Is my guinea pig just antisocial?

[Themightyduck18]

I have 4 guinea pigs. All males. Charlie and bravo are the same age and the oldest at about 2 years old. Charlie has always been friendly and outgoing but bravo is shy, timid, and stays in his house. We built a huge playpen for them to run around and recently introduced petey and Sylvester to the two and they're a month old now. Theyre both adventurous and hang with charlie all the time but bravo stays in his house 90 percent of the day and chatters his teeth at the others.

 

[Piggies&buns]

If he has always been quieter, then that may just be his character (one of my boars is more outgoing than the other) but adding more males to an existing pair of males is usuallh a bad idea and may be the cause of his teeth chattering. it is not recommended to keep more than two males living together and particularly once your youngest pair hit their hormonal teens, then things could become problematic. There are boar behaviour guides on this website (in the guides tab on the top banner) which may help you.

 

[Themightyduck18]

Hopefully I didnt screw up I didnt even think about the whole dominance structure. Well I appreciate the heads up I'll keep an eye on them and make sure they dont hurt each other.

 

[Piggies&buns]

The choice is obviously yours, but I would personally separate now rather than risking the fights (and potential breakdown of the relationship of your older pair) which are highly likely to occur - I’m sure I’ve seen that the stats are something like a 90% fall out rate when more than two males are together. If you choose to keep them together for now, then watch them very closely and have all separation equipment prepared ie spare cage or extra dividers if they are in a c&c dividers, spare bowls etc. The recommendation for two males is a 6ft cage (180cm or 5x2 c&c) so for them to stand any chance, they need a huge amount of space to be able to get away from each other. Make sure all hideys are open ended so that no piggy can get cornered and make sure you hsve multiple food bowls etc so that no guarding can occur.

 

[Bill & Ted]

I think you are heading for trouble there. Bravo stays in his hidey probably because he is the less dominant piggie, he knows that with Charlie. He now faces two other young boars who will also challenge him soon for position in the hiarachie when they become hormonal teenagers.
And it’s all going to kick off! I would personally separate into pairs, your original pair and the new pair and hope they all stay calm and bonded. I know there are one or two people who have trios but this is quite a rarity.
Good luck with the boys!