Hi guys,
i wondered whether anyone had any experience with this, or could shed some light on it!
At first i have to say that both hamsters in question are absolutely fine, healthy, happy, and very affectionate!
Okay, here we go... i used to have a male syrian called Gilbert, who lived by himself in my living room. When he died, Noah moved in. He was in a smaller cage at first, and then when he got bigger, he moved into a hamster heaven. He made the little hut downstairs his nest, had his wee corner opposite, used the rest of the cage, normal, sometimes chilled out in the attic. When he was about 6 months old another baby male syrian called Billy moved in, diagonally opposite on the other end of the living room, into a smaller cage at first, then again, when he got bigger, he got a hamster heaven as well. They are both (as above) fine, both have their seperate cages, separate balls, come out at separate times, etc., and all seems to be working well. But now here's an interesting thing that i watched, and i am not quite sure just how that works: when Billy moved into the hamster heaven he decided that he didn't want his little hut downstairs, but stuffed all his belongings into his pouches and moved into the attic, where he now resides. A couple of weeks later, Noah decided the same. And it's not only the residing in the attic, but he also seems to copy other bits of behaviour, like where his wee corner is, where he stores his food, or, chewing the bars up in the attic, which he never did before. I think it's clear that Billy is the dominant one, maybe cos he's younger and bigger, but what i am curious about, is, since i know a hamster's eye sight is very poor, how does that communication work? How did he pick up on all that?
Anyone got any ideas?
By the way, Noah's about 1 1/2 years now and Billy's about 1 year.
xxx
communication between hamsters and copying behaviour 
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