Would an upgrade upset their bonding?

fluffydd · 10-18-2013, 05:02 AM

There's a pair of what look like Russian dwarf hamsters near me that are looking for a new home. They keep being readvertised on gumtree for a lower price each time. I'm trying to be strict and not take on any new furries as I have quite a few at the moment. But I'm starting to feel really bad for them. The previous owner has had them for 4 months. They don't know what sex they are but are assuming they are the same sex as they've not had babies.

They are living in a mini duna at the moment and if I took them in I would like to upgrade them to my spare Barney cage. But would the upgrade upset their bonding? I wouldn't want to make them fight but would want to give them more space if possible. I'm aware that people generally give pairs of hamsters 2 of everything and that won't be a problem.

I don't have the most hamster experience - I've had 1 syrian and 1 robo, so don't know what to expect from Russian dwarfs. Is it possible for them to live the whole of their lives together without falling out? Do they like to interact with people or are they 'look but don't touch' hamsters like robos? I'm going to read everything I can find about them over the weekend while still thinking about what to do and hoping that someone else will give them a home as I'm worried that I won't be able to give them as much attention as they deserve. So at the moment I'm just doing a bit of fact finding

Scampi16 · 10-18-2013, 05:30 AM

Hi I have a pair of robo's I got from adoption corner at the age of 4 months old.
i of course don't know their living conditions before P@H, but there they had a tiny little glass tank, I took them home and put them in a zoozone 1 (no probs), I then upgraded them again a month - 2 months later to a hamster heaven and have had no problems with falling out - they have little play fights then are cuddling up together again.
You may want to keep them in the mini duna to start with until they get used to the new property / people, then upgrade them to a barney cage, they need to have two of most items like wheels, no levels and toys with more than one entrance / exit, i would monitor them as I have always done with my robo's. If they are 4 months old without falling out that is a good sign, but there is never any guarentee with a pair, they can always fall out at some point for no apparent reason (even if you follow all the best ways such as mentioned in my above details).
Hope you take them on and they stay friends.

fluffydd · 10-18-2013, 06:34 AM

Thank you for the advice. I was thinking that they should stay in the mini duna until they were used to us. That's what we did when we took in a pair of gerbils who'd been living in a tiny gerbilarium.

**DrKMcK** · 10-18-2013, 11:25 AM

Good luck with these little ones. Let them stay in the mini duna for a week or so, then you can upgrade them. If anything, a larger home should make it better for them because there is enough room for them to be apart if they wish.

**kyrilliondaemon** · 10-18-2013, 11:50 AM

Good luck, there is a chance of hybrids living together their whole lives (two of ours did) but its not guaranteed. We've upgraded pairs and groups before and its usually worked out ok for us

kimlck · 10-18-2013, 02:26 PM

I have a russian/hybrid and she is the most delightful girl.
She does like attention, and she has always been tame from the moment i got her (p@h adoption)
Take them if you can

fluffydd · 10-19-2013, 02:09 AM

Will their 2 wheels need to be the same or will they be ok with 2 different ones?

**kyrilliondaemon** · 10-19-2013, 05:14 AM

Different hams require different rules really, some pairs definetly won't mind different wheels, others might. With our pair and trio we started with some of the basic rules and have adjusted over time as we've learnt what the hams themselves want and are comfortable with

fluffydd · 10-21-2013, 02:44 AM

I've seen a picture of their cage and at the moment they have a flying saucer and an upright wheel.

If they do decided they don't want to live together is it likely that I'll see signs of trouble and be able to separate them before either gets injured or is it possible that they will just have a really horrible fight without any other signs first?

I'm still undecided what to do. After Fluffy left us I decided not to get any new pets so I could concentrate on my existing one. I've been thinking about these little guys a lot though.

Scampi16 · 10-21-2013, 06:00 AM

As they have been together happily for 4 months they should be more likely to stay together, but of course thats no guarentee.
If they were to fall out you would prob see / hear them chasing each other around (one chase the other) and some squeaking noises (this happened with my chinese, but neither were hurt and i separated them into different cages), they may play fight which is nothing to be too concerned over, but keep an eye on them, they often look to attack the back end they they do fall out. if you have them under surveillance when you first have them to gauge their bond, this should alert you to any problems.