[Pebbles82]

That is a lovely big tank and I can see you've taken a lot of care with the set up for a pair - with larger type tunnels etc.

It is very difficult when different people have strong views and pairs is one of these - either way. When I first joined this forum the usual advice was - careful set up and keep a close eye if any kind of squabbling. If any injury then separate. There were some experienced owners who believed that squabbling could be settled and also felt strongly about people saying - separate straight away. On the other hand there have been some awful injuries.

So it is a big emotive topic and I am sure your breeder will give you support and advice if there are any issues.

Pairs can live happily for life without needing separating - the time they often start to fall out is when their hormones kick in/puberty.

It is usual to have two wheels with a pair plus two houses or (I see you have a lovely large house) or more than one entrance to a house - maybe that house does have more than one entrance and I can't see. The reason being to help avoid any territorial behaviour. But as they are settling in I wouldn't change anything or move anything around right now and stress them.

The easiest thing would be to just "add" the odd thing - eg an extra wheel - or an extra house/hideout (with more than one entrance) - a tissue box with a couple of holes is fine! One at a time maybe. If you can just pop them in without needing to move anything around (which it looks like you might be able to).

It does no harm to have an extra house and wheel either.

I had some of these tips from someone who did manage to keep pairs together - and it included -scatter feeding instead of using a food bowl (if you do use a food bowl then add an extra one so one doesn't get territorial about the food bowl). And even to the point of having them both out for handling at the same time - so the one left in the cage doesn't start to get territorial about the cage.

But it is lovely that they are sleeping together and have settled in well. Fingers crossed. The things to look out for is if the smaller one stays small and the bigger one gets bigger (it can mean the bigger one is dominating and the smaller one isn't getting any food). And any fighting of course.

The tips for two wheels and houses etc are to help avoid fighting or squabbling over one thing. If you think about it, it's like small children sharing toys! If they start fighting over the toy then give the other one the same toy! To prevent it - give them both one to start with.

With the hamsters - even if they have two houses, they may still both sleep together in one house - but if one gets awkward, the other one has another house to go to, to retreat. Another reason for needing more than one entrance - in case one blocks it and traps the other one inside (or outside) of the house.

So the whole pairs set up is to avoid either of them getting territorial about a certain aspect of the habitat. I hope that helps! They will love the silent runner. I would suggest adding another wheel that's an open wheel - and maybe a flying saucer as well. They can both run in them together but at times may want to run on a different one separately.

You will find people advising to separate them anyway. I think if it was me I would see how it goes, but not wait for injury - but look out for squabbling/fighting. That can progress very quickly to a fight to the death. One can kill or seriously maim the other one. (Sorry I know you're already anxious) - but that is what can happen. I was going to adopt a pair of siblings from a rescue but they had to be separated before I could adopt them.

When cage cleaning, again it would be best to take them both out at the same time - into a playpen area eg. And to not do a big full clean out - but spot clean the substrate mostly and do partial cleans infrequently. So do the wheels as and when needed - not too much or it removes their scent and they get confused. Toys tend not to need cleaning very often - cardboard can be replaced if pee'd on. It's only really their pee that needs cleaning - and spot cleaning pee areas is the main thing. (If you can find them! If not then don't worry about it). You can go two or three months with just spot cleaning the odd handful of substrate, before needing to change the substrate. When you do change the substrate, it is a good idea to keep back some of the old substrate that is clean and dry and spread it on top of the new (so it still smells familiar). That layer will gradually get spot cleaned out.

You don't need to worry about poops - they're not dirty or smelly - they eat them sometimes or even hoard them (which is normal - they are hard wired to prepare for food shortage!). They have two stomachs and can redigest vitamins from the poops. They often use a sand bath as toilet for pooping. And you can just scoop them out of the sand bath when they get rather a lot.

Don't worry if you do need to separate them - they live perfectly happily on their own - and it can be a relief from stress (if one is getting bullied or not getting enough to eat). And they can still enjoy bonding with your grandchildren although then would need to come out at separate times (once separated they can't mix again - unless you are a very experienced owner who knows how to manage that kind of thing - not recommended though).

If they do need separating, what you could do is have them in separate rooms - so the grandchildren can all enjoy playing with the hamsters - just not in the same room.

My only slight concern might be the blue plastic house in the sand bath which they could squabble over as it doesn't look very big for both to get in and out of easily - but it's hard to tell from the photo. Personally I would take that out.

Oh and two water bottles as well- or a water bottle and a shallow drinking bowl. I can see you've got three bowls on top of the house - so assume two of them are food bowls. If one is a water bowl, it does need to be something very shallow so they don't fall in and get wet. Hamsters shouldn't get wet.

Something to think about could be - scatter feeding insread of food bowls and have the sand bath on top of the house instead - to make space for and extra wheel without needing to move anything else in the cage.