If you see your hamsters biting, clawing, chasing, or cornering another hamster to prevent escape then these are signs that there is bullying and fighting going on between your hamsters in their cage. Hamsters are not like other pets in that they miss having company. Providing your hamster has plenty of human interaction then finding them a cage playmate is not required. If, however, you do want to get a couple of dwarf hamsters, please ensure that you integrate them slowly and watch out for signs of fighting.
This way your hamster can make hammy friends without feeling threatened or stressed. We started this website to share our experiences with owning and looking after hamsters. Read our blog for tips and advice to help make your hamster happy. Skip to content. Why do hamsters fight? Emma Behavior. Share on pinterest. Share on reddit. Share on facebook. Share on twitter. Table of Contents. Share on facebook Facebook. Share on twitter Twitter. One very important thing to remember if you are going to be keeping more than one hamster is to allow for escape should one hamster decide to fight with another.
If you have a hamster house in the cage then make sure it has two entrances, and make sure that there are no blocked off corners in the cage. You cannot watch your hamsters twenty four hours a day, so you need to make sure that the hamsters can get away from each other, should an attack take place.
This is especially important when the hamsters are new to each other, and full compatibility has yet to be established. It is not a failure on the part of the hamster owner if their hamsters simply do not get along. Female dwarf hamsters are known for being more likely to share a space without fighting while males of all breeds have a tendency to be more aggressive with each other.
Syrian hamsters should never be paired in an enclosure with other hamsters, regardless of sex. Hamsters are territorial, and smells have a lot to do with that. Their bedding should be changed at least once weekly, with any wet bedding being removed on a daily or near-daily basis to ensure a clean, dry space for your hamsters.
Check out our post about how often to clean a hamster's cage. Pairs of hamsters require more space to move around than a single hamster, so the cage should be upsized from what you would normally use for a single hamster. If an aggressive hamster feels very closed-in and confined, this can result in fighting behaviors. Try investing in a bigger cage and adding new toys and elements, like wheels and tunnels, to keep your hamsters entertained and ensure that they have their own space.
An alternative to buying a new cage if you feel that yours is already adequately sized is to place a partition in the cage that physically separates the hamsters. Choose a partition made of glass or clear plastic rather than bars, as hamsters could still attempt to fight each other between the gaps.
This allows the hamsters to have companionship without the risk of a fight breaking out. Check this article for DIY hamster cages and enclosures ideas. Even in the presence of a partition that separates them in the same enclosure, they could still get stressed by seeing one another — especially if one or both hamsters are particularly aggressive.
Entirely separate enclosures could be necessary if your hamsters just cannot get along. A fight between two hamsters might not seem that brutal or dangerous because they are small creatures. However, their teeth can cause serious damage to each other in the throes of a fight. Hamsters have sustained ghastly injuries and have even died as a result of these fights. Prevention is important in keeping your hamsters safe. If you know that a hamster is especially aggressive, it could save you both a lot of stress to house them separately from your other hamsters from day one.
However, some hamsters just will not get along. I have drwaf hamsters, all three came from the same mother, two are females and one is a boy, of course I have the boy in a separate cage, now the girls get along they sleep together but they do tumble and fight but I feel they way they fight one goes on her back when the small one tumbles her then she runs away and play. Is that normal? But in the end they both sleep together.
I play with all three separately I give them play time in the playpen where they have a sandbox, wheel a tube and an open ball to roll in. So my question is is it normal for them to fight? We have 2 made winter white dwarf hamsters that have been together as a litter.
They are so small they can escape through the bars of a normal cage. Get 2 cages, and keep them close together so that the hamsters can see and smell each other regularly. After a couple of days, if you see them trying to interact with each other, you can move them in together. If they ignore each other, they might not get along if you try to put them together. But if they are curious and sniff around a lot, you can try putting them together. But this requires a third cage, that smells of neither of them.
Clean, fresh bedding, clean toys, food bowls, and hideout and wheels as well. Your hammies might ignore each other, or they might be very curious. A bit of sniffing and play fighting is normal, until they get used to each other.
The hamsters will do a lot of pouncing on each other, and will interact a lot. In the beginning, when they are just getting used to each other, and their personalities are developing, this is normal.
It will be loud, and it will involve a lot of chasing around. Again, another reason to get the hamsters a large enough cage or glass tank. Your hamsters will have short bursts like this every now and then, but they should be fairly rare. If you see one of the cornering the other hamster, biting, scratching, even blood — definitely separate them. When separated the hamsters should be very far apart, even in different rooms.
They can still hear and smell each other, which will stress them out. If your hamsters get along and are okay, then great.
Handling them will need to be done with care. Since hamsters are so sensitive to smell, having your scent on just one of them will increase the tension between the two. So, try to handle them at the same time or in the same amount. Pick them up from their cage together, feed them together, and make sure they both get just as much attention from you. This also means that you will need to do this daily, since Dwarf hamsters have a shorter memory.
They need constant stimulation, and will forget owners after a few days. Largely this means that you will need 2 or more of everything in your hamster cage. Hideouts , food bowls, water bottles , toys , wheels , everything will need to be at least double. Getting them 2 of each will mean that they have less opportunities to argue over who gets what.
Hamsters are very territorial, and will argue over lots of things. Another thing to be very careful for is how you set up the cage itself. Make sure that there are no blocked corners than your hamsters can get stuck in. Also, get them hideouts with at least 2 exits, so they can never corner one another. If their relationship devolves to bullying, the victim needs to have opportunities to flee.
That means that long tubes or cramped corners should not exist in the cage. In my opinion — no, you should not. Even Dwarf types, who can live together with another hamster of their kind.
Hamsters are very territorial, and will eventually fight over many things. Small things like squabbles add up over time, and build tension.
Hamsters are so very sensitive to stress, and can develop all kinds of problems based on stress. They live alone in the wild, and they are perfectly okay living on their own.
They get a lot of love and affection from you, and even that can be too much sometimes. They can hide from you if they want. But another hamster in their cage can happen upon them at any time, whether they like it or not.
I hope you found a lot of useful info on here. Skip to content Your cute and cuddly hammies are fighting! Table of Contents. Related blog post. Ultimate Guide to Breeding Dwarf Hamsters If you own hamsters, you must know that you can actually make money off of breeding hamsters and selling their young.
Whatever the reason may be, you can definitely breed your hamsters. Hamsters make for cute little furry pets, but breeding them needs to be a careful process, as pregnancy for any species is dangerous for both the mother and the child or children. Today, we will be tackling the subject of breeding dwarf hamsters, teaching you all the important ins and outs of that process.
You will be learning what to expect, how often do these hamsters go in heat, how long are they pregnant for, how many babies should you expect, how to know when your hamster is ready to mate, how to breed Dwarf hamsters, and a few other things, as well. How to Breed Dwarf Hamsters? Do Hamsters Kill Their Babies? Are Dwarf Hamsters Good for Beginners?
Dwarf hamsters are actually among the breeds that are very easy to breed. You also get the breeding history of the hamsters. At a pet shop, you will often find siblings or hybrid breed hamsters that are less desirable for breeding. Pet shop workers may also have a difficult time telling the difference between male and female hamsters. Always look for hamsters that are in good health. Their eyes should be clear and bright, their fur smooth and glossy, and they should look active and interested in their surroundings.
This can be tricky since hamsters are so furry. You can check this below the tail, between the hind legs. Males should be at least 30 days old, while females should be at least three months old. You should always buy plastic aquarium cages, not wire cages. Hamsters will always try to escape, instinctively, and small hamsters that are still babies can easily crawl through the wires of a metal cage — plastic cages are definitely the way to go here.
Put one hamster in each cage and fill the bottom with wood shavings, megazorb, or carefresh. You should also get a small plastic or wood home for your hamster, and fill that with wood shavings, as well. Also, buy two water bottles, two hamster food bowls, several packs of hamster food, treats, and toys.
You can also feed them fresh food, seeds, whole grains, fresh green vegetables, and boiled eggs. You should keep doing this until the babies reach four weeks of age. All rodents, actually, can breed very quickly and before you know it, you have a huge family of hamsters on your hands. Since hamsters are mostly nocturnal animals, a female will go into heat during the night and it will most likely be in heat for about 12 hours.
However, to tell if the female is in heat and ready to mate, you have to pay attention to signs. The female will be crouching low to the ground and raising its tail. The hamster is also likely to smell, as the female is releasing pheromones.
If you see your hamsters fighting when you try to mate them, separate them and try again in a few days. Dwarf hamsters are actually quite sociable, unlike Syrian hamsters, so you can keep them in the same cage. If you place the mating pair together without supervision, the female will become pregnant quickly.
This is definite proof that your hamsters have mated. You should definitely isolate the female from the male as soon as the breeding is over with. There are many hamsters that will take care of their babies, but some hamsters will attack and kill them. This can happen for several reasons, for example; even the mother may kill their babies. The female will also be in heat immediately after giving birth, and the male will want to breed with her. After this, all that remains to do is wait, as the bus pretty much drives itself at this point.
