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View Full Version : Dwarf Roborovskis Hamsters - Fighting/Sleeping Seperate


Kennie
03-15-2009, 09:39 AM
Hi,

I recently bought 2 female Dwarf Roborovskis Hamsters around 2 weeks ago, for the past 4 days they have been sleeping seperately, i have a 2 houses but only 1 wheel.

They have recently started fighting constantly......while i was writing this 1 pinned the other down and tried to bite it,

could someone please help??

P.S. one is alot fatter than the other, i bought them from P@H. Is that normal??

loyal_tree
03-15-2009, 10:56 AM
Hopefully the little chubby girl is not pregnant. If she's pregnant it could cause some tension between the two. They could also just be from different litters and one is older.

I recommend adding another wheel to reduce fighting. Plus, Robos are extremeley active and will both want to run at the same time at night. Instead of using a bowl for food, try scatter feeding to reduce issues over the food and make sure the smaller one is getting enough. Give treats and everything else in two's.

Hopefully they will settle soon. If not, you'll need to be prepared to separate them. A lot of people wait for blood drawn to separate, but use your best judgement. Fighting is normal, you just have to know how to set things up to reduce it, and know when enough is enough. I hope they come around! :D

Kennie
03-15-2009, 11:31 AM
I will try adding another wheel, i already scatter food and put plenty of treats around the cage so they get there even share.

The chubby one follows the skinnier one around and then the skinnier one turns on the other.....

I got them from Pets@Home, could they have given me a male and a female by accident?

The first week or more in there cage they got on great, stuck together and played together but then i noticed one started sleeping from the other and noticed that one was getting chubby.

Is it there any other ways to tell if one is pregnant?

souffle
03-15-2009, 12:59 PM
Pets at home are notorius for selling wrongly sexed hamsters. It is common for a pregnant female to turn on a cage mate so it is possible. You can usually see the back end bulging and the nipple lines showing when they are closer to being due but if they are not tame it will be hard to check. Once you have had her for around 3 weeks you can be sure she was not pregnant if she does not deliver however that depends on being sure the other roba is not a male! Can you sex them at all or even look at them side by side and see it the two vents look the same distance apart on both animals? Feed her well with extra protien just in case. If one is being bullied badly I would separate but establishing a pecking order is normal and they may settle again.

Kennie
03-15-2009, 01:41 PM
Do they get pregnant and have litters within 3 weeks?

There were originally 3 in the wee box in pets@home but im sure as everyone is aware they put about 7 in to one of those tanks so.

They were originally the same size when we first got them but one has doubled nearly since we got it and the other has stayed around the same size.

souffle
03-16-2009, 03:17 AM
Yes pregnancy is about 21days but some can delay the pregnancy for a few days if they are not in peak condition so it can be a little longer. It may be that one was a runt or maybe the big one is not letting the other one get much food. Is the big one nest building, staying in the house a lot as if she as nursing? Try and turn her up and see if there are any nipple lines and if she feels sort of firm and rounded.

Bunsey
03-16-2009, 10:49 AM
oh dear, it does sound like she might be pregnant. I would never buy robos from pets at home unless i could sex them myself. It seems about 50% of people end up with a mis-sexed pair (either a mixed pair or both of them a different sex to what they were told!) or a pair from 2 different litters that have been bunged together.

The 2 huts and 1 wheel was the wrong way around unfortunately. It's best to give one hut and 2 wheels, for future reference.

I think i'd separate them though, just incase she's pregnant because as soon as she gives birth, she'll get pregnant again.