Finally keeping my hams together?

[Oobee35]

Hello! So I’m hoping to get my two female dwarf russian campbells living together in the near future and I wanted to make sure I had everything right. So for the past few weeks I’ve introduced them and let them hang out together in their playpen with loads of toys and a few treats scattered around. Here’s what’s been happening- so far it’s been going great. They sleep together in the playpen a lot, i’ve seen them grooming each other as well. They’ve had only a few “fights” but they didn’t squeak, it wasn’t for long, and there was no biting from when I was watching. Last night I let them sleep together with all of their toys in one of their tanks (cleaned out with neither of their scents on it). They did really well and only in the beginning did they have a small fight over a chew toy that lasted a bit longer and they stopped and were fine after that. Once again they slept together and seemed fine. I’m going to be upgrading their tanks to a detolf ikea shelf so I think that it will be good to have all that space. I was wondering, does this sound like they’re ready to be together? Also, do you have any tips so they have the best time? ( obviously I will have 2 of everything for them wheels,water bottles, food bowls etc...) Thanks!!!

[mangoandmimi]

I'm not sure where this has come from, I was under the impression you separated your pair and then decided to keep them separated. You already know this but you've been putting them both through a huge amount of stress and unnecessary risk by trying to bond them now. There is no time that they'll be ready to live together - they were living separately and are now pretty much adults. You cannot watch them every hour day and night which is the only way you'd know that nothing gets out of hand. Letting them stay together overnight put them both in serious danger and you're very lucky nothing bad happened when you weren't watching.

As far as I'm concerned these few small fights are already warning signs, although to be honest I wouldn't really know what behaviour to hope for in this situation. All it takes is a minute turned away and there could be blood shed.
Is the reason you want them together because you don't have room for two separate tank upgrades? You'd be better off having them in half a detolf each than them sharing it really. It's not at all natural for hamster pairs of any species to live together, contrary to what a lot of the internet tells you. I would definitely have a good think about this again.

[Oobee35]

They are sisters who are 3 months old and have only been separated for 1 week.

[alpacassei]

Please keep them separated, they’ve already been separated once and as Mangoandmini said, those little fights are a huge warning sign that they will not live happily together. All it takes is one moment unsupervised for a deadly fight to break out. Being sisters or sharing a bed doesn’t necessarily mean they will get along.

When I last had a pair (two brothers) they got along perfectly for around 6 months, shared beds, wheels, food, etc. until they suddenly decided they didn’t like eachother anymore and got into a fight that resulted in Franny losing a ear. Fortunately I was home and immediately separated them but if I wasn’t around, atleast one of them could’ve been left with life threatening injuries or worse.

In the wild, dwarf hamster colonies consist of mixed-sex groups and it is very rare for same-sex pairs or group to get along in captivity. Keeping pairs/groups and (re)introducing dwarf hamsters to eachother should only be done by very experienced dwarf hamster owners.

[Pebbles82]

As the others say they should be kept separate. I assume there was a reason for separating them in the first place and so that should be permanent now. At 3 months they will be starting to get hotmonal also and that’s often when they start fighting and need separating.

Please keep them separate in separate cages. Most people would separate them at the first sign of a squabble because the next thing you could find one seriously maimed or dead. And the injuries can be horrific. As it is at the moment it is bullying and will cause stress.

They are perfectly fine living alone and in fact will bond better with an owner. However much we enjoy the idea of them snuggling up and living as a pair, hamsters are a territorial species and it is rare for a pair of dwarf hamsters to live together long without needing separating. Death and serious injury are very common which is why separating is recommended at the first sign of squabbling.

It usually takes very experienced breeders to successfully reintroduce a pair and that isn’t common.

[Oobee35]

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for informing me that this really wasn’t a good idea before it got any worse. I truly did not think that these little fights could lead to so much worse. I feel horrible for forcing them together when they shouldn’t have been together in the first place. I will make sure to keep them separated and have half and half in the detolf (separated by wood so they can’t see each other either). I truly am thankful for you helping me!! thanks!!

[Sasha04]

Glad the other have helped! It is okay, accidents do happen and we learn from our mistakes.
That’s great that they get the detolf! It’s such a great cage! If you need help separating it, this tutorial is great:https://youtu.be/opief9nOzaY
https://youtu.be/Kh9qYq9Cf7g

[SeymourHammie]

Glad you decided to keep them apart....I am guessing they are much happier! With them having such a short life span a week might seem like a long time to them. Better to be able to enjoy them and not have to worry about their safety!