Behaviour of a pair

[pewmouse]

I hope it's ok to make a new post for this question.

I have a pair of male robos and I'm not sure what to make of their behaviour. They were a group of 4 but I split them due to bullying. The two left as a pair seem a bit unhappy. They don't seem to be fighting but they aren't sleeping together either. One little boy has a pouch with food in all the time and I read this is a sign of bullying.

Should I be looking to separate them based on this behaviour? Neither of them has any injuries but they aren't cuddling up anymore which makes me think they had a fall out.

Thanks!

[Lala Noma]

I believe that, if you think they are unhappy, is better to separate them. You are not sure if they will be ok if they are together; on the other side, they will be perfectly well alone.
Do you have enough cages?

[pewmouse]

I do have enough cages to split them up, thanks for your advice! I didn't want to make a hasty decision as I have no experience in keeping pairs.

[cypher]

They might take a little while to adjust but they will be quite happy alone once they do so unless you have any particular reason for wanting to try & keep them together as a pair I would separate them.
Splitting up the initial group may have been a big enough change to stress them out a bit & that could lead to problems between the remaining two.

[pewmouse]

Thanks Cyper.

That's helped me make the decision. I will put them in temp cages tonight and make some nice bins for them at the weekend. One of my Syrian's can upgrade from a hamster heaven to the Zoo Zone 2, she will be very happy!

I want them to be happy and stress free so if keeping them in singles is for the best then I'm happy with that. I've got no reason to keep trying them together when they seem unhappy.

With them coming to me as a group of 4, when I first saw fighting/bullying I separated the bullied ham because I couldn't work out who would be happy with who or if it was just one bullying the rest. That probably caused the problem but I couldn't risk injury to the bullied ones.

Single hams are less stressful to keep

[cypher]

I'm sure you did the right thing taking the first two out but they have had a lot of changes to cope with so the chances of them living together peacefully probably weren't that high whatever you did I wouldn't imagine.
They should all settle in now & be happy little hams
Keeping single hams is definitely less stressful!

[pewmouse]

Robos are now split, I've called them, Salt, Pepper, Pudding and Pie. Here are their set ups, they are in the bins on top of the Kallax. The bins are 79.5 x 40 x 25cm.



Little Salt having a snooze

[Amber_x]

Your hamster setup is amazing! I wish I could have that many hams.

[pewmouse]

Thank you I never intended to have so many but rescues kept coming up and I could take them in. I think I have to draw the line now though!

[flowerfairy]

Wow what a fantastic hamster room. Where did you get those bins from? They are a great size.

What other hamsters do you have?