Is it okay if I have only one hamster as my pet instead of having them in pairs?

Question

I'm quite worried when some of my friends said to me that hamsters are born to be paired or to mate. I bought my Syrian hamster about 2 months ago. My friends had adviced me to get another hamster so that they could play and mate together. Somehow, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to handle 2 hamsters at once. Others told me that my recent hamster wasn't happy because 'she' don't have any friend to play with. Apart from that.. If I do bought another hamster, I believe that my owned Syrian hamster will be territorial and a brutal fight might occur between them. So.. Should I or shouldn't I bought another hamster?

Answer 1

Syrian hamsters are fine alone as pets they are solitary animals in the wild and only pair up for breeding.

If you do get two i recommend a male and female but if you don't want hundreds of hamsters i think only one is fine as a pet.

This website will tell you more or less what i said but in more detail

Answer 2

I think your hamster will be fine by itself if given enough to do. Make sure he has plenty of places to hide, things to play with, and tubes to crawl through. If he is entertained, he shouldn't need a friend.

Answer 3

NO.

Syrians MUST live alone.

MUST. LIVE. ALONE.

End of!

Sorry to be so blunt, but there is no leeway with this.

They would /FIGHT TO THE DEATH/, and the winner will eat the dead one! Messy and distressing. In the wild, Syrians barely even come together to mate, and they do not live together.

***

Caycay is wrong, and don't listen to her, please, or you'll have one dead and one serious injured hamster in your hands.

Answer 4

If you own a male then you should in NO way buy another male. They will fight and sometimes to the death. If you have a male pair him with a female , if you have a female pair her with the same gender. Even then theres a chance of one of them getting territorial but its worth to give it a try. Because in the wild hamsters are a group animal. And you cant be with your hammy 24/7 so a companion would be nice. What i suggest is that when you buy this new hamster and put it in the cage with yours,and watch them for a bit. If you can put them in a small box so they can interact with no distractions under your supervision. If any hissing or bitting, just return the other hammy (if you can) . And give it another try with a different one until you get your hammy his/her dream roomate. Most of the time syrians will get along, so i suggest to just give it a try. Your hammy will thank you!

Answer 5

no! dont buy another syrian they will fight to the death. dwarf hamsters can live in pairsbut you sould never put two syrians together. hamsters can be perfectly happy without a mate.

Answer 6

Please do NOT get a second hamster! Sadly, you have been given some truly terrible advice...

Syrian hamsters are a strictly solitary species. They do not need, want or even like the company of other hamsters. Keeping more than one in a cage will causes a huge amount of stress to them as they are highly territorial.

If you put two Syrian hamsters together they WILL fight - and at least one will almost certainly end up dead.

Even pairing males and females for breeding is exceptionally difficult - unless you happen to be lucky enough to put them together at the exact time the female is in heat (and they breed) then they will fight.

Hamsters are often seen housed together in pet shops. Why? Because they are young! Hamsters will live with their litter mates for a short while after weaning - until puberty kicks in. Even if you had got two litter mates at the same time, after a few short weeks they would mature and become territorial and the fighting would start.

Finally, it is irresponsible to just breed hamster for the sake of it. A single (well cared for) hamster will be perfectly happy on its own, never even seeing another hamster. All animals, from insects to humans - have an inbuilt "instinct" to mate and reproduce. This is NOT the same as "wanting" or "needing" to do so. Breeding is very risky, particularly the female. She may have complications resulting in illness or death. She may give birth to unhealthy pups who suffer short and miserable lives. She may lose her pups, abandon them, or even eat them.

Please ignore the bad advice of your friends and look to the experts for help. For example:

http://www.rspca.org.uk/servlet/Satellit...

http://www.hamsterific.com/

Answer 7

Hamsters do fine on thier own. Gerbils and rats/mice are group animals, hamsters are not. Give your hamster things to chew on, like a toilet paper roll, get it a wheel to run in, and give an occasional treat. Either one from the pet store or veggies. Just a little piece will do.

Answer 8

just give her attention she will be fine by her self.

Answer 9

Law L is corrent.  And saved me the time of typing that all out.  =D

Answer 10

most of the time you would only get one. so they won't fight if you get two but for me 1 is perfectly fine.

Answer 11

Hamsters are definitely not best in pairs and I know this because I am a hamster owner.  Hamsters are solitary animals who want to be by themselves.  If you keep them together they could serious injure or even kill each other.

Answer 12

Syrian Hamsters usually do best on their own. They don't HAVE to be kept apart, like Law L said, but if you wanted more than one in the same cage, you should have gotten both of them at the same time. And when you DO have two syrian hamsters living together, you always need to be ready to separate them in case they decide they don't like each other. Usually only siblings or parents/offsprings will get along. One of the most notable behaviours of Syrians in the wild is kin recognition:

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/si...

At this point, it's much too late to be getting your hamster a cagemate. They would probably fight until one of them was dead.

As long as the cage is big enough and there are plenty of things for her to do, she wont get lonely or bored. She should have a wheel and plenty of toys to play with and chew on.

Also, your friends were very wrong about advising you to get hamsters to mate together. Breeding hamsters can be a lot of work, and there are already plenty of them in the world today. A breeding pair usually ends up becoming aggressive towatrds people anyways.

Here is a great website with more Hamster information. There is even a chat forum there where you can talk to other people JUST about hamsters!

http://www.hamsterific.com/

Please feel free to email/IM me if you need any help!