Help! Hammies fighting!!

[Leighhayward]

So I have 2 female Campbell dwarf hamsters that are now about 9 months old. So far they have been kept in a 3 tier cage and, other than a few squabbles over what I thought was dominance, they have lived quite happily together thus far. Now last week me and my family went away for 4 days and because we knew the lady who was caring for the house and our other pets wouldn’t get them out, we connected their box cage, that we use to keep them in whilst being cleaned out, to their normal cage- which they seemed to enjoy and to give them more space to run around. We came back off holiday to them sleeping in the box together in a pouch with no issues, however this morning I came downstairs to them silently squabbling as normal- however I notice that both of them have been bitten and had dry blood on both of their right legs. They had no other injuries and seemed fine in themselves (eating, walking, drinking, climbing, ect absolutely fine). We separated them for a couple of hours and then put them both back together in the main cage and other than 1 little silent squabble they seem okay with eachother. I really have no idea how to proceed from here, it would really upset me to have to seperate them as they seem so unsettled on their own, however I am fully prepared to if it comes to it as I can’t bear the thought of one of them causing serious injury to the other. It has been really hot and humid in the uk recently, and because the box cage doesn’t have a lot of ventilation, it does make me wonder if that could be why they got cranky with eachother being in eachother’s space? I have read a lot of conflicting information about what to do if they make eachother bleed, but at the moment they seem more bothered in finding cool places to sleep than fighting.

Please help!
Leigh

[CMB]

Hamster often fall out with each other and need separating. They will settle down living on their own in time.

They will be happier and less stressed living apart. Having separate levels or areas can cause fighting in hamsters kept together. As they mature they also often fall out.

Once separated they have to be kept apart at all times.

[cypher]

You really don't have any alternative now but to separate them, once they've reached the point of fighting & drawing blood it will only get worse so the sooner you separate them permanently the better.
Don't worry about them living alone, it can take them a week or two to adjust to the change sometimes but in the long run they will both be a lot happier with their own individual territories now & no more risk of injury, stress or worse.

[dreamtree1234]

I'm sorry that this happened, but luckily you became aware of this before any more harm or possible death could occur. I hope that both hams' leg injuries heal quickly and completely. As the other members have stated, the only option is to keep them permanently separated at all times, including no interaction of any kind during outside of the cage playtime or shared/swapped toys, houses, wheels, etc. It may take a little while for them to become adjusted to their now solitary life, but they will truly be much happier and safer in the long run.