oreo bites again

Question
My hamster, Whose name is Oreo, has been living in a cage with Jingles, my older and wiser hamster, for about a month. Both have been happy and content until we, my boyfriend and I, brought home Butterscotch. At which point Oreo developed a biting issue. He insists upon biting me even after I have throughly washed my hands, and biting Jingles and Butterscotch. I am concerned with this and Have removed him from the cage containing Jingles and Butterscotch. However now he bites the wires on his new home, and still bites me. He and Jingles were content before I introduced butterscotch and I was wondering if by introducing the new hamster if I may have angered Oreo!!! All three of them are Teddybear hamsters and they were in three cages connected by tubing. Can you tell me how to get Oreo to stop biting and if I will be able to get the three to cohabitat the three cages?

Thank-you

Myrtle

Answer
Hi,
Teddybear Hamster are a form of Syrian Hamsters. You cannot keep Syrian Hamsters together, they will fight and one hamster will always be the weaker one and will not be allowed to eat properly or even to wander around the cage without being chased. You might not even notice this. Both, or in your case, all three hamsters are continually stressed which will shorten their lifespan. By the way, dwarf hamsters cannot be kept together, too, although it is often said and written. All hamsters are strictly single animals.

I strongly advise that you get one cage for each hamster. A sufficient cage for a Syrian Hamster must measure at least 40 inches x 20 inches x 20 inches (length x depth x height) and you can create even more room by building or buying second storey for the cage.

The habit of cage bar biting is something that hamster might do even in huge cages, my personal theory is that they get addicted to it. The only thing you can do is to offer the hamster a lot of toys like tubes, climbing toys, food hidden in paper, a lump of grass, a sand bath... to keep him occupied.

Do you reach into Oreo's cage from above? This will make most hamster bite because they are afraid (something coming from above means a bird of prey or another predator to any small animal). And do you wash your hands "between" hamsters? Maybe he smells the other hamsters on your hand and this makes him aggressive. Come to that, it might be better to move Oreo's cage to another room so that he doesn't smell them any more.

Try placing your hand in the cage without doing anything. Let Oreo smell it and climb around on it if he wants to but don't take him out of the cage. If this is successful you can start taking him out again when he sits on your hand.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer