New hamster aggression help!

[bethanybrc]

Hi everyone

I'm very new to owning hamsters as me and my boyfriend got 2 Russian Dwarf hamsters just over 2 weeks ago. We have been concerned about whether they have been playing, asserting dominance or fighting and need to be separated.

We got them a large 3 floor cage and put them both in on day one. Left them for 24 hours to settle in and then started handling them and trying to bond. One Hamster, T, has a very active personality and was very friendly from the start, very easy to hold and was rarely scared. Other hamster, D, is much shyer and not very active at all. He spends most of the time burrowed.

We started to notice them squeaking and bickering more around the 1 week mark, which we realised may be due to resource sharing so we got another bowl, water bottle, and house and we put them upstairs where T likes to be so D has his own downstairs. But even doing this they seem to argue about food and T will chase D away from either food bowl and it seems like he overeats to hoard food. T also pins D down but this seems like normal dominance behaviour.

There have been a few scraps which have seemed more than play fighting but we are hesitant to separate because a majority of the time they are friendly, will sleep and dig together. They have no problem being on my legs together and don't fight.

We are most concerned that D is hiding and burrowing all the time and seems scared to come out and we think this is because of T. He's more comfortable with us now and will willingly walk onto our hands but as soon as he's back into the cage with T he hides.

Should we consider getting a bigger cage so they have more ways to get away from each other? Should we try to bond them more outside of the cage? Should we separate? No blood has been drawn so we don't want to separate if we don't need to. However we also don't want to get a bigger cage just to need to separate them in a week if the scraps get worse.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for your advice in advance!

[tamara2201]

Hiya
I’m no hamster expert but have owned three and do a lot of research. I would suggest that the reason they are fighting is due to the levelled cage. Cages with level should never be given to multiple hamsters as they can become very territorial over the levels and begin to fight. I would suggest purchasing or making a minimum 80x50cm cage with one level and continuous running space for them. Also ensure you keep providing two bowls and two wheels to help prevent territorial fighting. If they still fight after these changes then do separate them but it does sound like territorial fights.
Hope this helps

[alpacassei]

Please separate them asap! Pairs and colonies should only be kept by very experienced owners because it’s so difficult to tell the difference between aggression, play fighting, and dominance behaviours. It’s never worth the risk since hamster fights often end in serious injuries or death. Squeaking around eachother, chasing the other away from the food, and pining eachother down are all signs of aggression. Moving them to a larger cage together will not help. They need separating now.

Do you have any kind of plastic storage bin? It doesn’t matter if it’s too small for a permanent home, just prioritise on getting them separated right now.

Tamara’s correct that levelled cages can encourage territorial behaviour however I’m a strong believer that a happy pairing should get along find no matter whether the cage is levelled, etc. Either way, once a pair start falling out, it’s near impossible to reunite them.

I’m not sure what cage you have but the majority of multi-levelled cages are too small unfortunately. Russian dwarfs need a minimum cage size of 70 x 40cm but like with all hamsters - bigger is better! The Ferplast Duna Multy is a good minimum size cage for a Russian dwarf, I also like the Ferplast Criceti 15 (80 x 50cm).

[cypher]

I would separate them, fighting can escalate at any time & you can't watch them 24/7, as well as fighting being together will be very stressful for them & for the subordinate one particularly & stress can really be damaging to their health.
Hamsters really don't need each others company & generally do better living alone, most pairs will fight once they mature & it's quite rare for pairs to continue living together.

[bethanybrc]

Originally Posted by tamara2201

Hiya
I’m no hamster expert but have owned three and do a lot of research. I would suggest that the reason they are fighting is due to the levelled cage. Cages with level should never be given to multiple hamsters as they can become very territorial over the levels and begin to fight. I would suggest purchasing or making a minimum 80x50cm cage with one level and continuous running space for them. Also ensure you keep providing two bowls and two wheels to help prevent territorial fighting. If they still fight after these changes then do separate them but it does sound like territorial fights.
Hope this helps

We were considering this so thank you! T does stay on the higher levels and D is too scared to go up there.

[cypher]

Just bear in mind that a cage change is very stressful for any hamster & the extra stress my just cause more problems & more fights as they try to create their own space in the cage.

[bethanybrc]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Looking at these comments and other posts on the site I think it will be best to separate. Cypher that is my concern exactly that getting a new cage will be worse and waste of time and money when we have to separate them a few days later for nearly killing each other. My boyfriend is still hesistant but I showed him some posts about hamsters eating each other and he's willing to separate. Is there any advice on separating them with as minimal stress as possible? I'm not sure about transferring bedding and whatnot

[cypher]

It's a bit difficult when separating, normally with a cage change for a single hamster you would keep all the old substrate, wheel, toys etc to make the new cage smell familiar but with a pair it's not so easy but I would still keep some of the old substrate & put it on top of the new just so there is a familiar smell around, I doubt a little of the other hams scent will be a problem.
It may take them both some time to adjust but don't worry, that's normal, try not to do more than spot cleaning pee for at least a few weeks after the move, that will give them a chance to settle in & get their own scent on everything which is what they need to feel secure.
Do you know which cages you're going to get yet? I would avoid any tall cages with levels, floor space is the most important thing & enough height for an 8" wheel but nothing too high.
I use cages like the Hamster Heaven (without the tubes & penthouse bit) or similar for mine.