49 replies to this topic

[hamsterlover33]

THANKS FOR THE GREAT INFORMATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ainsleys Animals]

This was very interesting!

[PeculiarPip]

This is a fantastic and informative list. Good work! Also I thought that only robo's were suppose to be kept together. I guess not...

[Heather~Treaure]

Awesome!! Some of these I did not know (:

[PeanutTheGreat]

This is such a great post! I had a blast reading these! <3

[Me and the pets]

thanks this helped a tone!!!!!!!

[hellooohammy]

Another myth (This overlaps, but it bugs me) is that if a product is in the pet store, it must be healthy. I think we all know that this is wrong from cages to bedding to food and others. ALWAYS do your research. Great thread!

 

~HelloooHammy

[JosieBug101]

Another myth is that Syrians can NEVER live together.

 

Fact: They can when they are younger. Pet Stores often have them together, and many people use this as evidence that they can live together for their entire life.

[Hammy Jedi]

Another myth is that Syrians can NEVER live together.

 

Fact: They can when they are younger. Pet Stores often have them together, and many people use this as evidence that they can live together for their entire life.

This is very true. I've had many Syrians who lived together in same cages and no problems. The only problem I had was they eat too much poop/pee more. So feeding and cleaning is more often which takes my attention and time too much.

 

Living together - Same case with dwarfs, roborovski most especially. They can be house together just fine and will always depend on the owner, how they are being treated, caged, fed, played with, etc.

[Hera the Hamster]

This is very true. I've had many Syrians who lived together in same cages and no problems. The only problem I had was they eat too much poop/pee more. So feeding and cleaning is more often which takes my attention and time too much.
 
Living together - Same case with dwarfs, roborovski most especially. They can be house together just fine and will always depend on the owner, how they are being treated, caged, fed, played with, etc.

Syrians can NOT live together. I cannot stress that point enough. It sounds like you got extremely lucky with your Syrians but most others don’t get so lucky.

The post by JosieBug101 was saying that Syrians can live together went they are very young. This is because they still have a survival instinct to stay together and stay safe. They still need to be nursed/weaned and learn skills that they will use later in life. They cannot live together after the point of 8 weeks. Separating before 7 or 6 weeks is more ideal as they can’t break up naturally like in the wild.

[Hammy Jedi]

Syrians can NOT live together. I cannot stress that point enough. It sounds like you got extremely lucky with your Syrians but most others don’t get so lucky.

The post by JosieBug101 was saying that Syrians can live together went they are very young. This is because they still have a survival instinct to stay together and stay safe. They still need to be nursed/weaned and learn skills that they will use later in life. They cannot live together after the point of 8 weeks. Separating before 7 or 6 weeks is more ideal as they can’t break up naturally like in the wild.

Well like I said, I've had many Syrians before (24 of them). Housed them. 2 pairs of parents and 20 juvies to adulthood male separated form the female in 4 big cages. Sounds lucky? I don't think so.

 

They can live together beyond 8 weeks and that is from my personal experience. I also know people who have more and their Syrians are just doing fine. Never had one or two of them fighting. Mostly play wrestling, chasing and running in the wheel, but never fought. 

 

I gave away most of the Syrians we've had last year because it became too costly in maintenance, time consuming in cleaning the cages and eats too much food. I only left one and bought a pair of robos instead who by the way also lives together just fine and recently added a 4 week old last month and housed it together with the pair. They are also doing just fine. 

 

By the way, my friend who received the Syrians I gave away is a responsible breeder/owner of hamsters.

 

So to sum it up, you're basing your opinion on what you just read and not from personal experience. 

Edited by Hammy Jedi, 29 June 2018 - 02:19 AM.

[FloorCandy]

I will base my experience from working in a pet store. This is not heresy or what I read.

When we got hamsters in, they were very young, maybe 4-6 weeks, usually a litter of same age, visually similar pups who had been housed together at the "supplier".

For a couple weeks they would be fine, 8-10 babies living in a 20 gal long tank. Day by day some get purchased, and usually after 2-3 weeks theres 1 or 2 left.

If those 2 stayed together, the fighting escalated, and eventually I would arrive in the morning to remove a grisly carcass. But the owners didnt care, they said the old ones were snake food anyway.

Even worse, when I was off for the day, and a teenage part timer from another department put the new deliveries away, he dumped 8 mixed gendered babies in with 2 adult males, the next morning there was one adult male left, and 2 baby females, all the others were torn apart.

This is not urban legend, it was terrible and disgusting. And if you keep adult Syrians together, they can often coexist until a trigger makes them fight, once the fighting starts, they will bicker more and more. And one day one or both will be dead or gravely injured. But they can and sometimes do kill each other with the very first fight. Waiting for signs of disagreement in Syrians is waiting too long.

That's just the Syrians, we barely sold Syrians compared to the new craze of "russian dwarf hamsters" at the time.

We had 3 tanks of dwarves for sale, and several breeding pairs housed together in the back. The pairs were usually fine, occasional fights and injuries but rare.

