My hamster humps my other male hamster

[Anandc]

I got 2 new Syrian hamsters and named them Chip and Dale. Shop guy said both are males, but since today evening they are humping each other non-stop. am worried after the shop owner may be wrong and one of them is female! How do I find out if Dale is female or not? because am kind of sure that Chip is male(he is very dominate and have seen his tiny penis). Below attaching Dale pics, can anyone help me please? I dont want to breed many hamsters.

[souffle]

Hi there and welcome.
Firstly you need to separate them immediately as Syrian hamsters are solitary and must be kept alone. Eventually they will fight to the death. If you don't have another cage use a plastic storage box and a bowl for water. A pet shop should never have sold them to live together. If you can't house two separately then you would be best to return or rehome one of them. I can't really tell from the pics if Dale is male or female. Females come in to heat every 4th night and they will only mate then. Dale has quite long hair which is unusual even in long haired females as it's normally the males who have the long fluffy skirt. If you can see nipple lines up either side then you have a female. If Dale is a female then you need to have her on pregnancy watch. Gestation in syrians is only 16 days.

[Pebbles82]

What Souffle said. Please separate them immediately. Syrians should never live together, only solitary. You can sometimes see if a hamster is female by the shape of their back end (viewed from above when they are standing on all fours, not upside down). A male tends to have an elongated back end. A female is more of a rounded back end. Although again maybe difficult to tell with a long haired hamster. You will find out in 16 days if he/she is pregnant.

But do please separate them immediately. Or they will kill each other. I would also write to the pet shop and formally advise them that Syrian hamsters should not be sold as pairs who can live together, and quite an animal health charity on that.

This article has some helpful info

Can Hamsters be Kept Together? — Hamster Society (Singapore)

More here

Syrian Hamster – National Hamster Council

Everything you read will say Syrian hamsters MUST live alone.

[Anandc]

Hi, thank you so much for replies. I have returned Dale to shop as she also confirmed it is female and promised for full return or store credit. I have 2 cages but I kept in one single cage (its very large cage which I bought recently so both of them can be hosted together). Now Chip is enjoying the house all alone.