# Robros fight, hamster assistance needed.



## Tomass (Dec 6, 2020)

Hello, about a month and a half ago, I got two roborovski hamsters, pet store said they're litter mates, were the last of what was six in the batch and are two, roughly 4 week old boys. Meet Vinnie and Jeice! Vinnie is the bigger white one and Jeice has the back stripe. I initially started with a smaller cage, suitable for two baby dwarves, untill recently they've grown a lot and now, I've heard the horrible screech no hamster owner wants to hear and have had to break up two fights. Jeice has a scratch on his right hind leg that didn't bleed but did get through his skin and a nip on the ear. Vinnie being the bigger and scrappier one, is completely unharmed and in my guess, the agressor. Now I've read a lot on these forums and I know what most people will say, so I please ask of you - try and give any possible suggestion BEFORE full separation. It's very important to me they get along together, though if there's more threat, I will separate them, but that is the last of the last resorts in my mind. I have a lot of spare time and they're always right next to me in the room, so I'm around to observe and intervene.
Now what I've done - I've broke up both fights and separated the agressor, cause I saw Jeices injuries straight away. Then I re itroduced them the next day and all was well for a few days, then Jeice got the nip on his ear. Now since that moment, I once again separated them, then put them both together in my bathtub, while I set up a new cage. I boiled all their wood toys, plastic houses, got rid of all scents, got a brand new cage and filled it with fresh medium. The previous cage had two levels and one of everything necessary and was around 300 sq inches, this ones 500 and has two of everything they need. They've been in the new cage and I have been watching them closely. There are no arguments, a lot of sniffing, what looks like kisses  and they've not left each others side. So now I'm really confused. They fight nasty, but still want to play together, cuddle up, sleep together, mess about on the same wheel and everything. Do you guys think the larger cage and less to share will prevent the fighting? They don't seem to avoid each other. I'll include a few pictures and videos of behaviour and setup, I've read up on some body language, but a lot of it escapes me, if you guys have any pointers to help make this work, I'd be most grateful!






















EDIT: the reason I point at the middle of the cage in the end, is because i have two pieces of carboard, burried, between which I can put a plastic wall to separate two halves of the cage. I cut audio cause it was in a foreign language anyway.


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## Engel98 (Oct 7, 2018)

Sorry but you have been misinformed. ALL hamsters are solitary. Just because they could live together doesn't mean they should. They will fight to the death. Not if but when, it'll be catastrophic.

So what I'd do is seperate them. I'd put them in a tank style cage as robos can get through tiny gaps. The gaps in that cage are 9mm. So too big! My robo had a zoozone 2 to himself. 

Honestly there's no pro for keeping them together. They won't miss each other as they're not really group animals like us. 

Hope this helps


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## ForestWomble (May 2, 2013)

From https://squeaksandnibbles.com/roborovski-hamster/
_Robo dwarfs are very social. So, as long as they lived in groups while young, you may be able to pair it with a hamster of the same gender. You may even be able to have a group of them together.

However, as it gets older, your robo dwarf may not be as tolerant of a cage mate. Male hamsters get along better with one another than female robo hamsters do.

If you are keeping two or more together, make sure they can each retreat to their own space with their own food, water and exercise wheel._

The larger cage probably helps and as the info above says make sure you have two of everything, however as they have already had a fight I'm sorry to say that they will more likely than not have to be split at some stage.


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## Guest (Feb 9, 2021)

Yup, ForestWomble is correct. The 3 species of dwarf hamster (russian campbells, roborovski and winter white) can be kept in groups. In the wild dwarf hamsters live in large colonies. You should never mix species or have mixed sex groups but you can keep them together as long as you take extra precautions to reduce the risk of fighting. Dwarf hamsters happily live in groups but it is not compulsory and fights are common. I am sorry to say that if they fight you should separate them. It is not impossible but it can be very stressful if you try and reintroduce them. For the future if you keep multiple dwarf hamsters, here are some precautions to reduce fighting.
Make sure you have a large enough cage, do some research as to how big the cage should be when keeping groups.
Have the same amount of water bottles, hideouts, food dishes, wheels and so on as you have hamsters.
Get an extra cage in case they do fight and you have to separate them.
Even so please do not split the cage into to halves. It is too small for one hamster anyway, whatever happens please get a much larger cage. If you split the cage they will still be able to smell each other and it will be very stressful for them to live like that. Please also get a larger wheel.


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