Whats it mean when Quetip (the hamster) lays on her back and hisses at Spazzii (the gerbil)?

Question

she does this when he gets near her... i can't make sense of this...

Answer 1

When a hamster is left alone for even a week in her cage, she becomes solitary and territorial. Hamsters can get along with other cage mates if they have been introduced young, but in this case Quetip is the older hamster and is definitely gotten used to being solitary and is not liking her new cage mate.

The lying on the back and hissing (rather squeaking) are all signs of domination over the new entrant and are very ominous signs.

I would advise you to separate them instantly since hamsters can be very vicious in their attacks on cagemates they cannot get along with and you do not want to see a dead gerbil one day.

Answer 2

Bad things.  ):

When a hamster generally rolls onto it's back, it feels threatened.  If pursued, she will get up and attack Spazzii.

Hamsters and gerbils are different and probably shouldn't live together.  I guess with any amount of the correct methods of introducing them, it could work, but I don't know that this would work in your case.  I think it would be best if you kept those two separate.

Go to google and look up hamster behavior to read more about your hamster laying on it's back and hissing.