Guinea Pigs, is it usual for them to fight?

[yummyumm]

We recently bought our sons a Guinea Pig each(a month ago), they are both young males and share the same hutch. I have noticed them have little squabbles from the day we got them. But lately I have noticed that one of them(the slightly older and bigger one) has had an odd cut or sore, nothing really bad, it just looks like the other one has nipped him. Just wandered if this is normal, or are they playing?

[bensmum]

You didn't say how old they are but generally two males together from an early age will be okay. Having said that there is always the exception. Are there any females nearby as males will fight if there is a female in the vicinity. Also is there a enough space in the hutch for them both to move freely? You could always consider getting them neutered as this can calm them down. Do the sores look like bites or could the piggy have been scratching? Guinea pigs can sometimes get mange (sounds terrible I know) but they will scratch like mad and make themselves very sore. If it gets worse a trip to the vet might be in order as there are simple remedies for that and it is very infectious

[burnhal]

Generally as said above- males brought up in the same litter will generally get on- not always. Howeer tow strangers are more than likely to fight. No option but to keep them seperate. Neutering may not make any difference. Hae a look here http://www.celiahaddon.co.uk/pet%20problems/gu ineas/manypigs.html or google for many other sites

[fairkatrina]

I kept loads of guinea pigs, from seperate litters, all male, and as a rule guinea pigs get along very well, but when they fight they go all out. Sounds like they're just sorting out the pecking order at the moment, and should settle down; I certainly wouldn't consider seperating them just yet. I only had 1 serious fight in 5 or 6 years of keeping guineas, although one little piggy got his penis bitten off as a result - not very pleasant! Ear-nipping and the like is fairly usual and nothing to worry about, only seperate them if they are causing serious flesh wounds. (Although the two of mine that fought were eventually reunited and lived the rest of their days as best of friends so even if you do have to split them up it may not need to be a permenant arrangement).

[yummyumm]

Thank you for the answers. They are about 5 and 4 months old, they were bought from the same pet shop and were in the same pen when we got them. The hutch is a 3 foot double decker one, the bottom level being a run which is on grass, so hopefully this is enough space for them both to share.
thanks again.