She will start eating more and grooming more. She will also be digging more, as well as becoming more restless and startling more easily. This period lasts anything from 18 to 30 days, depending on the hamster. Dwarf hamster gestation is between 18 and 30 days, but the average time from mating to birth is 21 days. The female will go in heat 24 hours after having her pups.
Hamster babies are born blind and bald. Although, there are cases where the mother has given birth to as few as three and to as many as twelve babies, so be prepared for all scenarios.
Once the mother has given birth, you have to pay special attention not to disturb her. Do not touch any babies that she might leave lying around her cage. If you for some reason must touch the baby, rub a spoon into the flooring of the cage, and touch the baby with the spoon, do not touch the baby with your bare hands. You should also let the mother nurse for her young for three weeks without disturbing her. Leave her, the cage, and her babies alone — the only thing you should do is refill her food and water supply, and you should try to do this discreetly, as well.
This is especially important for the first-time mother, who under stress, has been known to kill and even eat her babies. The mother will be very jumpy after birth, so you should avoid touching the nest for at least three weeks after the babies have been delivered. Be very careful to avoid the nest. You should wait for four weeks before trying to separate the male babies from the female babies.
You can keep the females in the cage with the mother since Dwarf hamsters are milder than some other breeds. However, do not place the males with the father — the father will reject male babies as many species do , so you should place them in a separate cage when they are weaned. They take three weeks to wean, but let them live with their mother for another week to get adjusted to eating solid food.
To do this, take a hamster and grasp it firmly around the body and lift it upright and tilt its body slightly backward. The hamster will not appreciate this, and it will struggle to get out of this position. Take a look at the genital area — the females have the genital opening and the anus close together, while the males have the genital opening separated from the anus by a distance approximately equal to your forefinger.
Yes, there are instances in which a hamster be it the mother or the father will kill their own babies. There are many reasons for which a hamster might kill their own babies: — the mother may feel stressed if you constantly keep checking on her and her litter. This can cause her stress levels to rise and kill her young. Baby hamsters can take up too much space and the mother sees no other escape other than killing them to provide more space.
This sounds unlikely to some, but the mother can be so starved after giving birth that she kills and eats her young. This is actually a common occurrence in the hamster world — the mother will try to carry the young to the house or put them in her cheeks to protect them from outside factors. She can accidentally squeeze too hard and kill the baby or babies.
She can accidentally bite down a little too hard and crush her young. Maybe out of mercy, maybe because this is the evolutionary way of survival of the fittest, but the mother will be getting rid of any offspring that seems to be faulty in any way by her standards. This is actually fairly common in the animal kingdom, as the male will often see the newborns as competition and kill the young. Read more Maybe you were confused and grossed out like I was.
After catching my Teddy do this a few times, talking to other hamster owners, and doing some research, I found out why this happens.
Table of Contents So why is your hamster eating his poop? The short answer is that there are 2 types of poop. The regular, dry droppings that you find in his cage, and then softer droppings that occur mostly at night. When your hamster is eating his poop, he is eating the night poop. These are called caecotrophia and they are necessary for your hammy. Also, since some nutrients are not absorbed by their bodies properly on the first go, by eating their night poop they get more nutrients.
So that means your hammy has to bring the poop back to the stomach by eating it. Actually a lot of rodents do this, including the guinea pig, mice, and even rabbits. This is something that your hamster will do anyway, since that is simply his programming from mother nature. He needs to digest and redigest some foods in order to get all the benefits. Even if you bring more nutritional food for your hamster, he will still need to eat his poop sometimes, because his body is made that way.
He needs to digest twice in order to get all the nutrients. I understand that seeing your cute friend eat his poop might look and sound icky, but this is normal for him. So let your hamster eat his night droppings, since it is a normal and healthy thing for him to do. If you want to know what to feed your hamster in general, read my food list article here.
The nutritional value of night poop Your hamster needs his night poop for one very good reason. Once he eats something, it passes through his stomach and gut, and he gets a part of the nutrition he needs. Once that food forms into droppings and comes out, your hamster will eat it, to bring it back to his stomach so he can get more nutrition from it. This is something your hamster does when he is a baby as well.
When the baby hamsters are born, their gut does not contain the necessary bacteria to break down their food. Also, they do not immediately know what is food and what is not. And also to learn what can be food. If you like this article, you can pin it to your Pinterest board by clicking the image below. The articles continues after the image. Those droppings are dry and hard, and sometimes your hamster might leave them in weird places. After we put him back into the cage, we saw 5 new droppings.
