Before you even consider doing this, you need to be aware of the very pertinent reasons and why we so adamantly advise against this.

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• Regarding SYRIAN hamsters, it is world-wide knowledge that this is the most solitary and territorial species. Any good hamster group/page/website will tell you that they absolutely have to be housed alone. If they don’t, leave! and never take any further advice from them. If a pet shop says it's fine, WALK AWAY...they are clueless!

 

Now we get to the DWARF hamsters where many people get confused and misinformed about them living together:

• In many cases, the confusion arises from videos of Roborovski dwarf hamsters living and playing together in groups or pairs. This species is well-known to be compatible like this but, in many cases, it still doesn’t work out happily. Please note that they are a completely different species to our dwarf hamsters!

• You may also see a few people with Russian Campbells or Winter White dwarf hamsters living and playing together. While this is often not highly recommended by most hamster gurus, the only way for grouping or pairing to be successful is for two (or groups of even numbers) of the same sex to be housed together from the same litter, from birth, and only if they are of the same pure bred species. The habitat also has to be extremely large and specifically set up in order to accommodate their territorial instincts.

However, due to backyard breeding and so many “oopsie” litters, THERE ARE NO LONGER ANY PURE BRED DWARFS IN SOUTH AFRICA and successful pairing/grouping is therefore extremely rare and TOO RISKY to attempt.

• As explained in the species section above, we only have HYBRID DWARFS in SA, which means they are not a pure species. 

• Black Russian Campbells have appeared in SA over the last few years. Shockingly this colour was developed here by overbreeding ordinary RC dwarf hamsters until the dominant black gene emerged. Please be aware that these beautiful little hamsters are therefore genetically compromised. We are seeing cases of severe health issues arising in most of the black RC's from an early age, and sadly the lifespan is even shorter than most other hamsters. 

• Why do we not support pairing or grouping of Hybrid dwarfs? Because it is almost impossible to tell the dominance of the genetics in a litter of Hybrids. Therefore, if you have one dwarf that is predominantly WW and the other more RC, you will be mixing two different species, and asking for trouble.

• Whichever way you look at it, hamsters are solitary and territorial by nature as they approach adulthood. On the very rare occasion, there may be two that have the same mild temperaments, and similar genetics, as each other and may live happily together. However, you simply cannot tell when they are young whether one will develop into a more dominant PERSONALITY over the other that could be too submissive, or both will be too dominant. Sometimes these traits appear at a really early age, whereas others will turn on each other within an instant when they are 6 – 9 months old even after having lived together seemingly compatibly for all that time. Be warned that the fight for territory & solitude will be deadly.

• Early warning signs of incompatibility are: bullying by one or more in the litter, one or more rolling over and cowering from the other hamster/s, bickering/nipping, squeaking, squealing, relentless chasing. Often, they will all/both seem to be happy sleeping huddled up together, but the waking hours tell a different story, and you need to understand that this will be causing stress and misery to both/all (and stress leads to health issues, as well as trust issues that can result in taming difficulties).

• Even if there aren’t any immediate or highly concerning red flags while they are still young, many people have arrived home to find that their 7-month old dwarf has killed the other, or they are both very badly injured (have we mentioned that exotics vets are not cheap? …you will most likely need to seek urgent consultation for treatment of the injuries, and medication).

• Another reason to separate ANY species of hamster at 4 weeks of age, is the problem of sexing them incorrectly, resulting in additional unwanted and inbred litters (parents mating with their off-spring, brothers with sisters, grandchildren with grandparents, etc.) Sexing is NOT an easy task and sometimes even the most accomplished exotics vet can get it wrong! Certainly, many pet shops and owners of oopsie litters fail horribly at this, if they even bother to try. Breeding can get out of hand very quickly and, instead of two hamsters, you could have 20 hamsters within a matter of 6 weeks, and triple that within another 4 weeks. The longevity and long-term health of these inbred litters does not bode well and it is really unfair to adopt them out, or for a shop to sell them, to unsuspecting people who will be heartbroken when the hamster develops the health side-effects and/or the hamster dies after a matter of months (particularly traumatic when it is a child’s beloved pet).

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Please be assured that our hamsters actually prefer to live alone. They do not need a companion, other than yourself!

And certainly, NEVER PUT A STRANGE HAMSTER IN WITH YOUR CURRENT HAMSTER, and do not bring them together even for play sessions!

You can only breathe a sigh of relief and consider yourself to be lucky enough to have a rare sweet little pair if they have been together for over a year without any of the red flags, but THE RISK IS TOO GREAT, AND THE CHANCES ARE TOO SLIM, to try and get there!

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If you are STILL DETERMINED TO PAIR OR GROUP YOUR HAMSTERS IN ONE ENCLOSURE:

• Kindly do not expect any sympathy from us when it goes wrong. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED OF THE REASONS AND CONSEQUENCES and we cannot support your disregard for sound advice.

• Photos (on the FB group) of hamsters living together over the age of 4 weeks will be deleted, as we cannot appear to be condoning your risky experiment.