Hamster Central - View Single Post - Recently brought home a pair of winter whites?

AmityvilleHams · 09-07-2019, 08:33 AM

It really isn't recommended to keep any hamster species in pairs. Regardless of the potential impact on how they interact with you, for them it is just so much better to live alone in their own individual cages. Even without obvious fighting, it does cause chronic stress for them and stress weakens the immune system so they're far more likely to become ill than hamsters housed alone among many other issues caused by pair or group housing.

Keep in mind that some hamsters just don't want to interact with their owners especially inside their cages, but that shouldn't discourage you from splitting them up anyways! The best advice I could give is trying to interact with Latte outside of his cage once he's settled into his new cage after being separated from Mocha.

Also keep in mind that it isn't cage aggression but instead perfectly normal territorial behavior that should not be something you try to discourage or keep him from showing. Many hamsters are very defensive of their cages and do not feel comfortable being handled or even interacted with much if at all inside their cages, yet many are far happier just being handled and interacted with outside their cages. Adapt to him instead of trying to make him adapt to you and you'll get far better results!

09-07-2019, 08:33 AM
AmityvilleHams PM Fluffy for custom title Join Date: Mar 2016 Posts: 4,545	Re: Recently brought home a pair of winter whites? It really isn't recommended to keep any hamster species in pairs. Regardless of the potential impact on how they interact with you, for them it is just so much better to live alone in their own individual cages. Even without obvious fighting, it does cause chronic stress for them and stress weakens the immune system so they're far more likely to become ill than hamsters housed alone among many other issues caused by pair or group housing. Keep in mind that some hamsters just don't want to interact with their owners especially inside their cages, but that shouldn't discourage you from splitting them up anyways! The best advice I could give is trying to interact with Latte outside of his cage once he's settled into his new cage after being separated from Mocha. Also keep in mind that it isn't cage aggression but instead perfectly normal territorial behavior that should not be something you try to discourage or keep him from showing. Many hamsters are very defensive of their cages and do not feel comfortable being handled or even interacted with much if at all inside their cages, yet many are far happier just being handled and interacted with outside their cages. Adapt to him instead of trying to make him adapt to you and you'll get far better results!