[Gpdd] Behavior - my two young males

[Suzy Dunser]

Hi everyone,

I am new not only to the list, but new to having guinea pigs in my  
life! We have two brothers, Cocoa and Rocky, who are about 10 weeks  
old now. I've been told that since they are from the same litter that  
they may get along without being neutered, but that it's not  
guaranteed. My question is, how do I judge how well they're getting  
along? Usually they seem happy and get along, but sometimes they do  
that "rrrrrr" thing at each other - mostly over a prized leaf, but  
once or twice I've heard them do it seemingly to keep the other one  
out of their little house. I haven't seen any actual biting.

The setup I have them in is a 4ft x 8ft wire-enclosed cage with a  
typical outside-hutch plugged into one end of it. (This on our deck,  
which has a roof over it.) Within the big area there are two small  
"houses", one of which is kind of tight with both of them in there  
(when they grow up I think only one will fit), plus a footstool and a  
Nikau palm leaf (this will mean nothing to anyone outside New  
Zealand, but it provides another space they can hide in). I also make  
sure they have a pile of hay they can go into, besides the bedding on  
the floor. They sometimes share this setup with two minilop rabbits  
(one neutered boy and one girl), and I haven't seen any issues  
between the guinea pigs and the rabbits - they don't really interact  
much (except the guinea pigs sometimes steal leaves out of the  
rabbits' mouths!)

So: Should I be concerned about the "rrrrrr"ing? At what point would  
I decide to neuter them? Will it help them get along with each other?  
Is neutering dangerous? Also, if you have any comments about the  
living arrangement I've described, I would welcome any tips. I've  
read a lot, but there's often conflicting info...

Cheers,
Suzy
with Rocky and Cocoa