Fighting Hammies

[kydhammies]

We recently purchased two dwarf hamsters from a small pet shop. The sexes were not seperated in the cages so we ended up with a pair, a solid white and a standard. It has been a week and now the white one Ruby fights with Rudy. Not just your tumble in the bedding she has him petrified and running. They are now seperated in two different cages. We didn't know we were getting male and female.
Up to this recent fighting they were just fine, does this mean she was already pregnant at the time we bought her or does this mean something else? According to the petshop they are 8 weeks old.
And she has bitten me when I try to clean her cage or put fresh feed in her bowl. She was our most social one and loved to be handled.

Does anyone have any idea what might be the problem and an easy solution?

As you can tell we are new at Dwarf Hamsters and we did not want to breed them!

Thank you for your time and any help!

[Die Fledermaus]

Dwarfs do not have to be kept in groups, as gerbils should; they can but can also live alone. I tried to carefully introduce two males using all the tricks I know to do it safely, but one went berserk attacking the others in a screaming fit. He even climbed up the screen dividing them and leaped off! So they were separated, and they seem happy. I have read too many stories oif dwarfs who know each other suddenly getting violent even to the point of killing each other. It is safer for them, and easier on my mind, to let them live alone: each has their own Habitrail Space Station with add ons (I moved some Syrians out as I thought the internal wheels too small for the Syrians).

I learned how to sex dwarfs only with great difficulty: they have to be scruffed gently and just right (hard to do without practice), and then I used a Q-Tip to examine their parts. it was hard. I would only trust pet store employees I know well to do it; if not, have the pet store manager do it.

So, you know they are different sexes? At least they are separate and can't fight.

I once had a surprise litter from a Syrian named Rainy who had 12 babies: I kept them all, and that was almost 19 months ago. Seven are still here and happy, the others dyng of natural causes.

Do NOT just reach in - she will think you are invading her territory. Even my docile mice nip at me when I try to do that - the same mice I can hold and kiss they are so tame. But reaching in is ill-advised. Never try to scoop up a hamster from the front, nor grab them from above and behind. Scoop them from the sides. Mine have never nipped me (see my photos in another thread).

What else. . . if she is pregnant it is a lot simpler than my situation with the Syrian: you likely will have a lot fewer babies, and babies from the same litter of the same sex could live together in groups with some success; they are also much smaller than Syrians so need a lot less room and food.

I do not know if being aggressive is a sign a dwarf is pregnant, but I doubt it. Maybe someone else knows for sure.

Hope I have been helpful, a little. Keep us posted.

[kydhammies]

Thank you for your reply. Your response was most helpful. After the cage switch they have calmed down and seem to be happier. I'm beginning to wonder if they are male and female. When we called the shop back they were for certian Ruby was a female but not certian about Rudy. I guess now we wait and see how things go from here!
The store owner kept reassuring us that they can live peaceably together and shouldn't have any trouble.

Thank you for al your help!

Angelia

[Die Fledermaus]

They MIGHT live peaceable together, but with dwarfs it is always "iffy".

If they DO live together and are of different genders. . . you will be having babies!

It took me five tries once to accurately sex a dwarf once. It is hard, and I used the Q-Tip to move the fur.

Keep us posted on how they do, and check back for more replies.