Chinese Hamster
Library
All about Chinese hamsters. All in one place.
Chinese Hamster Library
All about Chinese hamsters. All in one place.
Species Info
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Keeping Pairs
Are you new to Chinese hamsters?
Do you only have space for one cage?
Would you be horrified to find one of your pets had killed the other?
If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, just get one Chinese hamster. Chinese hamsters often fall out with little warning, inflicting serious (potentially fatal) damage on each other. No matter how watchful you are, this is always a risk with a pair.

Everyone knows that Syrian hamsters must live alone as adults. There is no hard and fast rule for Chinese hamsters. Some will live together until they die of old age at 2 years old. Others will fall out before they are six weeks old, with the loser needing surgery to repair the damage done.

Warning Signs
Uneven or plucked patches of fur
Bites
One hamster is thinner or smaller
Change in temperament of one hamster
When choosing toys and enrichment for a pair, make sure they have more than one entrance, for example a bridge or long cardboard tube. This stops one hamster blocking movement of the other in or out. Wheels, if used, should be identical in style.
Food bowls can be a source of conflict for a pair. Scatter feeding reduces this flash point as well as providing a foraging experience.
A deep layer of substrate is beneficial. It allows the hamsters to burrow and hide from each other. Deep substrate also allows for less frequent cleaning and therefore less disturbance to the group scent. Replacing a quarter to half of the old substrate when cleaning the cage also helps with this.
Piling soft hay on top of the substrate also breaks up the lines of sight within the cage and reduces conflict. Just make sure there are no sharp bits in the hay which can injure pouches.
