my 2 new syrian hamsters

Question
Hi Heather.....

I think I know the answer to this since I've been reading a bunch about it on
the web but thought I'd ask an expert first...

I recently got a couple of hamsters....last Wednesday to be exact....initially I
just got one but then a woman on line suggested she might be lonely on her
own and the guy behind the counter agreed and so we picked up the other
hamster (also female) that had been living with her in the same house....they
had been sleeping together when I first saw them.

So they are living together in one largish tank now....they seem to like
sleeping on top of each other....I have no experience with hamsters. It seems
very likely that these 2 are syrians....and now I find out that they should never
be housed together. They do seem to get into little squabble but mostly get
along fine....how essential is it that I get another enclosure....and how soon? I
was going to leave them alone for two full days over Thanksgiving....they did
fine by themselves for close to a week now....

Please advise....if you think it is urgent I will get a second enclosure
tomorrow morning but really did not plan for having all these tanks in my
apartment....it's a studio apartment.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Answer
Your hammies will need 2 separate cages unfortunately. They are only tolerant of each other at a young age, but as the months pass they will bicker more and more, until it becomes full fledged fighting, with blood drawn. I have a litter of 3 week old hamsters, and they have already begun to bicker with one another. If you haven't noticed a whole lot of fighting just yet, they might just be alright over thanksgiving. Immediately after though, please separate them, better safe then sorry.