I’m worried for my hamster

[Ihave4hamsters]

Hi there, I’m new to this, but I have 4 hamsters, White Russian dwarf, 2 male and 2 female and I have them separated into bins. I have 2 of each, 2 wheels, coconut hut, food bowls , you name it. A few weeks ago my male hamsters start squabbling, nothing serious , just playing fighting but you can definitely see that the younger one(the son) was dominating the dad who is much bigger and fatter than him. The dad( Pep) and the son(mozzarella) stopped squabbling, but then I noticed blood on one of the toys, but I couldn’t tell who was bleeding because they had cleaned each other by the time I saw. I separated the cage and put a wedge right in the middle of the bin. Next morning I saw mozzarella had gone to Pep side and had bitten his face all over and bit his right leg and part of one is his testicles and now they’re completely separated. I’m worried for pep, he seems to be normal, he cleaned the blood

[Amethyst_ice]

Hello,

It seems like you need to house them seperately, they won't recognise a "divide" in the cage. How big are the bin cages as even having 2 of everything may not be enough. They will be perfectly happy housed alone.

It may be worth taking Pep to the vets and on some antibiotics to ensure the wounds don't become infected

[Ria P]

Hello and welcome to HC!

I'm so glad that you have joined this forum.
You say that you are new to this but have 4 hamsters. You are very brave. I would never, ever, keep more than one hamster in one cage. It's just not worth the risk as you have already found out the hard way. Hamsters can fall out at any time and they will fight to the death to defend their territory.

I would also advise you to take your hamster to the vet because he may need painkillers.

Unfortunately, vet bills can be one of the consequences of keeping hamsters in pairs and owners who choose to do so need to be prepared for it.

Do you have a whole hamster family?

[Ihave4hamsters]

Pep scars are fading but one of his legs are swollen and he’s not using it, I took away his hamster wheel so he can rest it, but he’s still active, eating and drinking and chasing after the females when I put them together while being supervised or course. The reason I have 4 hamsters was because when I originally bought them, I had bought two, pep and sally, they were a month old and I thought both were females but I didn’t know how to tell them apart in gender until sally gave birth 2 months later and boom now pepita was pepito and I had to buy a larger bin, luckily she gave birth to a female and a male, brownie(F) and mozzarella (m) so I could put male with male and vice versa. All was going well until well mozzarella reached sexual maturity- 3 months exactly after he was born. Currently mozzarella is living in my drawer which is pretty big and spacious and pep has his bin to all to himself

[Amethyst_ice]

Hello, this sounds like quite a chaotic situation.

Firstly, if Pip is still showing signs of an injury he needs to go to the vet asap. If it is swollen and he isn't using it he will no doubt be in some pain. Hamsters are pray animals and hide pain well.

Secondly, PLEASE do not let your males and females mix. Procreation can happen VERY quickly with hamsters, no matter how much supervision you are doing There is no need for them to be together at all and if your females have already been pregnant, it is dangerous for them to be pregnant again, not to mention you having more hamsters. If they only had 2 pups then that suggests a few died, it was unhealthy pregnancy, she was young etc

Lastly, everyone really needs to be house individually. Once they start fighting it will only get worse and there really is no need for them to be living together. They will be perfectly happy alone.

Not quite sure what you mean by living in your drawer?!?