2 male russian dwarfs in same cage?

kaya · 03-01-2015, 02:59 PM

so i have a brown and an albino russian dwarf hamster in the same cage. the cage is more than big enough for the both of them however they share a house, in the pet shop they were both together so i decided to take them both. all night and through out the day the brown dwarf has been squeaking like its in pain and whenever that happens the albino tends to be on it however before i noticed it ran out the house squeaking and the albino was no where near it? i really dont know what could be wrong? i got them yesterday so is it possible they just need to settle in?? the brown dwarf also has a cut by his eye however it looks like its healing so it must of been done when they were in the pet shop please help i dont want to have to separate them.

kittokitty · 03-01-2015, 04:09 PM

If they have ANY visible injuries, any at all, then separate them before it gets worse.

Also, how big is more than big enough? Because pet store "large" cages look big but are too small for the hamster (the size of the hamster doesn't matter).

Next time you have a pair of dwarves together put in two houses.

cypher · 03-02-2015, 12:47 AM

Hi Kaya welcome to HC.
Keeping a pair of dwarfs together can be difficult & doesn't always work out well, you need a good size cage, 2 of everything, houses with more than one exit, no shelves, levels or tubes & you need to scatter feed to avoid fighting over dishes.
It does sound as though your pair may be fighting already & if one is squeaking like that is most likely being bullied by the other & could be seriously injured, or worse so you may need to separate them.

Thin Lizzy · 03-02-2015, 02:50 AM

Hi Kaya and Welcome to the forum!
It sounds like they have been fighting and this will get worse.
I would recommend separating them before one gets seriously injured.

Artisans_uk · 03-02-2015, 03:02 AM

Hi Kaya - welcome to the forum. Congratulations on your new additions. As people have already mentioned, keeping dwarf hamsters together is generally problematic and mostly doesn't work, there's just no predicting when seemingly contented cage mates might start to fight/bully.
As Cyber mentioned, two of everything is needed but as it sounds as if your hams are already unhappy in each others company, it's unlikely that even with duplication of all equipment etc they would settle again. As others have mentioned, the best way forward and with immediate haste is to put them in separate cages.

Hamsters will fight to the death or one will dominate the other which will not be able to get the food it needs and so will weaken.

Have a look on your local Gumtree for another cage if buying new is difficult but don't forget that even in separate cages, both hams need lots of room, they might be small but they need plenty of space.

Good luck, please keep us updated as to how they are.

pixiehollow · 03-03-2015, 05:55 AM

I echo everything that has been said above. How big exactly is your cage? What a petstore calls a large cage is more than not, far too small.

Look for second hand if needed but do get them separated, especially with injury. Whether it was in the petshop or not, they have obviously had a fallout before you brought them home, it doesn't rectify itself after blood has been spilled