend's siblings, a guinea pig sometimes chooses not to like another in spite of anything you can do. I reccommend NOT leaving them alone to settle it, because it could possibly result in the death of one of your pigs. Especially when one is fighting over a female. I hope this helped. If it doesn't, write back to me. I will try to find you another answer as I haven't had to deal with this problem in a while. I just keep my 2 males seperated from each other, and only take one out at a time. Each one gets floor time at a different time, in a different spot of the house. That's another suggestion I have. If you have any more questions, feel free to write me. :) That's what I'm here for. I wish you and your pigs a lifetime of love happiness and peace. :)