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Old 09-06-2019, 10:34 PM   #1
Mokie
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 6
Question Recently brought home a pair of winter whites?

Good Morning all!

So I recently bought two male winter whites, one having a pearl coat and the other a brown/grey. They’re from the same litter and were brought up together. So far, they’re getting on just fine, i’ve Actually spent the last week spending the nights up so I can monitor them. They squeak very rarely and I have never seen them fight, only walk over each other.

My real question is, little Mocha (brown/grey coat) is lovely and has only nippled me once really gently. However, Latte (pearl coat) seems to loathe the ground I walk on. Mocha happily walks over to me and hops on my hand. Latte will follow me around the cage just to nibble me. He’s never drew blood, but he has hung on pretty well a few times. What I don’t understand is that he will happy walk over to me and get on my hand/let me stroke him. He even cleans himself on me.

Now whilst i’ve Never seen them fight, i’m Starting to think it’ll be best to split them up. As I feel as though Latte may have cage aggression. They have two of everything and their tank is 140cm x 45cm. As I said, they’ve never actually fought, but I do notice that Latte is the far more dominant one. Mocha will be running on his wheel and Latte will just come over and join him! Literally, just hop on right behind or even next to him and run as well. They have separate food bowls and every now and then they will get into each others bowls, but they’re definitely both eating just fine. Same goes with water. They have around 8/9” of bedding and never really use their hides, they prefer to sleep behind them (lol), but they really love to stay in their tunnels (I have two extendable tunnels) they keep all their food in there.

I’m concerned for Latte as I have the feeling that even once I split them up (I never wanted to keep them together, my mum was really the one who insisted it) he will still be quite aggressive. I’ll never get rid of him because he’s so beautiful and when he doesn’t bite (quite rare, but it happens ) he’s lovely! Is there any advice? I don’t care about the biting, it generally does seem like it’s just cage aggression as once he’s out he seldom bites.
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Old 09-07-2019, 08:33 AM   #2
AmityvilleHams
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Default Re: Recently brought home a pair of winter whites?

It really isn't recommended to keep any hamster species in pairs. Regardless of the potential impact on how they interact with you, for them it is just so much better to live alone in their own individual cages. Even without obvious fighting, it does cause chronic stress for them and stress weakens the immune system so they're far more likely to become ill than hamsters housed alone among many other issues caused by pair or group housing.

Keep in mind that some hamsters just don't want to interact with their owners especially inside their cages, but that shouldn't discourage you from splitting them up anyways! The best advice I could give is trying to interact with Latte outside of his cage once he's settled into his new cage after being separated from Mocha.

Also keep in mind that it isn't cage aggression but instead perfectly normal territorial behavior that should not be something you try to discourage or keep him from showing. Many hamsters are very defensive of their cages and do not feel comfortable being handled or even interacted with much if at all inside their cages, yet many are far happier just being handled and interacted with outside their cages. Adapt to him instead of trying to make him adapt to you and you'll get far better results!
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Old 09-07-2019, 11:23 PM   #3
Mokie
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 6
Talking Re: Recently brought home a pair of winter whites?

Quote:
Originally Posted by AmityvilleHams View Post
It really isn't recommended to keep any hamster species in pairs. Regardless of the potential impact on how they interact with you, for them it is just so much better to live alone in their own individual cages. Even without obvious fighting, it does cause chronic stress for them and stress weakens the immune system so they're far more likely to become ill than hamsters housed alone among many other issues caused by pair or group housing.

Keep in mind that some hamsters just don't want to interact with their owners especially inside their cages, but that shouldn't discourage you from splitting them up anyways! The best advice I could give is trying to interact with Latte outside of his cage once he's settled into his new cage after being separated from Mocha.

Also keep in mind that it isn't cage aggression but instead perfectly normal territorial behavior that should not be something you try to discourage or keep him from showing. Many hamsters are very defensive of their cages and do not feel comfortable being handled or even interacted with much if at all inside their cages, yet many are far happier just being handled and interacted with outside their cages. Adapt to him instead of trying to make him adapt to you and you'll get far better results!

I’ll definitely be taking that on board and will be ordering a brand new tank for Latte. I did notice he was a lot calmer outside of his tank. Thank you so much!
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