Two females Syrians put together?!

[zebbecorn]

Okay, no nasty replies. This was unintentional and not planned in anyway. So the neighbor girl has been by every day to play with my hammies and my rabbit. I gave her Chloe, along with her cage, food bowl and stuff, and some food and bedding. I went to a family reunion today and when I came back, I settled in. I'm now suffering from stomach flu, thanks family. But a few minutes ago I went upstairs to check on everyone. Filled Max's bottle because the naughty turd knocked it over. But when I walked by to exit the room I saw..two bodies in one hamster cage? And with closer examination, I noticed Maggie was in Grayci's cage WITH Grayci in the cage as well.

As Syrians are meant to be by themselves, I freaked out and removed Mags immediately and put her back in the cage. But there are no holes in her cage for her to have escaped or even climbed into the cage. Luckily, I found no wounds or blood on my girls. And honestly, I couldn't have made it this far in life without Grayce, and losing her will take a huge toll on me. But they seemed to get along together. Mags and Grayce were sitting by each other and Mags was running on Grayci's wheel as Grayci watched.

I'm just extremely worried that it'll stress one of them out and one of them will develop Wet-tail. None of my hamsters have ever been sick. :C Ever. I will say it was very odd, seeing them together and not fighting or anything. But, as I recall, when I adopted Grayci, she was being housed with two of her siblings and they were cuddling close and being cute, and Maggie was housed with her siblings as well in the same cage, and they got along too. I'm probably being too panicky over nothing. :C

There are only two people who could have done this: a) my brother (he claims not to of touched them) or b) the neighbor girl (but I explained to her that you should never ever house Syrians in multiples).

[DrKMcK]

Hello Zebbecorn, Although Syrian's don't normally live together, and they shouldn't be housed together by us humans, it isn't a given that they'll attack each other if one is put into another's cage. It can and does happen. I accidentally put Pip, a young Black Bear, into his father, Blaze's cage. They looked identical and I was tired. When I realized it and saw two in the cage, I also freaked. But in my case, poor Pip was badly hurt. His father had torn him up badly and he bore the scars for the rest of his life. I rushed him to the vet, which is why he lived. In your case, I think the younger ham knew the older one was no threat, or, they were just so surprised they didn't know what to do. I'm glad you got away with it this time. Knowing who is was isn't going to change anything. I'd just make sure you were around anytime they are out of the cage. I wouldn't leave the little neighbor alone with them and I would hope your brother wouldn't do this as some kind of joke. They won't get wet tail from this and they shouldn't get sick with anything else either. It was just something a little different for them. By now, they don't even remember it.

PS: The little girl could have just done it by accident, just as I did. So could your brother, but he might be afraid to admit it.

[zebbecorn]

I knew I was probably panicking. I'm just glad none of them are hurt because Grayce means the world to me. if it was the neighbor, I wanted to just let her know that you can't house them together. Okay.

[Bailey]

In my experience, female Syrian's will sometimes (maybe) cope with each other just a bit longer than two males or a female/male, which is an instant battle and can be quickly fatal. At pet stores here, they throw in young new females just being shipped in with the last remaining older female in a small tank; I see it all the time. Males too actually, with an older male or two. They fight, but sometimes the females tolerate each other for awhile, begrudgingly. But it's so dangerous and I always point it out. It's terribly cruel actually and the shops must know better. But in your case, an accident occurred.

I have two female Syrians and I make sure my daughter does not have free access to them for this reason, as she's very young. It would just be awful if they fought. I think you got lucky on this one, thankfully.