Sunday, August 2, 2009
We are getting 2 hamsters tomorrow. What is the best kind to get. They will be living in same cage.?
Answers:
Two of the same sex!
Syrian Hamsters are solitary and although they live together as babies and are often seen caged together in pet shops or at the breeders, as the hamsters mature their solitary instinct develops. Syrian Hamsters will not, therefore, usually tolerate the company of another hamster once they reach approximately 6-10 weeks of age when fighting starts to occur.
Dwarf hamsters are sociable and will usually live happily in pairs or groups of mixed or single sexes of their own kind. Different species of dwarf hamsters should not be housed together as they have very different temperament and characters and do not inhabit the same areas or meet in the wild.
Two females. Two males will fight and a male and a female will breed. It depends what size of hamster you want. I think the most common ones are Dwarf and Teddy Bear. Dwarf hamsters are small and Teddy bears get alot bigger.
I have a teddy bear, but all are cute to me. If you are getting to of the same sex, keep in mind that even though they have good temperments, if they are not a litter mate, they will eventually become aggressive toward each other.
According to www.ahc.com, pet hamsters are usually housed singly. Sexually mature females must not be housed together because of their inevitable aggressiveness toward each other.
For more information, you may want to check out:
www.ahc.umn.edu/rar/MNAALAS/Ha... . It's full of info about hamsters and their care.
Also, the type of hamster will depend on what type of housing you already have for them. Housing units are specifically tailored towards different breeds of hamsters. For instance, you would not buy a unit made for a dwarf hamster if you have a teddy bear and vice versa. The pet store should be able to help you out with your pet.
BTW, when youget your pet, check out their purchase policy.
Most, if not all, cannot guarantee the age and sex of an animal, so you may want to choose a pet place that is very knowledgeable in that sort of thing.
Definately same sex. I'd actually get a gerbil. They tend to be more friendly. Either way both get along when with others of its kind. I have to warn you though, when I had three gerbils, and were together, they ended up fighting. They were COMPLETELY fine for the first 2 years, but then they got at each other and I had to separate them. It wasn't all that pretty. :S
NEVER put 2 hamsters in one cage they will fight like crazy and one will die. IF you put them in one cage section it off. And the BEST hamster to get is a Dwarf or long-haired hamster they are calm and don't bite.
I prefer teddys %26 black bears. These cant live together.
Russian dwarfs have a tendency to be very very nasty, but can live in a community.
Cinese dwarfs are timid, but can also live in the same comunity.
If you are going to get 2 hamsters in the same cage get 2 of the same breed or they will fight and kill eachother. Russian and/or Robrovski hammies are great together. Just get the opposite sex so they dont have babies. Good luck!
I like how you looked into both of these. I would go with the Russians only because of the 2 they are more easily handled due to size. Where Robo's are only 2" full grown, the Russian is 3"-4" in length. I have a few with other medical problems that are only 2" long. The Robo however is less likely to nip, whereas a Russian nips quickly and hard at times. They take more time to tame.I used to breed Russians at one time, but have since stopped and now devote my time, money and energy into saving the small animals of all breeds. I copied this for you about each of them so you can read of their differences.
"Campbells Russian Dwarf Hamster
Scientific Name: Phodopus Cambelli
Country of Origin: Central Asia, Northern Russia, Mongolia, and Northern China
Lifespan: About 1 to 2 years
Size and Weight: 10 to 12 cm and 50g to 75g
Other Important Facts: This hamster lives in sand dunes in the wild and benefits from shallow dish of chinchilla dust. Males tend to be larger than females with a longer body as opposed to females short, round, and plump body. They often release oils similar to those of ducks. Russian Hamsters should be bought in pairs, because they are a sociable group. The hamsters need to be housed in a glass as they can squeez through the bars of many hamster cages. The Russian Dwarf is not ideal for young children, because it is more prone to nip due to clumsy handling than the Syrian hamster."
