Hamster Homicide?
 

I have... well [I]I had[/I] two hamsters, Balin and Dwalin. Balin is small and chubby and Dwalin was, for a hamster, large and muscular. Dwallin would always try and bully Balin, and Balin, being the smarter of the two, would play dead until his brother went away. Well, I guess Balin had it for the last time, because yesterday I found Dwalin's body, ripped open. I don't know if I'm sad because my pet died or happy that poor little Balin finally isn't being abused by his brother... I always thought that fights between brothers was normal for hamsters. Dwalin never hurt Balin or anything...

(No, these are not Syrian hamsters, I'm not an idiot)

Maybe Dwalin died and balin was diposing of the body? How old was he? That is really sad:( i'm sorry for your loss..

i thought you werent supposed to keep hamsters together? brothers or not, but instincts/hormones kick.....

Well since they weren't syrians, technically you can keep them together, but that doesn't mean it will work. Either Dwalin died and Balin was "disposing" of the body, like mentioned, or Balin killed Dwalin.

You said they would fight, but was it bad fighting? I'm sure every once in a while they would "wrestle", but did it ever get really bad?

Dwalin was as healthy as ever, about half a year old and strong as a small, furry ox. even to the end he showed no signs of agressive behavior towards me and ran on his wheel for two hours or more every night. Dwalin would often push Balin around, and it'd come to wrestling, but one never hurt the other, ever. Balin couldn't have been disposing of Dwalin, because besides being torn open at the throat, he was fully intact. He showed no signs of illness, and, most suspicious of all, Balin isn't grieving like every other hamster of mine had when their brother/sister/roommate died. In fact, he seems much happier and comes out of his house much more often. I don't think I ever noticed how much Dwalin was bullying Balin until now.

That is so sad. I'm sorry that you lost your ham. However, I almost have to say that I'm relieved for poor Balin. He was obviously living in fear of his brother. I'd hate to think that Balin is responcible, but that is most likely the case. I just have one question, and I'm being seriously interested- how do hamsters grieve? I'm a first time hamster owner (of 3), and they're Syrians, and obv. separated, so I will never witness this phenomenon. However, any explanation would interest me very much. Again, so sorry for your loss, please don't be mad at Balin. :flower: