Hamsters afaid?

kittehlewis:

i have two hamsters one seems to be terrifeid of the other.i will try to include all information i can and hope someone can tell me how i can help the little guy.

me and my husband recently bought a hamster i think its a siberian but im not sure as it was written in german Emotion: stick out tongue

but it most looks like a siberian.i did some research and it says siberian hamsters get along well in groups and so the next day we went back to get shim (we dont know the sex) a friend.

we asked for one from the same litter. we was then told we couldnt as they are too young to leave the mum. we was a bit concerned as we wasnt told this the first time. its very small but we figured the guy who sold him to us new what he was doing. we cant take shim back as it will smell like us and the mum hamster will probably just eat it. but shim is getting along fine and eating and drinking fine so theres no problems. so anyway...they gave us a slightly bigger one from a different litter asuring us the one we got the day before must have been from that litter! it wasnt but we took it. the new one is a girl and kinda hoped it would go all maturnal and take care of its new baby brother or sister (i have had a look and think its a boy) the new hamster is fine and settled in no problem had a sniff of the first hamster and went to bed they havent fought or anything to my knowledge. but now whenever our little baby hammy sees its big sister it lets out such a squeal and puts up it front paws to push her away. they are living seperate for now but im hoping to get them to make friends. everyday i swap there cages around for a few hours to get each others sent then i take them both out for a while and let them do there own thing but the baby just follows the bigger one around but as soon as they are face to face it squeals and puts up its paws. it looks like its scared but would it follow her in the first place if it was scared? could it be becuase its so much bigger? or maybe they are different sexes? im hoping in time they will sort it and get along but does anyone have any ideas why shim does this and how i can help?

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Ruslana:

Hi Kimmeh, nice to see you back! Emotion: smile

I assume the hamsters have been in your house for about 2-3 days, right? I think they are both a little bit (or a lot, in Shim's case) afraid of the new environment. As far as I know, hamsters need about 3 weeks to fully get used to a new home, and you can of course help them do that: please read this article about taming a hamster .

From what you've written, I guess Shim had already been stressed a lot by the trip and the new surroundings, and when you brought another hamster, it was... another stress, considering that he's still supposed to be with his mom (I actually wonder why they sold him to you in this case, if I got you right). Imagine: he was with his mom, brothers and sisters, and all of a sudden he found himself in a new house with new people, new smells, new things... and then, not having used to it, he met another "big" hamster that he didn't even know! I'd squeal too.
I think that you should leave them both alone for some time, let them get used to the atmosphere in your house, i.e. don't swap the cages for now... I'm afraid it can strengthen Shim's fear at the moment. When you see he's calmed down, you could try to put the two cages next to each other so that the hammies get used to each other "distantly". After a while, you can try to put them in the same cage and see how it goes. By the way, if Shim's really a boy, I'd be careful because my friend once had 2 hammies in the same cage, and it resulted into several more hamsters! Emotion: wink

Animal Addict3,589

Ruslana:

Oh by the way, I think you can find our entire section about hamsters interesting. Emotion: smile

kittehlewis:

thanks for the reply Emotion: smile

shim seems to be fine untill it sees the other hamster and adores us shim comes running when we put our hands in to put in food and change water ect i think shim thinks we are mum XD bless but other then the fear towards the other seems very happy. i will leave them for now thanks probably untill shim is a bit bigger. i was shocked they sold us as ive had a look at pictues and placed shim about 3 weeks old but like i said seems happy enough and is eating and drinking fine so must have been weaned early thank god! i could be wrong about the sex i only got a quick look..if it looks like 2 holes far apart its a boy and 2 close together its a girl..or so im led to beileve

Ruslana:

Good to know he isn't afraid of you then! Emotion: smile

Well in this case, I'd really do what you said - wait till Shim's bigger. Perhaps he'll get used to the smell of the other hammy (even if the cages are not next to each other, I think they can feel the presence of another rodent), and the reaction won't be that shocking next time. Or maybe they're just like cats - need some time to figure things out, i.e. who's the boss etc, hehe.

kittehlewis:

i hope so it would be nice for then to play together even if they have seperate cages..my thoughts were the size difference even thoug we are much bigger then the other hamster we are now mummy Emotion: smile

at least we will have an incredibly tame and loving hamster!

Hamsters afaid?

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