Worried about my hamsters.

[Nobb]

I have two winter white dwarf hamsters, and am housing them together. I brought them home 4 days ago. Today when i woke up i saw poop all over the wheel, and inside their tubes, and on some of the bedding. For the past 4 days i have only seen their poop inside the sand bath, i just replaced the sand in the sand bath yesterday, why is there so much poop everywhere now? I just finished cleaning the wheel and the tubes because there was so much poop on them. Is this normal?
One of my dwarf hamsters also looked very tired today, it ran on the wheel for about 2 minutes then fell asleep, and walked around the cage with closed eyes, it kept walking a few steps then falling asleep, waking up walked a few steps, then fell asleep again. I was worried about it so i brought the water bottle closer to it and it drank a lot of water. My air con broke recently so i thought it might be tired because of the warm weather. After drinking the water it opened its eyes and walked around normally again, now my two dwarfs are sleeping next to each other inside the tube.
Should i be worried?

[cypher]

Poo in the wheel is totally normal but if there's a lot more quantity than you've seen before & one of your hamsters appears to be dehydrated then it could be a health problem. Is it normal poo or does it look more like diarrhoea?
They do sometimes dash around & fall asleep but not in the way you describe.
Have you changed their diet from what they were on before you got them? It's possible a change of diet could have upset one or both of them, any change should be very gradual.
Keep a close eye on them & if this continues they may need to see a vet.

If you keep two together it is important to have the right kind of cage & set up to help avoid fighting & them getting territorial over things in the cage, tubes shouldn't be used along with any houses or hideouts with only one entrance as one ham can trap the other inside, so if possible remove the tubes from the cage along with any levels or shelves & make sure they have two of everything.

Do you have a spare cage in case they need to be separated?
If one is sick & the other isn't then you would need to separate them but you may need to separate if they fall out as commonly happens.

[racinghamster]

Hi. As cypher suggested, it`s a good idea to have a spare cage and accessories for it incase you ever need to quickly separate them for life as Russian dwarf and Roborovski hamsters that are sold in pairs or small groups can be known to fall out big time, or bully the weakest in the pairings. That`s not to say ALL pairs end up this way, but as a safeguard, it`s better to expect it than not.

The main thing (especially as you are in a warm country) is to make sure they have TWO water sources and that these are easily accessible. Having the bottle hung low down, or make a bottle holder like the one I will attach a photo of from a plastic drinks bottle. And perhaps have a shallow ceramic dish sat on a wooden block at the other end of their cage just as a safety net incase the bottle ever fails.

Multi-storey cages are never a good idea when keeping a pair as this can cause one of the hamsters to become territorial over the levels or the tubes. What cage are you using?

Spot clean their accessories and cage rather than full cleans as removing all the substrate and nesting with their scents on it can also cause frictions and stress, so partially removing some of the worst areas and using kitchen towel wetted in water is the best option. Try not to use disinfectant sprays around the hamster too but if you must, use it away from the cage and rinse anything well that you do apply it to.

As you can see from the image of the home-made water bottle holder, you can weigh it down with a big stone inside to prevent it from being moved or toppled.

[Nobb]

My hamster died today... i found it in its home.
After the day i posted this i saw the poop seemed normal again and there was no more poop on the wheel, I saw the hamster eating and drinking again, so I thought it was fine. A few days ago i cleaned the cage and saw the two hamsters running around playing with toys like they always do. Then yesterday the same hamster i thought was sick was walking tiredly again (walking then falling asleep) , and it suddenly looked skinnier than before, i tried to put food near to it but it would not eat it. This morning when i checked on it, it was dead inside its house.
I´m going to post some pictures of it´s body and the food, cage, and some products i´m using because i don´t know why it died and i´m worried about my other hamster. The pictures include: My dead hamster when i found it this morning, it´s food, the two boxes are marshmallow treats (one has ingredients on it, the smaller box has no description, the store owner gave these to me), chew toy, the sand for the sand bath, and pictures of my cage.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wA...HKxIhu4hPMcblN

Does the hamster look like it suffered from any sickness? And is there anything wrong with my cage and supplies? My other hamster still looks healthy (it´s still eating playing and drinking, although it seems a little less energetic today).

[cypher]

I'm really sorry for the loss of your hamster.
It's really not possible to say why your hamster died.
I can't say if the food you are giving your hamsters is providing adequate nutrition or not without knowing the ingredients & the GA (the amount of protein, fat & fibre in the mix) it is important that they get a good mix so you do need to know those things to be sure.
The treats in those photos look extremely unhealthy & the best thing you could do would be to throw them away, don't give any more to your remaining hamster.
I can't say much about the sand either, it looks ok but hard to e sure.
Your cage set up is not suitable at all I'm afraid, your hamster needs at least 15cm of substrate in the base of the cage, the shelf is way to high & looks like it may well be a dangerous fall risk, I would remove the shelf if possible & just put as much substrate in the base as possible, you could put a piece of cardboard along the front covering the bottom part of the door to prevent substrate falling out when you open the door.
Your hamster needs a good size house, the one you have isn't large enough & a house shouldn't have window type holes in it as it needs to be dark, you can easily make a house by using a cardboard box larger than the house you have there, with no base & just a small door cut out of one side, place it on a layer of deep substrate not on a shelf & that would be much better for your hamster.
Sorry I can't help much more not knowing what cages or food etc you have available in your country it's hard to make other suggestions.