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Old 11-02-2019, 10:11 AM   #1
karlh
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Default Campbell Boys or Girls

Freddie, the last of my 4-group has just passed on at 2yrs 3 months. I found on the WWW that girl Campbells are available to go, but no boys.
All of the almost 20 dwarfs I have had so far, were boys.
It is said that males are better in pairs/colonies than girls, who are prone to fight. Any advice, please?
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Old 11-02-2019, 10:33 AM   #2
AmityvilleHams
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Default Re: Campbell Boys or Girls

I would stick to single hamsters regardless of species. It's not natural for them to stay in same sex pairs or groups as that wouldn't happen in the wild, and as such it causes them to have constant levels of stress that are so easily avoided by simply housing single hamsters only. There are definitely other great reasons to only have one hamster per cage, but that is the biggest one as it impacts health and so much else.

Even for those with experience with housing multiple hamsters, there is no benefit or need like truly social species(such as rats and guinea pigs). There's no good reason to house multiple hamsters, and numerous reasons to house them alone no matter what!

As far as male or female is considered, I think that really just comes down to personal preference. Some people will say males are better or that females are better, but they both have the potential to be equally good pets. Neither should be housed in same sex pairs or groups as mentioned.
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Old 11-03-2019, 01:39 AM   #3
karlh
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Default Re: Campbell Boys or Girls

Thanks for comment. But, there is also the argument that in the wild they would never be alone, either. They live in colony, therefore are quite sociable. I am talking about dwarves, of course. You are very first one, in the past 10 years, to mention that same sex pairs/group might suffer from stress...
you could use the same argument for cats and dogs, as in their natural environment, before domestication, were living in packs. Sex for all...
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Old 11-03-2019, 02:37 AM   #4
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Default Re: Campbell Boys or Girls

People used to think Crittertrail cages were perfectly acceptable at one point. Care information is always going to be evolving and that is a great thing, and in this case it includes taking a more appropriate approach to housing hamsters(aka on their own regardless of species). I know pet care for all species is constantly changing, at one point people used to think nothing of those awful pronged collars for dogs and now we know those are absolutely cruel for example!

However, the point remains that now we have a better understanding in general in the community of the needs of hamsters. We now understand that housing multiple hamsters in one cage causes unnecessary stress, can lead to serious injury, and can also end up causing hamsters to kill each other. If you want pets you can house together that actually benefit from it without being at risk for so many problems as a result, rats are a great idea or even female mice(not male mice which must not be housed together as they're too territorial and often end up fighting to the death). Or, you could just have a single hamster.
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Old 11-03-2019, 02:43 AM   #5
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Default Re: Campbell Boys or Girls

Generally speaking it is Campbells that are most likely to be able to live in a colony but that doesn’t automatically guarantee that they will stay together. I took on a group of six earlier this year and had to separate two due to bullying but the remaining four lived together well. One has since died of natural causes (they were an older group to begin with) but the remaining trio seem fine. They are all boys and it could well be that Campbells are like the other dwarf species in that they say males are more tolerant of living in pairs/groups than females but there’s no guarantee.

I think the key with groups/pairs is that you’ll have to be prepared to split if they do start to fall out and know what signs to look out for.
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Old 11-03-2019, 04:22 AM   #6
Kyrkogrimr
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Default Re: Campbell Boys or Girls

I won't weigh in much on the colony vs single hamster issue as I haven't kept a colony of hamsters, so I can't speak from experience. However, I will say that based on the research I've done, I wouldn't choose to keep a colony of any species as the cons outweigh the pros for me.

As far as males vs females. I don't have a massive amount of experience but I have had boys and I have a girl now and my experience has been that boys are lazier and more cuddly, girls are more energetic, less willing to sit and cuddle and more entertaining to watch going about her evening. That's not to say she's unfriendly: Cadmium isn't big on sitting still and cuddling, but she does enjoy interacting with me and loves climbing all over me and using me as a climbing frame. It is worth mentioning, however, that these are stereotypes and you might get an energetic male or a lazy, cuddly female.
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