Do girl hamsters get aggressive when on heat?

[horseykitty]

Hi everyone - I'm new to this forum, so plese be gentle with me!

As the proud new mummy of 3 dwarf hamsters I think I need a bit of advice re their behaviour. My syrian died so I decided to get dwarfs - I was only going to get 2 but there were 3 in the cage and I couldn't choose or bear to leave one behind. They have been getting along fine in their temporary home - that was until yesterday when I noticed one of them being agressive towards the other 2.

When I say agressive I mean lots of squeaking and rolling around in the substrate together.

The one who I believe is the instigator is also the one who is the least tame and she even seemed to have a go at me. My daughter was laughing at how her tail was sticking up and it made me wonder if she was on heat and if being on heat makes them more grouchy?

I am aware that if they do fight I might have to separate them and I am keeping a close eye on them


Any thoughts please?

[cypher]

Hi & welcome to HC.
When you say dwarf which species do you mean? As you said about the tail sticking up I wonder if you mean Chinese? If so then it would be best to separate them as soon as you can as Chinese are generally accepted to be a solitary species & females especially can be very territorial, fights can escalate quickly so the sooner at least that one is in a cage of her own the safer they will all be.
Whichever dwarf species you have most pairs do tend to fall out as they mature & need to be housed separately & three is a very difficult number to keep as you often find two will bully the most submissive one.
While it's possible the hamster may be in heat it's more likely to just be the kind of aggression & falling out that is so often seen with pairs or groups.
I would keep a very close eye on the behaviour of all of them & be prepared to separate as soon as you see any signs of bullying rather than waiting until one or more gets hurt.