Russian Campbells Hamster Problem

Question
Hi,
I got 2 two russian campbell's dwarf hamsters from a pet store where aparrently they had both spent a few weeks together and recently i have seen a problem in their behaviour.  I think i have worked out now that one of them was very young when i got him and the other has been helping him by grooming him and sleeping on top of him to keep him warm etc.  However this younger hamster (elliot) has it seems grown violent.  I am not sure of it but whenever he is around the other (JD) now, jd seems to fall on his back and squeal in total defensive, then elliot seems to take a bite at his back end and usually gets hit in the face and they both run away from eachother.  I am not sure that this is too serious of a problem as they still both sleep next to eachother but will often wake up and fight in the night.  do you think i should be separating them?  elliot has also recently got a cut to his nose so i established it isnt just playing, and they both squeal so loud that i dont know what to do about it.

thanks
Pete

Answer
Dear Pete,
thank you for your question.
You can try top introduce them to each other again. Put them into a kritter keeper (a small plastic cage) or in the bathub. If they get along there, you can put them back into the cage after a day or two in the kritter keeper, but the cage must be well cleaned with hot water and vinegar and must be empty apart from bedding and some hay. Give them a house when they continue to get along after a week or so and add one toy every two days or so (clean all the toys and the house as well).
It might well be that they will keep fighting, though. Campbell's dwarf hamsters do live together as pairs in the wild, but in captivity they often fight and same sex-pairs or groups get along only rarely. Then you need to seperate them because they will seriously hurt each other sooner or later.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer