Fighting - seperation advice - Quick update

Originally Posted by littlemissdwarfhamster

From reading your posts I personally would keep them separate.

You have said that they have previously squabbled, they dont sleep together, they dont play together (in the cage) and one is smaller (probably food bullying) - all are signs that they are not happy with each other. To me this major fight was a time bomb just waiting happen.

By putting them in a bigger area they may well 'seem' ok with each other as they have more space to avoid each other when they want to. And distractions in a playpen would temporarily deter aggression.

I agree with Souffle and think your hamsters would come on much better if housed separately. They will most likely improve in condition and temperament as they wont be constantly stressed. At the end of the day we cant make two hamsters live together just because we think they should - they have to like each other, just like we chose our housemates!

I am sorry if this isnt the solution you were hoping I would add, but for the heath of the hamsters I would keep them apart.

I disagree somewhat. From my experience, a Savic Rody is too small for two adult dwarves and could well lead to fighting. I only say this because I've had similar problems in the past and by moving the pair to a Gabber, the fighting stopped completely. I'm not saying it will be the solution for Gus, but I think its at least worth a try given he's going to be available to supervise them at the weekend (obviously its not worth the risk unsupervised). If it doesn't work, or Biggie and Tupac don't seem happy, at least Gus gave it his best shot.

[Gust0o]

Well, we have a new Gabber arriving this week - so we've options both ways.

I will say that they both seem a lot more active in isolation, than they did together - am not sure if this is still fallout from the seperation, but we shall see!

[nooboo]

the size of the home is important, and yes small can cause issues, but oddly sometimes pairings go better if first done in a small home, and having lots of space to start with can be an issue! so much can cause fights, especially to picky dwarfs :P

Winter Whites can be really fussy about their partners, and I would always say if blood was drawn it doesnt matter if you convert a room into their home I wouldn't put them back together, even watched, but sometimes an accidental nip can happen...so it's all up to the judgment of the owner really!

I did have a breeding pair of WW that could only be together while we where around... because that female had killed two males while with another breeder....never went for our guy but we didn't want to risk it!

Winter Whites do seem to do well alone, if you want to try them again then do, but I would always think is it better for them to be together for you or for them, Winter Whites are well known to be all cuddles one moment and fighting the next, and unlike Campbells who tend more towards little squabbles, Winter Whites tend to go for the kill. If they seem happy active and fit alone, do you want to risk it?

[chase]

I know of a breeder who gave up breeding WW as she had so many fatalities within her breeding set up
Also customers telling her that same sex pairs she had sold some of them had once they reached maturity had started fighting violently.
Think maybe it depends on the individuals.

[Gust0o]

We're sticking with keeping them seperate - Tupac, the smaller of the two, has made some fantastic weight gains; he's now approaching the size of his larger brother, and his coat is picking up.

Biggie has also made some progress - being a bit slower, he was often last to the fresh foods; his coat has improved no end, and he scored 78 at the Brockholes show - being beaten by Bingley, on 81.

Not bad at all for a pet shop hamster, who'd been in the wars!

I don't want to jeopardise this progress, so we'll be continuing the seperation. Many thanks to all who offered their comments and suggestions here, it was all well appreciated

[babyboos]

If you did what YOU thought was best for them then you did the right thing
I always give pairs the benefit of the doubt as I do think WW should live in groups BUT if some(hamster)one doesn't want a cagemate I never force the issue and give them extra human interaction time to make up for less peer interaction