Alone or in pairs?

[Jessalina]

What's best? I've heard that female Chinese should definately be kept alone, but what about males? Is it worth giving them a chance to live as a pair and see how it goes, or should they be kept singly from the start?

Yes, I'm thinking of filling that empty Gabber 8)

[Bunsey]

i'd probably just get one, but if you are totally prepared to end up with 2 single ones then you could give it a go.

I'm sure our resident Chinese experts will be along later but from everything I've heard, pairs don't seem to work with Chinese, even males.

[WE55EX HAMSTERY]

This seems to be the biggest debate about Chinese hamsters.

I currently have two pairs of boys (both pairs of brothers), a mother and daughter pair and also a mum and her two daughters that live together in pairs/threes. The kids are all over 4 months old and I have even shown the males and even the females (on their own and in pairs in the show pens) and added them back to their shared cage with no problems.

However, this is not the norm, especally once the female is pregnant. I find that most boys will get on fine if they are introduced in a new cage, females are not keen on new cage mate of either sex and they will even scrap if they meet out of the cage.

The female BEW chinese that was imported at Bradford show is a complete psyco and has attempted to attack and kill any other Chinese that has been put near her! This has apparently got worse recently and she is though to be pregnant.

The key thing to remember is that they are all individuals and that works now may not in a month or even a weeks time.

[Foreverhamsters]

i would totally agree with rob,
i have never had a pair live together for more than a year. boys do seem to be better than girls, although some people find the opposite to be true.

to prevent even the chance of fighting i, if keeping as pets would only buy the one hamster, they will not get lonely as it is likely that they are actually solitary in the wild. if you give him/her plenty of TLC then they will do just fine.


Alex

[Jessalina]

Thanks for the input. I think a single Chinese would be the way to go, particularly for a newbie such as myself, I don't want to have to deal with serious fights or anything.
I've only ever had Syrians before, but I used to know someone with a male Chinese and he was lovely. I love the way they cling to your finger :lol:

[NaomiR]

I have a single (rescue) chinese called Bejing, she's almost 2 years old and the most affectionate hammie I've ever met I love her to bits and I'm sure she wouldn't be the same towards me if she had a friend :wink:

They are dear little creatures and I think everyone should have at least 1 Chinese, did you get one yet???

[Jessalina]

They are dear little creatures and I think everyone should have at least 1 Chinese, did you get one yet???

I did :D His intro thread is here (http://www.hamstercentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=5056).

I really need to get some more pics of him.

[Saskia1982]

This seems to be the biggest debate about Chinese hamsters.

I currently have two pairs of boys (both pairs of brothers), a mother and daughter pair and also a mum and her two daughters that live together in pairs/threes. The kids are all over 4 months old and I have even shown the males and even the females (on their own and in pairs in the show pens) and added them back to their shared cage with no problems.

However, this is not the norm, especally once the female is pregnant. I find that most boys will get on fine if they are introduced in a new cage, females are not keen on new cage mate of either sex and they will even scrap if they meet out of the cage.

The female BEW chinese that was imported at Bradford show is a complete psyco and has attempted to attack and kill any other Chinese that has been put near her! This has apparently got worse recently and she is though to be pregnant.

The key thing to remember is that they are all individuals and that works now may not in a month or even a weeks time.

Putting adult chinese together is asking for problems..
They must grow up together..
Although BEW chinese females can be bitchy to males, when they grew up together they usely can stay together for as long as you want to breed..