Hello,

My OH recently bought me 2 hamsters. They are both male chinese hamsters, in the same cage (we spoke to the assistant at pets @ home and he advised putting them together, being male, would be ok).

However, one of them is a terrible nervous wreck! When I, or my OH puts our hand in the cage, he runs away and hides in a corner. When we have managed to get him out of the cage using one of their play-pipes, he has bitten my OH a few times. Why?! The other hamster is very tame and will quite happily come out of the cage with no problem.

Why is it that, despite being the same type of hamsters, from the same cage in pets @ home (so im guessing most likely the same age), one of them is a nervous wreck but the other one is cool? :cool:

Thanks in advance.

I always thought hamsters had to be kept separately as they are territorial, this could be the problem.

I always thought hamsters had to be kept separately as they are territorial, this could be the problem.

You can keep chinese hamsters together as they are more sociable, but unfortunately it does not always work and they still end up having to be seperated.
With the biting I think perseverance is the key, start by offering him a treat from your hand and when he takes that quite happily and does so for a few days,slowly stroke him a little, then when he accepts that try picking him up, they may have been bought together but may not have come from the same breeder so one may not have been handled so much as the other one.
Good luck... but I do have to say that hamsters are notorious for biting.

Put yourself in the hamsters shoes:

You are sat in your front room and a large alien hand reaches into your window and tries to grab you.;) Like any animal some Hamsters will be more confident than others. Follow Moonbirds advice and take things slowly.

Good luck.

my daughter had 2 chinese hamsters the only time you would see them was when you put fresh food in . they never came out at night then 1 day we found (chinky) dead poor thing . but since then (chives) as been very active always out playing on his wheel and running around his tubes

Thanks for your advice everyone.

We did check before buying them that it was ok to put to male chinese hamsters in 1 cage and the bloke at pets @ home said it was fine. We havent had any problems with them fighting, just that one seems more nervous that the other.

To update you all, a cleaned out their cage today and the nervous hamster was fine. He has started taking food out of my hand rather than making a meal of my OH fingers. :hihi:

Will try to get him out of the cage later and see how things go.

Thanks again

The dwarf hamsters don't get quite so tame as Syrians, you also have to make sure you handle them regularly as they can 'regress' and lose their tameness unlike Syrians who are generally tame for life.

With regard to them being male - keep an eye out. Pets at Home are notorious for missexing the animals (it is pretty tricky). We had the same breed and ended up with rather more than 2 of the little blighters after a couple of months.

Thanks - no they are definatly both male though.... they have great big um .... ears.:hihi:

Thanks - no they are definatly both male though.... they have great big um .... ears.:hihi:

:hihi: The ears that they sit on like a giant space hopper? :hihi:

That's great :thumbsup:. Usually on purchase they are, erm, 'immature' so their, er, 'ears' aren't there but good to hear you can tell!

Some hamsters will never tame. Mine hates being handled but is as friendly as anything so long as he's in his cage his terms. He's been like this for well over a year now and I don't push him into being a sociable hammy as he clearly hates it.

Give it a bit more time, but if they show no sign of being tame over the next few months then don't force it as it'll just stress him out more.

You can get as much pleasure from them just by watching their antics - mine has a fascination with half finished toilet rolls!

I always thought hamsters had to be kept separately as they are territorial, this could be the problem.

I was also told the same thing by staff in a petshop when i went to get my daughters hamster a mate

I was also told the same thing by staff in a petshop when i went to get my daughters hamster a mate

As Moonbird says this applies only to Syrian hamsters which will fight to the death if kept together. Russian and Chinese dwarf hamsters are happier kept in groups of 2 or more.

You sure you're not nipping em, Kirsty? :hihi:

Seriously, i don't know why they bite/nibble. My new hamster is great. He's nibbled me and then D2J but he's only done it once. He loves having mummy cuddles and then runs round like an idiot :love:

How many times have they bit you?

I have two female winter white russians and they have the odd squeaking fight but only ever over something trivial like who gets to go in the wheel, or food (despite giving them a food bowl each they are still not satisfied!) Mine have become wonderfully tame - equal to a syrian, although this did take some time and they do need handling every day!

You sure you're not nipping em, Kirsty? :hihi:

Seriously, i don't know why they bite/nibble. My new hamster is great. He's nibbled me and then D2J but he's only done it once. He loves having mummy cuddles and then runs round like an idiot :love:

How many times have they bit you?

Im not nipping them! :o :hihi: How rude! :hihi:

I think he was just a bit scared. He seems to have calmed down a bit now.

Thanks for your advice everyone :)

also hamster can be prone to biting if you put your hand in their cage, and are much better if you let them walk out on their own accord and then pick them up (it's due to them being territorial)