Roborovski behaviour after separating pair

[Jadetodd]

Hi everyone

I’m new to this and this is my first post. I’ve recently become the owner of two roborovski hamsters, they had been together in a cage for about 6 months prior to this. When they arrived, the first thing I did was move them into a storage box cage (the cage they had been living in was not big enough for one, nevermind two). At first they were fine, didn’t really bother each other and did their own thing. However the last few days they had been fighting and one day it was constantly and was aggressive, so I made the decision to separate them before something bad happened to them.

However, since then, they have both become aggressive towards me. One has always been quite timid however the other one was really tame, but earlier I put my hand in his cage and he lunged at me as if he was going to attack me, so I jumped and removed my hand immediately. I’m worried that I’m never going to be able to tame either of them now, but I won’t be putting them back together as I know this is the worst thing you could do after separating them.

I’m really worried that they’re both upset and won’t recover. They’ve been burrowing, eating and drinking still though which is good. They just don’t seem to like me and show a lot of aggression towards me. They both have and always did have two of everything; food, water, wheels, toys, hideaways etc. Can anyone help me out? Will they just need time to adjust to their new lives alone and will they be okay in time? Is there anything I can do in the meantime to help them settle?

Thanks so much!