"Roborovski Dwarf Hamster
Scientific Name: Phodopus Roborovski
Country of Origin: Central Asia, Northern Russia, Mongolia, and Northern China
Lifespan: About 3 to 3 1/2 years
Size and Weight: 4 to 5cm and 20g to 25g
Other Important Facts: The Roboroski hamster is becoming increasingly more available in pet stores. It is fast and very lively, but rarely nip. This hamster is not normally recommended to the first time hamster owner, as they can be tricky to handle. Roboroski hamsters are very sociable and should be bought in pairs of the same sex although many pet stores cannot sex these hamsters confidently. Roboroski hamsters should never be housed in small cages despite their small size and require at least a 24" X 12" glass tank or plastic cage. They should never be housed in barred cages, because they will squeeze through the bars or may get half stuck."
All dwarfs must be fed a diet as if they have diabetes since they are very prone to it. Simply don't give them any corn, peas, or carrots (fresh or dried of each veggie). They can have no fruits or commercially bought treat sold out there unless they have no sugar, corn syrup, mollasses, or any other sweeteners in it. I've yet to find any like that. You need to watch it on sunflower seeds and peanuts, its best not give them at all or only a couple times a week as a treat. Our dwarfs get 1 peanut in shell once a month for a special treat.
Now when choosing your two dwarfs, get 2 that are as close to the same age as possible and same sex, an older dwarf will try to injure the younger one or possible kill it. Take my word on this I lost one this way a long time ago. The books didn't say about this happening, but once I got a computer I looked it up online and found out the information.
I have since become small animal rescuer and own/caregiver to 93 pets which varies all the time on how many we have. We have Winter Whites and Russian dwarfs that were rescued and Rusians that we bred over 17 months ago still with us due to cancer in the line. The last one was a true biter and will need a lot of work to get calmed down. My one son specializes in the biters. We only have had one hamster of any breed he couldn't tame. A Russian dwarf that has genitic history of cancer including brain cancer, was born to us over 17 months ago and the vet suspects a brain tumor due to the extreme biting, plus he's blind from a fight as a 4 month old with a male sibiling. He adapted to this, but the blindness contributes to his aggressiveness behavior. He is housed with a male Syrian who cares for him (they were raised together since 8 days old). That's another story though.
We do house out dwarfs in Super Pet wire top w/plastic bottom cages, we've yet to have any escape, but mine are all older adults too. Don't use the S.A.M. Here %26 There brand cages, the bars are set with no support in the corners and a 8 week old rat can escape through, so a dwarf will have no problems escaping. The Critter Trail cages are great for thse little guys and are also made by Super Pet. Bars more then 1/2" apart are to wide or if you can move the bars apart with your finger it's not a good cage to use. Now for litter, only use litters made from paper products such as Critter care, Care Fresh (Ultra is very soft, but a bit more), or any other of the same. Use of any wood shaving or saw dust is never recommended due to the toxic fumes emitted when the urine mixes with the woods, this is more dangerous with ceder or pine. Aspen has been linked with many small animals and allergies to it, which may include sneezing to scratching/hairloss to a respiratory infection. We used to use aspen ourselves until we noticed several were starting to constantly sneeze when brough to our home. The vet said it's from using wood shaving or saw dust. We started using the paper products and now only have sneezing problems when we bring a rescue into our home where wood shavings was used. My vet has me keep a bottle of antibiotic drops for the allergic reactions used in either the eyes or nose and it usually clears with 3-4 days of use, if not a trip to vet is needed and maybe some further antibiotics is necessary.
Some things to be aware of that a Russian dwarf can get is the diabetes an other is cancer which comes is several forms. One is a lumpy exterior tumor usually on the lower abdomen, another are tumors under the skin that can protrude in the chest. Another like I've experienced is the brain tumor which seems less likely, I've only had 3 in over 40+ dwarfs. All were related though. Winter Whites in addition to diabetes can get Glacoma and go blind.
Syrian's have to live alone, but i believe the dwarfs can live together,.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment