Here's a thought...

[Pouchy]

Is it right to keep pet rodents in same sex groups in small cages, as from my experience this past year, they seem to fall out, quarrel and fight. Forcing them to live like homosexuals seems to bring out unnatural behaviours and aggression. So even the sociable hamsters like the dwarves have to be seperated as they scrapped, the female gerbils used to fight and the multis also quarrel. When I were nobbut a lad I kept a male and female gerbil in the same cage and they never fought.
Obviously the reason we force our animals to live in single sex pairs and groups is so that we aren't inundated with hundreds of little furballs who eat us out of house and home, but is this really fair on the animals themselves.
I did read on the web that dwarf male hamsters also are loners apart from when they wish to indulge in carnal knowledge and also male fancy mice will fight and these are supposedly social animals.
Any thoughts and should we be keeping some of these animals as pets if they can't get on with each other in a small space or only as a breeding pair? Discuss

[Basia]

Its a difficult one. We are often encouraged to keep animals in pairs so they won't be lonely but, in fact, if they are being kept in restricted living conditions they inevitably end up fighting. I think often the animals would be happier living alone as long as they get a lot of human contact and interaction. They are, after all, domesticated and no longer wild or living in their normal habitat. Its one of the reasons I like syrians - they have to be kept alone.
I see the rabbit rescues insisting on rabbits going in pairs and neutering them so that it is more likely to be successful. I used to breed rabbits for many, many years and I only ever had one pair of does who happily lived together. Of course, none of mine were neutered.
I've always found guinea pig sows are happy to live in groups but there is a very strong pecking order. I think they are better in groups than pairs. Males can also be kept in pairs but I have found this a bit more tricky, they don't exactly fight but can show symptoms of stress, mite outbreaks, etc. They need a decent size cage with room to get away from each other if they want.
I've never had any trouble keeping gerbils in same sex groups either but they did have massive fish tanks as their home.
My two-penn'orth!