behaivor

Question
i have 2 what i presume to be female dwarf hamsters. they often fight and i hear one of them squeeking while fighting. is this natural? is there some way that i can prevent this without separating them? the cage is about 1 1/2 foot by 1 1/2 foot. it has metal bars. they have a ball on top of the cage to run around in. they also have wood sticks, toilet paper rolls and a salt lick to chew on. along with one food dish and water dispenser.

    thank you
        Nicole

Answer
Dear Nicole,
thank you for your question.
Dwarf hamsters are solitary animals, just like Syrian hamsters. It's a popular myth that they are social and can live in groups. They just don't start to fight right away like Syrian hamsters and often the fights happen late at night so that the owners never notice anything until it's too late.
Please seperate the hamsters right away or you might end up with a hurt or dead hamster one morning.

The cage is too small to keep even one dwarf hamster. In my opinion the minimum size is 2.5x1.5x.1.5 ft in length/width/height for one hamster, with second storeys. You can keep dwarf hamsters very well in old fish tanks with a mesh lid and you can get those often cheap at garage sales, at pet shops (ask for leaking tanks) or if you look in the ads of the local paper.
I recommend taking out the salt lick. Rodents don't need one as long as their diet is varied and it can even harm then, causing for example kidney stones. The wood sticks are a good source of minerals and vegetables and leafy greens are another source that will provide your hamsters with all the minrals and salts they need.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer