Merging Cages And Mixing Bedding?

[Yusuf]

so currently I have 2 2X6 c&c cages with 2X4 lofts next to each other, 1 cage with Alex and his girls Kelly and Velvet and my second cage which houses Evan and his girls Tiffany and Brooke, my first question:
1) ever since I adopted my piggies I always layered the cage with a layer of newspaper to absorb all the wee and wet bedding, then a layer of woodshavings and then a layer of hay, but the thing I wanna do is buy large bales of hay BEDDING as it's softer and then mix it with the wood shavings and then give normal feeding hay wherever throughout the cage...could I mix the two so its comfortable as well as absorbent

2) As all 6 guinea pigs are from the same litter, Alex and Evan (the boys) are the youngest from all the piggies, the cages are side by side so they can always smell each other, I also sometimes let Alex live with Tiffany and Brooke and then let Evan live with Kelly and Velvet, so they're all familiar with each other, and I let all 6 have floor time together, with strict supervision to make sure the boys don't fight, but the exact opposite happens, and they seem to get on better than with the girls, so could I possibly turn the 2 2X6 with the 2X4 lofts into one 4X8 cage with a 1X4 long loft?

any help would be great!

 

[VickiA]

Hi @Yusuf
I'm afraid that any attempt to introduce all piggies into one herd would likely fail as the males would end up fighting over the females. Only one neutered boar would work in a herd of females. It's great that they get on when occasionally you mix the herds up as that would make bonding easier if you lost a piggy or 2 in the future, but at the moment, I don't think it would be wise to try to put the 2 males into one herd with the girls.

 

[Yusuf]

aw that's a shame...but thank you very much for the reply