Injured Hamster

On Sunday I had to split my 2 Robos, Plusle and Minun, up as the fighting had gotten worse. Minun had been bullying Plusle and I hadn't seen him/her for weeks. Minun had gone into Plusle's home just to start fights so I decided it was time to seperate them. Plusle came out tonight and couldn't walk properly on his back leg. I'm taking him to see a vet tomorrow as I am slightly worried about it. Has anyone else experienced this? I have only had them for 2 months and they were fine before this weekend. Or at least I thought they were. I am feeling really bad about this and feel that I should have seen this. When we got them we got two of everything so they wouldn't fight, but I guess I got that wrong. I had originally thought that they were mixed sex and that Plusle was pregnant and that was why I hadn't seen her / him...I don't actually know the sex of them.

I'll let you know what the vet says tomorrow. As you can probably tell I am beating myself up about this. I just wanted to post this for any advice you may be able to give me.

Thanks
Rachel

[Holly]

Well obviously separating them now was the right thing to do. Many of us here have had single-sex pairs of the various types of dwarf hamster who have begun to squabble more and more and eventually fight to bloodshed and need separating. It's not always easy to predict what's going to happen so don't be hard on yourself - even the happiest duos argue sometimes! I think if your two were sleeping separately that was a bit of a clue as even those that squabble tend to curl up together afterwards - once they start sleeping separately things tend to be escalating - but you didn't know that and at least they are separated now.

it sounds like your injured one needs to see the vet today - he may have a wound or abscess which is causing him pain - they usually bite the underparts as they are most vulnerable. Can you see a wound? I know it's hard with robos - ours is quite tame but I'd still struggle to inspect his underside for wounds I expect!

Good luck at the vets and keep us posted? Do you have cages for both?

PS Love the names - my son is a Pokemon fan and I play it too!

[souffle]

Sorry to hear about the hurt one. Hope the vet can sort something out. It is now really important you tame your hammies as then you will be able to give them their fun time out and also a health check every day or two days at least. Start as if they were new and be very aware of the porrly one who will need extra care and may need meds given so will need handling. Look here and start now with the scented tissues
http://www.hamstercentral.com/user.php? ... ticle&a=44
It is harder to tame robos so be patient and calm. Even the most experienced breeders have fight issues with dwarfs and the more posts I see about fighting the more I feel these animals should not be sold as sociable pets as it all to often goes very wrong.
Keep us posted how he gets on at the vet and get the vet to sex the hammy for you too.