Grooming or Attacking??!!

Question
Hi,
Ive had a few hamsters before, but i wouldnt say im an expert, im 16 and yes i love hamsters. i usually took care of a family of golden hamsters, but recently i decided i wanted to house more than 1 hamster per cage. (yes i know and understand the rules about co-habitation) ive gotten 2 female dwarf hamsters 2 days ago, and for the most part they dont fight at all, but there is just one thing i was wondering about. after rilling around the cage flipping eachother over, one of the hamsters (Artemis) i guess gained dominance over the other (shelby). after the rolling that occurred over the last day or so, Artemis has been    climbing on top of Shelby and looks to be carfully running her mouth across Shelby's body, even the eyes. the weird thing is, Shelby makes no noise exept for the tiniest spurt of a whimper when Artemis gets nearer to her eyes. Artemis immedately backs off and begins what seems to be "grooming her back by running her mouth all on her back  "type-writer style" (if u get what it means)i just want to make sure artemis isnt hurting Shelby.Otherwise, these 2 are picture perfect, incliding sleeping on eachother

PS- as another bit of info, we think shelby might be pregnant straight from the store, would this change anything about thier attitude twards eachother)

PSS- not to be mean, but if she is pregnant by a hamster i havent bought i really have no desire to   do much about these babies (please understand i have no available space other then that cage at the moment, and have no intentions of going out to get one)

PSSS- SO SORRY TO BE SO LONG, i jsut thought id give you as much information as possible to better help you evaluate this situation)

Sincerely,

Cameron D. (Deco822 at AOL instant messanger)

Answer
Hi Cameron,

The behavior you're describing sounds like Artemis is simply asserting her dominance over Shelby.  Shelby is submitting to the dominant hamster, the way many animals do - by lying still in submission.  Don't worry - unless you hear loud squealing and/or see blood, they're not fighting.  If Shelby is pregnant, that might change Artemis's behavior a bit, but not very noticeably so, and not in a negative way.

I must say, I don't really understand what you mean about not doing anything about the babies.  If Shelby does have babies, you don't really have to do much.  In fact, you're not even supposed to touch them for 2 weeks.  Then, at 3 weeks old, they're weaned and ready to go to a separate cage.  After another 2-3 weeks, they can be given as same-sex pairs to friends or family.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask :)

Kelly