Housing Different Species Together?

[Feliiiix]

[U]I KNOW THIS IS A BIG NO NO! Dont want lectures just a question![/U]

Hello, im new to this forum, but not new to hamsters.
I have a very odd question. I know that housing different species together is very bad and that even syrians like too be alone.

I woke up this morning to finded my Grey Long Hair Syrian (Bruce) had escaped from his tank, after looking everywhere for him i found that he was actually curled up in bed with my winter white (Rocky) in a different tank.
I immediately seperated them and check them over for injuries but neither hamster had any, they were both quite happy and both alseep on top of a mountian of stored food.

Is it possible that they enjoyed each others company? Im just extremely shock that there was no signs of destress at all?

Bruce (syrian) is a year old. & Rocky (WW) is 2years 7months old.

Many thanks
Feliiiix

[souffle]

I think because they are different species they didn't recognise each other as any danger so just sort of settled together? They were likely sleepy and dozy when he finally ended up there so nice and quiet and just nodded off.
I'd make sure he is well secured now just in case you are not so lucky next time!!

[Shannonmcn]

I think things like this do sometimes happen with animals, like that story of a tigress deciding that she would mother a litter of piglets instead of eating them. We can't know what is going through their heads that sometimes leads to fights between animals who should get along or vice versa.

I'm very glad for you that things turned out so well and that you know not to risk it happening again. There was one story I read on here a good while ago now where the outcome was very different, it gave me nightmares for weeks when I was minding a friends little chinese ham and the cage had to be in the same room as my syrian.

[racinghamster]

Like soufflé, I would say you have been extremely fortunate not to find a blood bath (thank goodness!) but no harm done. Hamsters being solitary creatures for the best part are best kept that way. Even siblings have problems co-habiting.

Now with mice, I can tell you that Multi-Mammate (africal soft fur rats) can live with a single fancy male mouse. Multis are larger than fancy pet mice and these introductions are normally ONLY done under certain circumstances. An example would be, a female multi has lost her female companion and because these species don`t do well on their own, they can usually be successfully introduced to a single male fancy mouse, who always live alone due to their aggression towards other male fancy mice. So it sometimes makes for a nice paring. Most of the pairings I`ve heard of have all gone well. However, multimammate mice chew a lot and can usually chew their way out of a plastic based cage, so tanks have to be used.

I`ve also recently saw a single male fancy mouse living with striped mice. It`s strange, but it works. x