Bonded Pair Question

[Budlam]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum but have owned hamsters for the past few years. Up until today I shared my home with two dwarf hybrids (housed separately) and a female Syrian. I house my hamsters in medium and large Niteangel Vistas and enjoying decorating their homes and spoiling them rotten. I have never, before yesterday, housed two dwarf hamsters together.

I brought home a bonded pair of dwarf hybrid brothers yesterday and I think I've made some rookie mistakes in setting up their enclosure. It is 3:00 am where I'm at and I am still awake, monitoring the new guys. I've never housed a pair but these two checked off all the boxes for cohabitation. They're 6-8 month old brothers who have never been separated.

Please know I understand the risks associated with cohabitation and have a spare enclosure on hand if separation is needed at any point. I will not let them hurt each other and will separate at the first sign that things are going south. I want them both happy and healthy above all, they are both very sweet boys who have found their home even if they no longer want to be roommates.

I scatter feed so no food bowls and have provided them with a water bowl on one side of their enclosure and a water bottle on the other. I did not add their wheels tonight as I wanted them to settle in before offering them items they could potentially "claim" as they adjust to their new home.

However, I made a mistake. I used a small cardboard box with two holes in it filled with hay to prop up their sand bath above bedding level and I've since learned not to do that. I heard the occasional squeak throughout the day, always from the same corner of their enclosure, but as soon as night hit the squeaking frequency increased. I determined the box had given one of them a pseudo territory and removed it along with their sandbath. In the process they both came out above bedding level and I was able to watch them for a while. I also checked them both for bites, just to be sure. There were no injuries or marks on either of them. One of the boys did squeak a few times, he seemed irked that his box was gone, but his brother was not chasing or acting aggressively to him.

They walked around, over, and next to each other all around the enclosure without incident.

As I've typed this out over the past hour, there have been no more squeaks - not a single one. The box of doom and the chaos it brought have been banished from the hamsterlands for good. I feel like I may have overreacted with this wall of text, but I'd still love to hear other's experiences with adopting bonded pairs and what to expect in the first few days as they settle in.