Unhappy Hammy???

[Holly]

I know I've posted about this before and really nothing's changed - except that I get the impression that Sparrow might actually be quite unhappy living with his dominant (and much larger) brother and I wonder if I'm being mean in persevering with their shared cage arrangement.

Sparrow seems very timid and kind of flattens himself out when we pick him up - he also does this in his exercise ball. When I watch them in the cage it seems he's contantly being pushed around by Turner and - though I scatter their food - I wonder if he's getting enough as he's tiny in comparison to his huge brother.

They do usually still sleep together but a couple of times lately I've found Sparrow seemingly banished to the least favoured coconut bed with hardly any bedding or food, while Turner seems to be hogging the main bed and a mountainous food store.

There has never been any sign of bloodshed so I've kept them together but now I'm starting to wonder if Sparrow is actually having a miserable life and would be happier alone?


Any advice appreciated...

[Christine Yule]

I am not familiar with the fine points of Winter White behavior but I do have Campbell's and Robos.

By the way you describe it, it seems that there may be severe domination happening. Even though species are social, I don't think that each pairing is necessarily a good match. Some of my Robos and Campbells have very strong bullying tendencies and I have chosen to separate them to their own containers even though there hasn't been "bloodshed". I would say that if you observe that one hamster is being deprived of food or being excessively bossed you might determine that the submissive one may be stressed by the company rather than benefiting. I suppose, in the wild, the submissive one could decide to leave but in captivity, he really can't unless you separate them. I haven't observed that my Dwarves, suffer by being caged alone. I think that if you did decide to separate them, you could just make sure you play with them individually so they could have interaction with you.

But, maybe someone who has experience with Winter Whites has helpful suggestions.

Hamstermama

[Holly]

Well, since I wrote that post yesterday, I've been watching them closely and it doesn't seem so bad :? ...I really don't know what to do so I've decided to keep a close watch on them this week and decide then. It will mean buying a new cage as I'm going to be using the spare Rex we have for our new arrival but that's no problem - I have a small emergency cage in case of bloodshed but it's not big enough for a hamster to live full-time in.

[souffle]

It may just be that Sparrow is naturally smaller than his brother. You could try sneakily topping up his store so when he goes in the coconut he can nibble it. Scatter the food in opposite corners as there is no way Turner can be in two places at once to eat :lol: If you feel he is coping with the dominance OK then it should be OK to keep them together however if he really is not going about his hamstery life and seems oppressed by his brother you will have to think hard about separation. Many dwarfs live quite happily alone so don't worry about it if you do. If you did sepatarte them Turner might get depressed because he had no one to dominate and missed the company so you don't really know :? It is true what Christine said, in that our captive hams cant choose to walk. It is also unlikely that two males would form a group as there would be females, young and other males in a wild group which would change the social hierachy. I beleive the females are the dominant ones.

[Gust0o]

Holly, how did this situation pan out?

I have brother Winter Whites, who seemed to be living in a similar set of circumstances - would be curious to know if you found an answer, maybe compare some notes :)

[souffle]

http://www.hamstercentral.com/forum/vie ... php?t=2174 (http://www.hamstercentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2174)
It panned out like this Gus!!!
It has happened with nearly everyone on the forum with pairs.
Ours were separated in January after a big fight and are now much happier and thriving alone.

[Holly]

Yep, sadly it didn't pan out too well for them living together - however they are both still doing well and seem happy on their own - it was only earlier tonight Will and I were commenting on how well and healthy Sparrow looks these days!