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Old 07-14-2013, 06:22 AM   #1
cookies29
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Smile Chinese hams kept together?

Hi guys

I have a question i hope people can answer I have read and heard by many people that two female chinese can't be kept together. I want to know if anyone has two females together? I have two females through the fault of the pet shop telling me there were boys. I didn't know much about hamsters at that time and they were my first. I regret not doing much research before going to buy them.I thought i had but i clearly had not i did know females should not be kept together. I have had my two females together for 3 months now without any fights at the advice of my vet. I know fights can happen at any time but they seem to love each other. They sleep beside each other every night.

Any advice or comments would be appreciated
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Old 07-14-2013, 06:24 AM   #2
Gazmo
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Default Re: Chinese hams kept together?

I had the same problem. I had two 'boys' and I only realised about 1 1/2 years later when I saw my boyfriend Chinese boy and I relised that mine didn't have their hammy fun bags XD
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Old 07-14-2013, 07:06 AM   #3
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Default Re: Chinese hams kept together?

Hi cookies. The consensus is that female Chinese hamsters often do fight, but that doesn`t mean every single pair will. The fact that you took these girls on at the suggestion of a pet shop could happen to anyone, so given that you now have your two `girls` and realise the tensions they might have, you can take steps to separate them IF you feel it`s necessary. I`m not 100% sure that it is unless it`s going against Chinese hamster protocol and that is, to house them singly.

Caging: If they are currently in a single level cage with no levels and two of everything and have an open nest, chances are they shouldn`t have anything to trigger aggression or territorial behaviour anyway apart from hormones, which can usually be the one thing that causes them to fall out, but the cage and the way it is set up can also be a cause.

Scatter feed as well as this helps enrich them and keep them occupied. I would normally say separate them because trouble can flare pretty fast with Chinese hamsters, but I will sit on the fence given that your two are currently living happily together and it would be a shame to give you too many reasons to stress over it when the only reason is that Chinese hamsters are usually best kept singly. But when they do find themselves in pairs, a lot depends on what I said above and their current behaviour.
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Old 07-14-2013, 07:22 AM   #4
Vectis Hamstery
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Default Re: Chinese hams kept together?

There is no hard and fast rule as there is with Syrians, and different people do things differently. In general, I don’t recommend keeping Chinese hamsters in pairs for new or less experienced Chinese hamster owner, but some Chinese are laid back enough and happily stay together. Generally you're right that males stay together better than females, and I've found my baby girls fall out earlier and more enthusiastically than their brothers. I do know of people who keep female pairs though. Sometimes pairs that stay together during adulthood fall out when they hit about a year old, so it's worth being prepared just in case

Unfortunately Chinese hamsters can fall out with little warning and inflict serious damage on each other. I would therefore recommend that you have a spare cage available and are prepared to have them living separately should they fall out.

From my experience and talking to other breeders, Chinese stay in pairs better if kept in small (cages so neither can establish a territory and without too many toys to fight over.

I have had better success with pairs using lots of substrate, piles of bedding, scatter feeding, some kitchen roll tubes and no houses or wheels. I add toys one at a time from then and monitor for arguing, making sure that any toys have multiple entrances so one ham can't pin another in it. I have found wooden cubes, playsticks and branches good. Deep substrate is good so they can hide from each other if needed. I have followed the approach I've seen in Europe of piling lots of soft hay in on top of the substrate too to break up lines of sight, but do take care if using hay (it can have sharp bits that can damage eyes and pouches, so many owners prefer not to use it with hamsters). Deep substrate is also useful as it reduces the frequency of cleaning and thus the frequency of disturbing the scent in the cage. I would only do partial clean outs, making sure to replace about half of the old substrate to preserve the group scent. Moving from a small cage straight to a large one may precipitate arguments so I make any increase in cage size or arrangement gradually in steps.

Signs to watch for (and check hamsters at each handling for) are uneven patches of fur, bites, plucked areas or one hamster being thinner or smaller than the other. Chinese like to go for the eyes, nose and bottom in bites, though plucking I've mainly seen round the eyes. If there are uneven patches of fur, have a look at the skin underneath as you may find scabs there. If one hamster is getting thinner, the other may be bullying him or preventing him from getting to food (even with scatter feeding). If there is bullying or wounds have been inflicted then you will need to separate. I have a low threashold for separating as serious injury or worse can happed very quickly after just a few little squeaks.

This is an example of plucking of the fur around an eye (yes, it's a robo, but it looks the same in a Chinese!):

Plucked fur by vectishams, on Flickr
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Old 07-14-2013, 07:44 AM   #5
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Default Re: Chinese hams kept together?

My first two hamsters were chinese females too and, like you, I hadn't done much research. Mine seemed to get along great at first and they slept together and ran on the wheel together, but it didn't last. I think that in part this may have just been because one of my hamsters was naturally aggressive. Each hamster is different so yours might be fine, but I would suggest having a backup cage just in case. I would just wait and see if they start fighting before separating them, because having two cages is a bit of a hassle. Mine didn't do any permanent damage fighting so, unless one is significantly bigger than the other, it should be okay waiting and seeing. Just make sure they have enough room in their current cage and hopefully nothig will happen. If you can't afford a new cage or they start fighting before you can get one, then what I did was put bedding, a wheel, toys, and food etc in a big box until I could (but only do this if it gets serious- my hamster was a little traumatized :'( ). Hopefully you won't have to do any of this because your hamsters won't start fighting, but it's always good to have a backup! Good luck!
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Old 07-14-2013, 08:30 AM   #6
cookies29
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Default Re: Chinese hams kept together?

Thank you so much for all your advice i have a spare cage set up and ready just in case anything happens. I have not noticed any marks on any of them but i did think one was a bit thinner last night than the other. I will keep a close eye on them and will separate quickly if needed. They are not in to large a cage but i will follow your advice on the substrate and toys
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Old 07-14-2013, 08:52 AM   #7
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Default Re: Chinese hams kept together?

Glad we could help cookies and really hope your girls never need separating. x
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