Introducing new hamsters?

MismatchedMongrel · 02-25-2012, 12:39 PM

So Ryka passed away.. I found her this morning. I got her and Mai about five days ago and Mai was alone and was acting sort of depressed..
So I went out and found another campbell/ww hybrid. Now I need to figure out how to introduce them.
I've never introduced hamsters before.
Mai: I've only had her five days, she's a timid ham and is about four months old.
The new ham: About three or so.
They're both WW/Campbell hybrids.
The first thing I tried was putting them in the nice clean cage and they did fine for a while but Mai started jumping on the smaller one. And that's about it. She would jump, flip the younger ham over and it would stay like that for a few seconds and then life would continue on.
I was a little worried... so I split the cage in half so that the two could get used to eachother, and I put a bar (like you'd find on a bird cage) down the middle.
Everyone has their own house, wheel, food and water bottle.
I figured I'd leave them like this fo ra few days so that they could get used to eachother.
Am I doing this right?
If anyone needs it I can do pictures and/or video

Thanks

**kyrilliondaemon** · 02-25-2012, 12:48 PM

Honestly, I'd not actually have bought another.

Chances are that Mai will adapt perfectly well to living alone and introductions can be really difficult to pull off successfully. Theres a very high chance the new one will never live with Mai successfully.

MismatchedMongrel · 02-25-2012, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyrilliondaemon

Honestly, I'd not actually have bought another.

Chances are that Mai will adapt perfectly well to living alone and introductions can be really difficult to pull off successfully. Theres a very high chance the new one will never live with Mai successfully.

Well.. its worth a shot. If not, I have a friend who is willing to take a ham... or else I'll just start over again with two new hams. We'll see what happens.
off topic:
You seem to perpetually be on the forum, I gotta ask, when do you sleep? o.o

StarlightSerenity · 02-25-2012, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MismatchedMongrel

Well.. its worth a shot. If not, I have a friend who is willing to take a ham... or else I'll just start over again with two new hams. We'll see what happens.
off topic:
You seem to perpetually be on the forum, I gotta ask, when do you sleep? o.o

That sounds so utterly heartless

So does saying that you will get rid of the new one if they don't get on.

Why are you desperate to keep a pair? Introducing another ham to Mia at her age is more likely to cause upset than anything. She would be perfectly happy on her own.

MismatchedMongrel · 02-25-2012, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StarlightSerenity

That sounds so utterly heartless

So does saying that you will get rid of the new one if they don't get on.

Why are you desperate to keep a pair? Introducing another ham to Mia at her age is more likely to cause upset than anything. She would be perfectly happy on her own.

I got them FOR the pair. I'd rather have a pair or neither.

**kyrilliondaemon** · 02-25-2012, 01:17 PM

I'm not on the forums constantly, I just tend to use the laptop a lot in my free time (a foot injury means the outdoor stuff I'd like to do is out completely for the foreseeable future and has been for 8 months now). I'm off for a good few hours every night for sleep though, and time when we go out, and for shifts at work and stuff!

And er... Yeah its worth a shot but you should probably have considered the possibility it wouldn't work before buying another. It seems really mean to get rid of it if they don't get on. Also seems really, really mean to just go "oh well, I can just start over with two more". Is it really that important to have a pair of hamsters living together?
We have a group but thats for their sake not ours, if they all choose to live alone we'll split them and keep them alone. Same as we got Muffin because Whizz was definetly miserable without company (we'd spent six months trying to find a way to make her happy without it) but we planned to have them living apart if the introduction didn't work out and we'd never get rid of Muffin just because she's a daft hormonal girl and can't live with company right now.

The split cage method is your best chance though.

Edit - Oh and about "getting them for a pair" not the hams themselves. Thats really not right. We got our hams because we wanted them, and if you want the truth? Our robo rescues drove me absolutely up the wall for ages, they were traumatised by the people who'd owned them before (that was probably "so they had hamsters" too) and we had to allocate an hour for two of us to get them out of their cages just for cage cleaning or time out. To tell the truth, they tried my patience, Whizz still can sometimes, but I love both of them and have from the start, and I'd never, ever rehome either of them just because they're not quite what I expected.
A ham isn't "just a hamster" its a living creature that as far as I'm concerned deserves as much consideration as a human being. You wouldn't pass on a child if it needed a different bedroom to your other one, would you? So why do it with a different living thing instead?

KatiePillow · 02-25-2012, 01:19 PM

That is horrible. You'd compromise an animals care so you could have it your way? Do you not bond with them?
I don't get along with 2/3 of my hamsters, but they're my responsibility and I'd never replace them just so I could get some that act like I believe they should.
That's such a horrible attitude.

BaileyandBeth · 02-25-2012, 01:21 PM

I don't even want to be posting here because I've found this post quite upsetting but here goes.
You only want a pair of hamsters and will get rid of them if they don't get on? So you really have no interest in the welfare of an animal, only your own wants? Why buy any hamster in the first place? You can't just throw away an animal because it doesn't behave how you want it to. I suggest if you are going to rid yourself of these two you stop buying hamsters. You aren't keeping them for the right reasons and there is already enough hamsters needing rehomed.

kiania · 02-25-2012, 05:49 PM

I clicked on this topic with the thought of, "Oooh, someone is introducing new hybrids, wonder if that is even possible", as Nimh is a hybrid P@H adoption (and therefore was a billy-no-mates, and had no chance of me bringing another home - and me and my partner were discussing whether it would even be possible to re-introduce her - didn't think so, but was curious to know).

Now I'm just...sad. When we were in the shop, we both fell in love with Nimh - yes, when we went back to collect her, I asked to see the lone male as well (just in case), but it was Nimh who we fell in love with. And that was even before I'd handed over my credit card, let alone after 5 days

I can appreciate the want for a pair, but with the amount of posts I see about pairs splitting up, there are no guarantees anyway. Makes me wonder if you went and got a new pair, if they failed 3 months down the line, whether you'd still get rid of them then too?

Lucinda · 03-01-2012, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MismatchedMongrel

I got them FOR the pair. I'd rather have a pair or neither.

Then don't keep hamsters...chances are the pair will split up sooner or later - more chance so if they're hybrids.

Being in a pair doesn't make the hamster any more loving or friendly. If you want animals that will live together, then I suggest you do your research and get pets that are social.

If the hamsters don't want to live together, don't force them.

My 2 hybrids were fine for a month, then had to be split up. Splitting them up made them happiest, so I did. I can't understand your logic.