But the 3 tanks were overcrowded, all different age babies mixed together, the hamsters were all mentally ill from inbreeding, and constant harassment from kids, because the owner kept them at kid level to entice kids to buy them. I sadly had to remove at least one dead dwarf per day, every day, maybe more.

I cant say from personal experience whether a reasonable number of age appropriate roommates would have prevented deaths altogether in the dwarves, but it probably would have helped. However some of the bodies were cannibalized, even though they had plenty of food, so I think it was more likely random rage.

The pet store I worked at was terrible, and if I had any option at the time besides being homeless, I wouldn't have worked there. Any shop that cares about its animals would have kept the hamsters separate. If it wasnt absolutely necessary to keep adult Syrians separated, Petsmart and Petco wouldn't have walls of individual display cages, in retail space is one of the most valuable commodities, big box giants would not give up space if it wasnt absolutely necessary. The fact that the pet store giants are willing to make the sacrifice should be proof enough.

[nebit]

Well like I said, I've had many Syrians before (24 of them). Housed them. 2 pairs of parents and 20 juvies to adulthood male separated form the female in 4 big cages. Sounds lucky? I don't think so.

 

So to sum it up, you're basing your opinion on what you just read and not from personal experience. 

I'll speak from personal experience. I've worked with hundreds of Syrians hamsters at this point in my life, and seen horrific injuries from hamsters housed together past infancy. I'm talking missing limbs, ears, eyes, gaping penetrating wounds etc. Some of these were on hamsters that supposedly lived together "as friends" until one day their instincts kicked in and one or both were left dead or severely disfigured and fighting for life.

 

Syrian hamsters are solitary. This is a well established fact and has been for decades now. Forcing them into close quarters in captivity is a recipe for disaster.

[Hera the Hamster]

Well like I said, I've had many Syrians before (24 of them). Housed them. 2 pairs of parents and 20 juvies to adulthood male separated form the female in 4 big cages. Sounds lucky? I don't think so.
 
They can live together beyond 8 weeks and that is from my personal experience. I also know people who have more and their Syrians are just doing fine. Never had one or two of them fighting. Mostly play wrestling, chasing and running in the wheel, but never fought. 
 
I gave away most of the Syrians we've had last year because it became too costly in maintenance, time consuming in cleaning the cages and eats too much food. I only left one and bought a pair of robos instead who by the way also lives together just fine and recently added a 4 week old last month and housed it together with the pair. They are also doing just fine. 
 
By the way, my friend who received the Syrians I gave away is a responsible breeder/owner of hamsters.
 
So to sum it up, you're basing your opinion on what you just read and not from personal experience.

That does sound really lucky. I think that there could be a few reasons why your hamsters got along.

1: You got super lucky.

2: The hamsters you had weren’t Syrians, they were a more social species of hamster (like really large Campbell’s or something.)

3: The Syrians were a combination of male and female (You missexed them) and they got along because of that, the baby’s were all eaten for some reason so you didn’t see them.

How do you know that they were play wrestling? They could of been fighting (no blood was drawn) but the owner thought that it was normal?

Robos are a bit more social so the chance of them getting along is higher. I would remove the new hamster you put in there though, it never ends well.

Yes I am basing what I know based on what I’ve read, but I’ve heard enough horror stories of people housing Syrians together to know not to do it.

Let’s pretend that a new fruit is created. Now you hear of this new fruit kinda late, so when you buy it you go online to see if it’s any good. Then you see loads of articles saying that most people who ate the fruit died or got very sick. Would you throw the fruit away just in case? Or would you eat it so you could have “personal experience?”

We all make mistakes as owners. I did a ton of research before getting my first ham and still made loads of mistakes. Just make sure that you don’t put your Syrians together anymore.

[Hammy Jedi]

Wow! You must be the hamster god to know everything.

 

Well...

 

That does sound really lucky. I think that there could be a few reasons why your hamsters got along.

1: You got super lucky. - Nope. Stop assuming.

2: The hamsters you had weren’t Syrians, they were a more social species of hamster (like really large Campbell’s or something.) - They are Syrians. I'm know their breed/specie. Who are you to tell me what kind of hamsters I have/had. Not even Nostradamus would guess. So stop assuming again. 

3: The Syrians were a combination of male and female (You missexed them) and they got along because of that, the baby’s were all eaten for some reason so you didn’t see them. - I was there when the moms gave birth and know exactly how many babies came out. First mom had 12 babies while the other had 8 and all survived. Once again stop assuming otherwise, keep it to yourself.

How do you know that they were play wrestling? They could of been fighting (no blood was drawn) but the owner thought that it was normal? - I would know fighting from playing wrestle. 

Robos are a bit more social so the chance of them getting along is higher. I would remove the new hamster you put in there though, it never ends well. - Well it may never end for you and others but it also ends well for many others . Stop being the hamster god and telling me what to do.

Yes I am basing what I know based on what I’ve read, but I’ve heard enough horror stories of people housing Syrians together to know not to do it. - Hearsay experience is nothing compared to personal and hands-on experience. So before lecturing me, make sure that you, yourself have gone through the experiences you are trying to assume.