Normal behaviour?

[xnomnomx123]

In August I got two female roborovski hamsters, Boo and Koopa. They both share the same cage, an Alaska, and have duplicates of everything eg food water wheel. They have gotten along fine, they sometimes eat out the same bowl together and they always sleep together and sometimes just sit together. One of the hamsters, Koopa, is very much more confident than the other (Boo).

The last week I have noticed Koopa chasing Boo around the cage and acting possessive over their food. Sometimes one of them will roll over onto their belly and the other is on top. I have never noticed any wounds, bald patches or bleeding on either of them. I am just curious if this behaviour is normal in them determining the boundaries of the other and who is the more dominant in their home or if it’s fighting. Any advice and should I separate them? I would love to be able to keep them together, but if it’s threatening then of course I will separate.

[mangoandmimi]

No it's the beginning of one of them getting fed up of the other's presence. It's quite common, they'll get on just fine and then suddenly have problems. They can hide it quite well too but food claiming is still a sign that they need separating. It might not look like it since often they'll continue sleeping in the same nest and grooming each other etc. But it'll likely escalate if nothing is done, and fights can get deadly in just seconds.

I know keeping them together is a lovely concept but they are not like gerbils in that they need company, hamsters are happier alone in the long run where their stress levels are not at a constant high from living together. It is never natural for hamsters to live in same sex pairs.

It is up to you whether you continue to monitor their behaviour for now or separate of course, you just don't want to leave it too late. I think the idea of separating at the first signs of fighting is the best rule to go by - better than the first sign of blood rule, as that leaves it far too late and puts them both in serious danger in my opinion.

[alpacassei]

Sounds like the’yre starting to fall out Do you have a spare cage or bin you can use to separate them? Even a small cage is better as a temporary option considering leaving them together could result in serious injuries or worse.

Dwarf hamster pairs and group do have a hierarchy and will display dominance behaviours occasionally but it’s very difficult to tell the difference between dominance behaviour and serious aggression unless you’re extremely experienced with keeping hamster groups so it’s always safer to separate them than take the risk.

[cypher]

It does sound as though they're falling out now as often happens as they mature & just want their own space, as well as the possible risk of injury it may be that the less confident one won't get access to adequate food so if you do want to wait a while you need to look out for that too, it's always better to separate sooner rather than later though once you see signs like this.