hamster warfare

Question
Hi. I have two Campbell's Dwarfs. They are both females and mother and daughter. They have never been separated and daughter going on 6 months. All has been fine up till now. Recently, the daughter (Penelope) has started stealing all of the mother's (Squirrel) food. If I give them both a peanut, Penelope will stuff hers into her pouch and then go beat on Squirrel until she gives hers up too. Needless to say, Squirrel has gotten quite thin and Penelope is a little chunk. I fed them this morning and noticed that whenever Mom went near the food dish, Penelope would chase her away and knock her over. She would keep her pinned until she was sure Squirrel wasn't going anywhere and then walk away. Anytime Squirrel tried to get up, Penelope would rush over and squash her again. The poor thing has spent more time on her back today that she has on her feet. I've tried feeding them a bit more, giving each of them treats, taking turns with each in the exercise ball (all this did was wear Squirrel out and make her slower when running away from Penelope. Penelope's energy was unfazed) and spending time holding each of them. I'm out of ideas. Like I said, we've had 6 months of peace. What happened to my peaceful hamster home?

Answer
Hello Ashley.

The following is my personal view on the way hamsters work.  Hamsters overall are solitary animals.  In nature you will likely never find a family of hamsters permanently sticking together for more than a month.  Dwarf hamsters do tend to do better in groups when compared to hamsters of the Syrian breed for example.  This however does not mean that they will always get along nor does it make it natural to house more than one hamster together.  It is very misleading for any potential hamster owner when they walk into a pet shop and see all these hamsters housed in the same enclosure.  To the owner it looks as if hamsters can live happily without any conflict.   I am not saying that hamsters cannot live together in harmony because not all hamsters are vicious or dominant, I am saying that it is very difficult to purchase two hamster that are calm enough to accept that they have to share their living area, Penelope was the calm one but her daughter turned out to have a need for dominance, and for this reason I always recommend that hamsters be given their own housing.  If you do want to have more than one hamster in the same living area, then you need at least 10 gallons of space per hamster but even this will not solve the problem you already have at hand.  Penelope has already established her Alpha-Female dominance over her mother Squirrel.   To Penelope there is simply not enough room in the housing for both her mother and herself.  I would separate both hamsters into their own home if you would like them both to survive and be peaceful.  At this rate it seems that it is a matter of time before Squirrel is weak enough for Penelope to completely overpower her and  possibly even kill her.  

Not all hamsters feel the need to establish dominance in their home, but it is natural for hamsters to want to establish dominance it all depends on their personality.

The answer to what happened to the six months of peace, was that Penelope was probably analyzing her situation, wondering if she was truly stronger than her mother.  When Penelope finally realized she could overpower her own mother, she took advantage of the opportunity and since Squirrel never found the need to establish dominance, she did not want to fight back, hence this is what happened to the peace.

I hope this helps answer your question and I do wish you and your Hammies good health and good luck!