I mixed litters =o

[Edcaguy]

So I read that you should not mix litters but I figure I would at least try it and besides a few squabbles withing the first hour there getting along fine. Will be watching the next few days and will removed if need be. All Female dwarf's estimated under 2 months in age. Until then this freed up a tank and crazy me I got a 1 male fancy. He has not been on the wheel strangely.
Edit* Just as a posted this he goes to the silent spinner. He is just walking in it though.

[Biscotti]

Just to double check...the male is not in the same tank as the females right?

And also, it's really not recommended to just put them in together without going through proper introduction process (split screen or supervised neutral ground intros). It's just too risky, and you may end up with badly hurt hams. :\

[souffle]

It is quite common practice to run on mixed litter groups of same sex young hamsters. Once the scent is mixed they will adapt quite well and accept the mixed scents as their own.

[Lougarry]

:confused: I thought you'd decided not to do this as you 'didn't want to be a bad ham parent'. http://www.hamstercentral.com/community/dwarf-roborovskis-hamster/37161-question-adding-2-additional-pets-3-weeks-later.html#post461589

Why ask for advice from experienced people if you have no intention of taking it? ](*,)

And what is a 'fancy'? A fancy what? I hope you haven't filled your only spare tank as you may well need to separate your group if things don't work out.

I'm keeping everything crossed that there are no injuries and the girls continue to live peaceably together.

[lisab]

I agree with souffle.
I quite often run on same age litters together.
When they leave mum they just go in one cage of girls and one cage of boys.

[vanilla-yazoo]

i agree with lisa and souffle on this one, but i would have done it before 2 months old.
its common to put closely aged babies just split together, especially if you only have a few of one gender in one litter, they like the company when babies so the other litter is ok to add, as long as its only girls or boys and not mixed.
I have seen it done many times, but I only ever have 1 litter at a time here, but if it was 2 and they where the same age, ild put them together at 1 month old, when split from their brothers/sisters.

im not sure what species you have, but i know hybrid dwarves dont tend to do well in pairs or groups, bar a few exeptions i know, full blooded campbells and robos are apparently the best for keeping together.
:)

[Lougarry]

I might agree with you if the OP was an experienced breeder and doing it for well thought out reasons. However, if you read his other posts, he seems to have done it in order to free up a tank for yet another new addition, and will now have no spare cage in case of fights.

ETA The OP didn't breed these hamsters; he bought 2 from a pet shop and then went back several weeks later and bought more.

[Pompompoms]

Edcaguy, do you have room for all your females should they fall out? The golden rule with robos is to have the space, means and time to care properly for all living as single hams should it come to it, and believe me as I'm speaking from personal experience, sometimes it does. I had a period last year where all my robos fell out, and I had eight living separately. That's a lot of cages, a lot of toys, and a lot of time to give them all the attention they deserve!

With mixing litters, as has been said, it can be done, and is done, but it's not as simple as just getting another litter from the store and putting them in. I had three separate litters mixed together last year, but they were all bred by me, had a fully mature male in charge, and I think most importantly were all only four weeks old when they went in.

From personal experience through breeding I have found that up to six to seven weeks, babies will generally be accepted, not always, sometimes they need to be as young as four weeks. When they are seen as babies, the older hams generally accept them, just that little bit over and problems can arise. I had a little female that I had to house on her own last year, as just on the seven week mark I tried her with an older female, and she saw her has an adult and rejected her. I then put a five week old girl in and she took her in as a baby.

Your first litter are likely a little older that you think, you say you got them on the 12th of December which is five weeks on Wednesday, add another four weeks they would have been with mum, then at the very minimum they would have been in the store at six weeks, more likely seven. They are probably about three months old, and not babies at all, your new arrivals are likely seven weeks, so on that borderline between baby and adult.

Yours older girls are going through puberty now which is the trickiest time for robos living together, your younger girls will start in a week or two meaning you have a lot of hormonal little hamsters all sharing the same space. Hopefully as you have them together now you will be lucky, but to be absolutely honest, it is very unlikely you will get through the next couple of months without any incidents of fighting and injury. Now is when you need to be at your most vigilant for signs of stress, and checking for injuries as sometimes you won't see wounds that have been inflicted.

Your hamsters welfare is of the utmost importance here, and you have a set up that even the most experienced owners and breeders would often have problems with. Make sure your space is set up to minimize risk, and encourage harmony, if you don't know how to just ask, people here will help you. Make sure you have suitable housing ready, that you are registered with your nearest small animal vet, and please don't add to your hamster collection as you have more than enough to care for.

:)

[Biscotti]

Lots of good information that I'm learning today, I have of heard of breeders mixing litters but was not aware that it is a common practice. :) Although like Lougarry, I'm just a tad more worried due to the OP's posting history, as those hams were bought from petshop weeks apart, along with some unresolved husbandry issues.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Yeah... Can you definetly house them alone?

Its really really irresponsible of you to have mixed them. Your hams were happy as they were and now you've just put them through the stress of an introduction for your benefit rather than theirs. Not really something I'd call fair on the hams. On top of that you filled your spare cage - really not fair on the hams.

Pairs and groups can be a nightmare to keep together. They can fail. I am speaking from experience here, we've kept groups and pairs and while yes, it can be worth it - if its best for the hams, its also a living nightmare on times.
And at the age they are your hams aren't "litters". Mixing litters is fine. Introducing pairs/groups of adults for the sake of it on the other hand... Thats causing the hams a lot of stress with no benefit at all to anyone but the owner. Might just be me, but it does strike me as a really selfish thing to have done.

I've got to second Lougarry when wondering, why ask for advice if you're going to ignore it? Do you really think you know better than everyone else? Or does it just not matter that you've stressed your hamsters out and are risking them getting serious injuries?

Please tell us that you've got enough cages for all these hams. Even littermates and good pairs can fall out sooner or later. We currently have a pair and a trio. The pair is a young male who was the only male in the litter so was introduced to his father at four weeks of age - and it sounds like our intro was a lot more careful than yours, even at that age we were really careful. The trio were the males three sisters and we fully expect them to need separating sooner or later. We have the space and cages for all the hams to live alone, we have experience with pairs and groups and our decisions were made in the best interests of the hams. I'm not sure your decisions were.

[vanilla-yazoo]

I wrote my previous comment before i knew these where pet shop robos put together.

I fully agree with people saying you shouldnt have done it after being advised not to. I have had a nasty fight between a group before, years ago before i had the knowledge i do now, I am only just considering a short-term pair even this many years later!
at the ages your hams are they are not what i would call litters, yes even my big adult syrians where from a litter, but are not pups anymore.

I wrote what i did thinking you had two hamsters with unexpected litters, or had planned litters you put together. i know poms and kyril have had their fair share of pairs/groups and problems.

having spare cages is a must, i have more cages then hams and only keeping solitary hams right now, its safer for the hamsters.