Male dwarf Hamsters..3 Months Later

[CallumPhillip01]

it's been roughly 3 months since i got my dwarf hamsters (Originally Billy and Cinnamon, now called Billy and Brian) and they are great little hamsters. Brian seems to be a bit cage territorial to me i think because everytime i put my hand in the cage near him he will bite me, but as soon as I take him out of the cage he doesn't bite at all. Billy has never bit me or nibbled me.

I have a couple of behaviour questions about them that's really bugging me lately:

1) while billy sleeps he will often squeek and it's really loud. Is this normal? I'm watching him and he is fine but he just squeeks.

2) is it normal for hamsters to have little scuffs, not very often at all? I was observing them and noticed that they were rolling around eachother and it loked like fighting but there was no sqeeking or serious bites or anything so i'm wondering if it's just playing?

3) I currently have them in the alexander hamster cage with the shelves taken out. I read that they could become territorial over shelves and other levels so that's why i took them out. Is this true and can I put them back in to allow for an even more enriching enviroment?

It could also be worth mentioning that brian (brown one) is very social and likes to sniff around while Billy (white one) likes to keep to himself and is quite shy.



Here are some pictures -

[cypher]

The sleeping noises are quite normal, not all of them make a noise when sleeping but some can be very noisy!
The scuffles you describe sound pretty normal to me too, there is usually a degree of dominance in any pair so this is probably to do with that as much as anything.
It's true that having shelves or levels can create areas they are more likely to become territorial over so it's best not to use them, the cage is quite tall though & I would be concerned about the dangers of bar climbing, not really sure what you can do about that as adding anything to break it up have the potential for problems with falling out.

[CallumPhillip01]

thanks for the quick reply cypher!

The pair seem to have absolutely no interest in the bars and have never chewed or attempted to climb them.

[CMB]

I'm going to 2nd what Cypher said. They can squeak while they sleep. My dwarf hamster does this quite often.

The fights are minor and probably to do with dominance. Keep and eye on it though and if it escalates you would need to separate them permanently.

They seem to be getting on ok. So it's best not to add the shelves as it could cause them to fall out as one or the other tries to claim the shelves as territory.

[CallumPhillip01]

okay so i've definately ruled out the possibility of adding the shelves, thanks guys. I think of the main causes of the little scuffs is that one will accidentaly wake the other one up by digging in it's bed area but yes, if it escalates then I have a spare cage for one of them (zoozone 1)

[cypher]

What well behaved boys you have! I've never had a ham that wouldn't at least try, but if yours don't climb then no need to worry & not worth risking problems by adding the shelves back in.

[CallumPhillip01]

very true, They are little angels haha

[Thin Lizzy]

Billy & Brian's are so gorgeous, they sound so good, little angels.