Hmmm...reuiniting hamsters?

[Robocop]

I've had my 3 robo's for a tiny bit over a year now, and I separated one of them about 4 months ago. I'm starting to wonder if I got over excited and really didn't need to separate them.

I have noticed a lot with the two that are together, that the occasional squeaking and wrestling is just playing. Blood has never been drawn. Sometimes they will dispute over the bigger wheel, but nothing bad.

The reason why I separated one of them was because one didn't like them using the wheel. At the time, i just had one(I now have 3, one for each). I tried a mini-reunion a month ago in the tub and it resorted to some wrestling around, but no squeaking and definitely no blood. Just some wrestling, which I assumed because of how they left things off :p that was the only time I have tried a reunion.

anyway, I was wondering if 4 months is too late to actually do something dramatic like connecting a tube between the two cages, and having it like that for a few days(with extensive monitoring) so they can both explore each others world, while still having their own territories.

What are your thoughts on this, as well as reuniting in general? What should I tolerate as far as what to look out for?

[dbl120902]

I've never done intros with hamsters before, so please don't flame me if my advice is bad, it's just personally what I would do in the situation.

Okay, well I wouldn't do intros like that, because even though they may still have "their own territory", it would still be possible for two to gang up on one. Start intros out in a large, neutral place, such as a bath tub (a bath tub is better than a couch, in my opinion, because there is no way to escape). If you have no bath tub, you could always try a Steralite bin, or as a last resort and if you prefer, use a couch. See how they react to each other. You seem to understand what behavior to tolerate and the warning signs... no blood, no foul. See how they react to each other this way before connecting the cages together. If they do well, then I don't see a problem with connecting the cages permanently... they would probably enjoy the extra room anyway, and this way would be less likely to fight. :)

Honestly, I don't really understand why you seperated one of them just because they didn't like using a wheel... but that's really neither here nor there. Also, I thought that I read somewhere that you had bin cages... was I wrong, or do you have places carved out for tubes in your bin cages (I had two bin cages connected, one on top of the other, and I had carved out a place for a tube at the bottom of the top one so that they could have the extra room... it was like a 2-tier bin cage... but I digress...). Anyway, I hope that it works out for you, and if somebody has any better ideas, then I'm sure they'll let you know. Good luck! :D

[Robocop]

actually, it wouldn't be the two ganging up on one. One of the duo's is perfectly fine with eachother, it's just one that got wrestled with.

Even when I tried a little reunion in the tub, she did not wrestle the other, only the one she wrestled with before. So there's no ganging up on anyone :D

I seperated the one because she was picking on one of them all the time, and would wrestle the others off the wheel so they couldn't wheel with her. There was plenty of room for all three to wheel together, it just wasn't meant to be, and I should of had a second wheel to begin with. I just started to doubt why I separated them in the first place since the two that are together squabble and wrestle every now and then.

Some good advice tho, thanks :)

I have one bin cage, and the other is very similar to a bin cage, it's just designed for a hamster so it has tube connectors. I also have a carved out section with a tube door that I always close since I don't have anything connected to them :p it would be fun to have both cages connected tho and I'm sure they would enjoy that themselves!

But thanks for the advice! I would just have to focus on the two that previously fought, luckily there's no issues with the other.

[jonnywestjjc]

heya im just wondering how you have gotten on with the reuniting

[jonnywestjjc]

so how did the re-uniting go?