[Emily94]

I have two male guinea pigs right now, there in a small cage. I am planning on building a large cage when it gets warm out, it is going to be 5ftx3ft on both levels. I am just wondering, what is your opinion on adding another male guinea pig? I have done research and it said that 2 males can live together fine as long as a female is not near them, but it says nothing about adding another male...

-I got my first one, and then the second one a week later, and they've been together ever since, they do sometimes argue about being dominate but it settles right away, they usually "rumble" at each other and then chase each other and then all is well. I don't think either of them has a very dominate behavior, but the one I got first eats first, and is always the first to run up to the cage.
-I've attached a picture so you kind of get the idea of the cage.

[ckvietok]

Probably not a good idea, in case the third guinea pig is more dominant... I had two hamsters and they were both too dominant, and one ended up dying because of how bad it got. (I did try to help them, but it just got worse) hope this helps! :)

[Alty]

I don't know a lot about guinea pigs, but I would assume they're a lot like rabbits when adding a new member.

If you insist on doing this, then do it slowly. Don't just plop the new guy in the cage and hope for the best.

Introduce them in neutral territory, and I would also suggest that you not put them together in the same cage until the new cage is built. The new cage would be neutral for all of them. The old cage belongs to the 2 current piggies and they may fight to defend what they consider their territory.

Just going with reasoning here, not with any concrete info on piggies.

[Alty]

probably not a good idea, in case the third guinea pig is more dominant....i had two hamsters and they were both too dominant, and one ended up dying because of how bad it got. (i did try to help them, but it just got worse) hope this helps! :)

I have to address this, even though it has nothing to do with Emily's thread.

Your hamsters didn't fight because of dominance, but because they're hamsters.

Hamsters are solitary animals, they cannot be kept together. Once they hit sexual maturity, they have to be separated. If you get another hamster, dominant or not, it's very likely, probable, that they'll fight to the death again.

There are some breeds of hamsters that can handle being together, but the majority of people get syrian hamsters (the teddy bears and others) and they cannot be kept together after sexual maturity, usually at around 3 months of age, but to be safe, after they're weaned, they should be separated.