Robo hamsters FIGHTING?? Pleaase reply urgently :(

Cathii · 03-08-2012, 04:11 PM

My 2 roborovski hamsters started to box a few days ago, I was told that was normal so let them be.
But today they have started to go crazy, sniffing each other's noses and then chasing round the cage, squeaking loudly and making a lot of noise. Salt fell onto his back one time.
Should I separate them? They've done this loads in the past hour but they ARE NOT drawing blood. Should i sepearte them for now or leave them to sort things out? I don't want it getting worse but i can't get to sleep -_-

Cathii · 03-08-2012, 04:15 PM

I have ordered a new wheel for them, and they have 2 separate food bowls.

Flamestriker · 03-08-2012, 04:19 PM

I only separated mine when I saw blood. Lucky gave Bubbles a nasty bite (which healed without problem) but I didn't like the squeaking and squealing or the week leading up to it. Both of my robo boys live in separate mini dunas now.

You could remove everything such as toys and scatter feed to see if the territorial scrapping stops but nothing worked for me. Also remove all ramps and platforms. I don't know much about robos and PomPoms and Racinghamster know far more than me.

**Hamtastic** · 03-08-2012, 04:21 PM

I would wait with separation until blood is drawn, however because you see this type of behavior from your hamsters right now, if nothing changes, it will almost certainly escalate to bites and require a separation.

You can try reorganizing their cage a bit, take out the toys, just have 2 wheels in, an open nest, water, and scattered food (no bowl)--nothing else. See if they will calm down.

Cathii · 03-08-2012, 04:25 PM

Thanks for all the replies! I am gonna rearrange cage and hopefully get some sleep.

**kyrilliondaemon** · 03-08-2012, 04:38 PM

Yeah, what Hamtastic said.

One other tip is to move them to a smaller cage or cut off some of the cage space or something. Theres a chance the chasing is one thinking its a game, the other being scared and running, the first thinking its fun and a never-ending circle of one finding it terrifying the other thinking its fun. Stopping them having the space to run as much should help stop it.
We were advised to try that when our robo girls were doing the chasing routine, and moving them to a smaller cage with nothing in it other than water bottles and scattered food did really help. Might be worth a try if you can do it.

Erin Loves Dwarf Hamsters · 03-08-2012, 04:44 PM

How old are they? If they are around 3/4 months it is a fairly normal thing to happen and usually cools down after a little while, its down to them trying to establish who is the dominant ham and as long as there are no serious injuries it is healthy to let them work it out. Like the others have said though, any signs of blood/cuts/injuries its would be best to separate them and either keep them separate or try and re-introduce them after a few days. This is what I had to do

Good luck!

**Pompompoms** · 03-08-2012, 05:13 PM

One of my girls is in the under 3-6 months age group still and as such is still a bit of a minx every now and then. With her I simply remove everything from the cage for 24 hrs other than the scattered food, water and nest, meaning the hams only have each other to focus attention on. For that pair it works a treat. other pairs I have separated and
reintroduced, others I have been able to leave to work out differences.

There are many things to try before accepting that they will be single hams, but keep a very close eye at the moment as the chasing can very quickly turn nasty. Make sure there isn't anywhere in the cage that one can be cornered or stuck, that anything you do leave in there can be got round fast and easily.

Keep a close eye on the one that's being chased, are they eating well, maintaining weight, looking fluffy and well groomed? Are they confident to move around the cage as a whole as opposed to creeping round the edge, basically all the signs of stress. Have a look under the fur on the bum for small nips rather than the more obvious bites, girls are more prone to these sneaky bites, but boys will do them on occasion too.

Cathii · 03-09-2012, 09:40 AM

Thank you so much for all the replies - they are really helpful!
I think I will see how they get on with less in their cage.

**kyrilliondaemon** · 03-09-2012, 10:35 AM

Just out of curiousity, are they still in the habitrail? That may not help matters either really.