Quote:
Originally Posted by genevieve
- How many did you house together?
- Where did you get them from? (eg. pet shop, breeder, shelter etc)
- When were they introduced? Or were they together from birth?
- If they weren't together when you got them, how were they introduced? (eg. vanilla method, split cage method etc)
- How big was their cage?
- How many wheels did they have?
- Did you use a food bowl, or did you scatter food?
- How many water bottles did they have?
- How many "houses" / "hideouts" did they have?
- What other stimulative items (eg. toys, sand bath etc) did they have in their home, and how many of each?
- How long did they live together before one/both/all passed away?
- Did they ever have to be temporarily separated for any reason? (eg. illness)
- How often did they play fight, and did it ever look serious?
- Do you think they got along well?
- Would you every house a pair/group again? Why/why not?
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Hehe right that is a lot of questions!
1) I have 2 housed together both 'female' (We still arent 100% sure)
2) I got mine from P@H, Bristol
3) One is much older than the other so they must have been introduced at seperate times, however this was before I got them.
4) -----
5) Their cage is 70x35x18cm (LxWxH) it is an underbed storage box from Dunelm mill
6) They had one wheel but it has since been removed for a medical reason
7) They have a food bowl but they eat at different times so hey dont fight over it
8 )They have 1 water bottle, a 75ml mouse bottle. Again they use it at different times so there is no conflict
9) They have 3/4 hidey holes but mostly they sleep together
10) They have a wooden log play toy, a chewable ladybird, a sand pit (1/3 of the cage parted off and covered with sand) they have a cat ball, a sock and a dig box and I take them out a few times a day so they do lots of exploring
11) They have been living together with me for a month and for 2 months in the shop
12)They have not been seperated although they almost were in the second week of having them for fighting
13) They play fight a couple of times a week but its never serious, when I first got them they used to fight constantly but from experience I knew this was simply from the stress of moving. After the second week they calmed down and since then have had only 3 fights. I only seperate hamsters if serious harm is caused, if its just fighting then I leave them and eventually they learn to love each other.
14) I think they do now, not as much as my robos love each other but they dont mind having each other around. I think they enjoy the company.
15) Yes I defenitly would. I found that when the girls used to fight it was more noise than anything else, they would really scream at each other (they sound exactly like squeek toys) so there was no real danger to them. Also I would at least take the chance to house more together as it is better for their wellbeing and single dwarf hamsters have a shorter life span than those who live in groups/pairs. I think its always good to at least try but I give it a maximum of 3 weeks before I consider seperation (unless injury is caused in which case I would seperate them immediatly). The majority of hamsters will fight for the first week after moving simply because of the stress, just like human families when they are moving home
I hope this helps to answer your questions
To those who've successfully housed a pair/group of WWs...
One bottle and one bowl
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