Introducing a New Guinea Pig....

Question
Hi,  I hope you can give me some advice.  I had 4 guinea pigs - 3 boys and their Mom.  We had the boys neutered.  One of the boys was housed with Mom and the other two boys were together.  Unfortunately, we had to put one of the boys to sleep as his kidneys were failing and he was extremely ill.  His cagemate, the other boy, now seems lonely and depressed.  My husband and I thought building a super large cage and housing them all together would be great (it is 6 feet by 3 feet).  It hasn't worked out well though as the boy who has always lived with Mom is trying to attack the other one constantly.  We even put up a wire separator and the dominant male tries to chew through it to attack the other male.  He is really aggressive.  Obviously, Mom and her original cagemate will have to stay together and a new companion will have to be found for the other boy.  As he is neutered - would a young female be his best companion?  We were thinking this might be best as we have read that females get along with each other and males usually quite well and as they inevitabley get older and pass on - we were thinking that it might be easier to have them live together if they are females than to always have to keep buying and seperating males.  Though I absolutely adore my guinea pigs I do not know if I want to continuously have to by a new one when another passes on.  The death of our guinea is quite recent (a couple of days).  Should we wait it out longer before making a decision just in case the other male comes around?  Thanks for your help!!!!  

Answer
Shana --

It might be a good idea to just wait a few days and see if your males settle down.  Guinea pigs are extremely territorial, and if you simply introduce a new one into a "settled" cage, you will create problems.  Have you tried cleaning the cage well and then reintroducing them all at the same time?  That may eliminate or ease the territorial urge.  I would, however, wait a few days.  Usually it will take a couple of days for guinea pigs to establish a "pecking order" within their cage.  Then, the fighting will die down.

If nothing works, I would simply place the two cages near each other.  That would prevent them getting lonely, but it would also save you from buying another guinea pig, especially if you don't want one.

Hope this is helpful.  If you have any more questions, please feel free to contact me again.  Good luck!

Lorena