Your hamster will not eat the dry poop, since it has no nutritional value. In his home. In his sand bath. With rodents, and including your hamster as well as mine, the poop happens everywhere they live. For humans the dry poop the hamster makes is nearly odorless.
What smells is where the hamster pees, which will usually be in a corner. And to trap odor as well. Your hamster will probably spit out some dry poop around his cage, along with some stray bedding.
And while poop is easier to get rid of, bedding is like glitter. So make sure you place the cage on something that can be removed easily, and is easy to clean. As for the cage itself, check out my article on the best cages for hamsters. For more info on how to properly care for your little hamster friend, you can check out these 15 essential steps. A word from Teddy I know this is not a topic you want to think about very much, but this is normal for us.
We need the night poop to get all the nutrients we can from our food. Can Hamsters Eat Bread? I had the same question when I first got my Teddy. So I asked around, and then I tried giving Teddy a piece of bread.
Turns out, hamsters are surprisingly much like humans when it comes to food. Table of Contents So can hamsters eat bread? Hamsters eat mostly grainsHow much bread and pasta is safe for your hamsterA word on hamster cheek pouches, be careful what you feed your hammyHow much bread to feed your hamsterHow much pasta to feed your hamsterWhat kind of bread or pasta hamsters can eatOverfeeding your hamster on breadCommercial food provides a good enough baseA word from Teddy So can hamsters eat bread?
Yes, hamsters can eat bread. They should not have much of it though, because they gain very little nutrition from regular, white bread. So yes, you can feed your hamster some pieces of bread.
But not often, and not many at a time. He will enjoy munching on it, and you can pretend you had morning toast together. Still, not all breads are created equal. Some are okay for hamsters, other breads should be avoided.
The same goes for pasta actually. Hamsters eat mostly grains In the wild, hamsters eat mostly grains. This means that their diet consists mostly of grains they find around their environment, and a few veggies they stumble upon. However given the region hamsters come from — from Syria, all the way into Russia and Mongolia and parts of China — their food is scarce. The terrains in the wilderness in those places do not grow many kinds of food for hamsters.
So, the hammies have to make do with whatever they find. Like grains, a lot of plant seeds, a couple of veggies, maybe even an edible root or two. To tie into the topic at hand, bread is made from different grains that were ground into flour. So, by relation yes bread can be okay for hamsters. But there are definitely some things you need to consider before your feed your hamster any kind of bread. For humans, bread can be eaten in very large quantities.
Hammies are very greedy little creatures, and they will eat everything you give them. So best to avoid that problem altogether by not giving your hammy anything sharp, or very big.
The same condition goes for any kind of food that can get sticky. This applies for cooked, sticky pasta, any kind of sauces, anything sweet, or any fluffy parts of bread.
Best to feed him things that are dry. How much bread to feed your hamster When giving your hammy bread, you should focus on the crust. This is the crunchy bit that hamsters will love. Also, make sure your avoid the white, fluffy part of the bread. This is partly because there are a lot of extra carbs in the bread, that the hamster does not need. And partly because he has a lot of grains and seeds in his usual food mix. How much pasta to feed your hamster When it comes to pasta, your hammy can eat it as well.
But you need to give him very small amounts, and only dry pasta. This is because your hamster will probably just shove the whole thing into his cheeks. So, best to give your hamster dry pasta, in small pieces. Make sure the shapes are small, like a letter from the alphabet pasta. The pasta should not be fed often to your hamster. This is because it has a lot of carbs, like the bread, and the hamster does have carbs coming in from the grains in his food mix.
What kind of bread or pasta hamsters can eat Ah yes. Hammies can have bread and pasta — but what kind? The shell of the grains has a lot of vitamins and minerals. When it comes to regular, white bread or pasta, those shells are gone. As such, they have a high gluten and carb content, but no other nutritional value.
This does not help your hamster. So the best thing to do, for yourself, and for your hamster — trade up to whole grain. Whole grain bread, pasta, and brown rice. These still have their shells, mostly, and have much more nutrients. Just not more than a couple of grains at a time, since they will hide them in their cheeks. Aside from all that, the bread must not be sweetened in any way. So where does that leave you?
Well, with the rustic looking, European-style wholegrain bread. Those are not usually sweetened, they just have a bit of salt. And ultimately for you too. The same goes for pasta too.
Overfeeding your hamster on bread Alright then, what if you overfeed your hamster on bread or pasta?
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