Rosewood Abode or Ferplast Favola for my Dwarfs?

[Hammymad]

I don't have any experience with keeping dwarf hammies together,they can live happily in a group/pair etc and they can be happy on their own.I got Rambo about 18 months ago frm being 8 weeks old and he's always been by himself and very happy.
My latest dwarf ham BB was a rescue ham and was bullied and attacked by her litter mates,so needed to be by herself.
If hams are from the same litter they've got a good chance of living together and being happy (there are a good few members Kyrillion for example who is much more experienced with keeping groups together) I'm sure she could better advise you on that.

The cages are too small, we aren't trying to tell you what to do,it's just much better for the hams if they have more space.and if you do end up getting a couple of hams- the more space the better I'd say.

[londonhamster]

Originally Posted by Hammymad

The cages are too small, we aren't trying to tell you what to do,it's just much better for the hams if they have more space.and if you do end up getting a couple of hams- the more space the better I'd say.

No dont worry, speak your mind. To me, you are all the experts so frank and direct advice is best. I truly appreciate it and am taking all that you say on board. Thank you for your advice. I will reassess things now.

The Pets at home stuff keep looking at me funny when I explain to them that Russian Dwarf Campbell's are different from Winter Whites. They keep insisting that the whiter coloured babies in their group of Campbell's are winter whites....oh well.

Anyway thanks again all.

[Hammymad]

To be honest most pf the staff at Pets at home don't know their a**e from their elbow lol!

You're welcome,keep us posted with what you decide to get xx

[MommaHammie]

P@H = more chances of getting things wrong than getting things right.

Most of the suggestions here are basically to give you more chances of having a happy pair of dwarfs hammies living together. Some of us have had a smooth sail with the dwarfs and didn't have to deal with separating and reintroduction but some unlucky ones (like me >_<) had to take the bullied hammie away from the others.

Dwarfs are fine in a group (preferably an even number group) but they are also fine living on their own (especially when the hammy was bullied by the others).

I hope you get your cage sorted out as soon as possible though

[vanilla-yazoo]

i have a winter white who has been single since 6ish weeks old, he is fine on his own and likes his space.

Just a note, if its pets at home you are looking at, the hamsters would be hybrids, a cross over of the winter white and campbells (like a labradoodle is labrador-poodle) they might look like a full campbells, but the places they get hamsters from dont keep the species seporate, so they would definatly be a mix of the two, unless you went to a breeder.
You are right, they are 'social' but they also can have bad fights over what seems like nothing. in the past I had reserched loads into chinese, and what i found out said you can keep them together, I got 3 females, 3 days later I was woken up by screaming in the night, they all had bites from one another, I seporated them into anything close at hand, but they all passed from the wounds. For this reason I dont keep pairs, if I did there would be multiple cages ready in case, and ild try not to leave them unatended.

kyril, hamtastic, pompompoms have got pairs/groups off the top of my head, so they are the top people if you did get a pair.

pets at home staff are as inteligent as ever!
I dont know if you where up for traveling, monday theres a show in thame, oxford, (a bit over an hour from marylebone) there will be full winter whites, and full campbells with pedigrees there. Im not saying you have to go, but should you want to go, its quite a close show to london

[KatiePillow]

The reality is there are campbells and winter whites, pets at home hamsters tend to be hybrids of the two species, their lines don't get an eye kept on them so they tend to interbred (they're mostly from rodent farms, would say exclusively but I'm sure somebody would pipe up with one example of another source)

To get a pure winter white you'd have to go to a proper breeder, I think it was pointed out that your nearest was in Borehamwood, hertfordshire.

It's also worth mentioning that pure winter whites don't tend to like living together as much as campbells anyway, I always think that syrians, winter whites and chinese should be housed alone (from seeing the frequency of fall outs in the latter two) campbells can be attempted, and robos have the highest frequency of success. There'll be exceptions to every rule obviously

I've kept 3 lone hybrids and they all seemed happy enough once they adapted (the first two were kept together until I found out they'd been sexed incorrectly, and the third was an adoption after he fought with a cagemate and was returned) as long as their cage is fairly interesting and they have enough out of cage time, they should be alright.
I tend to adopt returned/adoption centre hamsters from p@h, just so I don't have to make the decision to split any hamster up though (huge wimp)

Hope this helps

[racinghamster]

Everyone else has covered all the points londonhamster and you have definately come to the right place for advice. Everyone on here has wide experience of keeping dwarf hamsters alone and in pairs/groups, so their advice is invaluable to a newcomer as so many new owners get all excited about their new little ones and sometimes that excitement turns to stress and disapointment when they realise they have either bought the wrong cage or their pair of hamsters start to argue and not get on and end up needing split up. It happens a lot sadly.

Have you thought about adopting one of the russian dwarfs from Pets At Home? If it`s really a pair you are after that`s fine too, but I have to be honest here and say I would never take on a pair of dwarfs again. I just find that they can be too much trouble to keep an eye on and you end up with two cages rather than the big expensive one you bought to begin with!

That`s not to say the two you buy would end up seperated, but it is something you need to consider long term just incase. For a pair of dwarf hamsters, I would be looking at cages like the Zoozone 1, the Ferplast KIOS, or the Zoozone 2, although this is a meter long so you need the room space to accommodate it! Fantastic size though for plenty of cage accessories for a pair or a single dwarf. All of these cages can be found online and sometimes local pet shops. They would be a good, long term solution and all have decent floor space without having multiple shelving. You can add a few low levels into cages by using wooden levels and Fiddlestix log bridges etc... plenty of ideas in the Housing and Habitat sections on here to give you ideas.

But finally, if this is your first venture into owning a dwarf hamster, I would look at adopting one that is looking for a nice, settled home. I prefer males but that`s just my own preference. I get all my hamsters from adoption or word of mouth/forums etc. It`s so rewarding.

[Hammymad]

Good idea RC about the adopting
Honestly londonhamster adopting is very rewarding,as I said in earlier post I have an adopted WW and she is lovely.maybe give it some thought x

[Kissa]

Third-ing the adopting It does feel good to give a "reject" hammy a home. They need as much love as the "new" ones for sale. You're almost never going to find a pure WW in a pet shop, though (or a pure Campbells).

I wish I could force all P@H staff to read Hamsterlopaedia or something. Would be much more useful than whatever "training" they apparently get...

(Curse you guys, now I really want to adopt another hamster, I only have room for one cage! )

[racinghamster]

Now don`t be getting all broody guys because I mentioned adopting! It`s definately worth looking at though because Pets At Home usually have one or more russian dwarf hamsters in their adoption area. They might not be very young, but the chances are they are either an unwanted childs present (child got bored or it bites!) or the hamster is too old to be sold, so they are placed in the adoption area to make way for the cute baby hamsters. It would be the adoption area I would aim for everytime because I don`t like lining the pockets of the store. Any fee you give goes to animal welfare and not the store.