Hamster Homocide

Question
Me and my boyfriend recently bought two Chinese dwarf hamsters, both females. We bought them a large plastic cage with only a few millimeters room to escape. We also made sure there were two wheels in their cage and each hamster used a different one. They always had enough food, and we gave them treats every other day to every three days. Farfy, the hamster that died, and yes, my boyfriend named her, was more active than Optimus Prime, my hamster. yesterday before we went to work we fed the hamsters and left. Last night when we came home to clean their cage, Farfy was dead, but not only was she dead, his bones and insides were ripped out of her. I was mortified. Both hamsters were the same size, which is what PetSmart told me was the problem, but i doubt that was it. I'm slightly scared of my hamster now, and completely mortified by her. My cuddly little hamster turned into a murderer.

Is this completely out of the ordinary?!? Did we do something wrong to bring this on?!? I'm not even sure if it was Optimus yet, but any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much

Answer
Hi Sheena,

I am very sorry for your loss.

but please do not feel that this is anything you have done wrong!

Dwarf hamsters are generally said to be social, but in reality a lot of dwarf pairs or groups need to be separated by the time they reach maturity.  Dwarfs are more social than the solitary Syrian but it does not mean they can live together for life.

It seems as if your hamsters had a big fight and one of them ended up having a wound which caused its death - it is very unlikley that one hamster killed the other, although it probably did make the wound which caused its death.

All hamsters will try to dispose of another hamsters dead body by eating it - this comes from their natural instincts to stop predators from detecting the smell and being drawn to the nest or home - mothers do the same to any new borns which die and this is for the same reason.

So your hamster is very normal and has only done what it thinks it should have.

Please do not stop seeing him as a pet amd please do not be scared of him - he will not turn on you and he will still be a very good pet - please love him and handle him as much as ever, or more because he doesnt have any company anymore.

Kind Regards,

Tammy