MICHAELAS! or any hamster experts!! Blood in cage,...help please!

[ingles2]

Have just been upstairs to ds2's room and looked at the hamsters. There's dried blood all over the cage and little bloody footprints. It's probably not that much but is spread around. They are 2 girl dwarf Russians we've only had them a couple of weeks. I can't see anything wrong with either, have had a quick check but nothing obvious.
Any ideas? am slightly worried as they belong to ds2 and he hasn't got over the death of the cat yet..Thanks

um - period? Do hamsters have periods?

I think fighting is the most likely cause. Link about Russian hamsters

here

I wondered that Colditz but didn't like to say for fear of looking daft
They do fight occasionally, so that's probably the answer. Guess I'll have to keep an eye on them.

No, they don't have periods, at least not bloody ones like us. One or both of them is injured.

Another factsheet of hamster breeding here

Thanks Bella
Have just had them out again, no obvious injuries at all. but there is a lump of poo instead of the usual grains of rice in the cage so am wndering if one has a problem with their bottom. We fill up their bowl once a day, give occasional hamster pop corn. Should we be giving them fresh fruit or veg?

Was the lump of poo hard or soft?

If they're having a complete hamster food (i.e. a good quality food mix) & plenty of fresh water they shouldn't really be constipated, if that's what you mean

It's always good to give a very small amount of fresh fruit & veg (carrot, apple etc.) but diarrhoea is a much bigger problem, and can make hamsters very poorly so introduce it gradually (I only give fruit & veg twice a week).

If it's bloody diarrhoea and /or the hamsters bottom looks wet I would see the vet asap.

What type of bedding do they have?

If they have started fighting they need separating.

I'm not poking it Bella!
I've looked at both bottoms, doesn't seem to be any problems. They have pets at home premium hamster mix, water bottle is always full... don't know really.
Thanks for your help though

their bedding is natural nestex... it's made from vegetable fibre.
They normally sleep together but they're not today... they must have been fighting.

Don't wish to alarm you, but it may be best to separate them.

We had 2 russians (girls) and unfortunately while we were on holiday I got a phone call from the friend who was looking after them, to say they had found one dead. We were going home that day, and I had a look at the dead hamster. There was blood around its mouth, but there was also one of her feet missing. The other hamster had obviously ate it! Hopefully after the murder! The other hamster is still alive now, but alone.

My dd's friend had had another pair of russians (also girls) the same week as us, and the same thing happened to hers in the same week!!!!! Cage covered in blood and the dead hamster had been buried in the sawdust.

It would seem that they got to a certain age and just couldn't tolerate each other, because until that week they had been fine in their pairs.

OK, just wanted to rule out them eating cotton wool type bedding & being constipated as a result. Still don't understand your reluctance to prod the poo though

Sounds like fighting to me. Sit them down for a little chat and say 'Now, girls, stop fighting or I shall have to separate you'.

Best of luck!

xpost girland boy - didn't mean to sound flippant as of course they can kill each other. Just trying to cheer ingles up after cross-examining her and suggesting she prod hammie's poo

Actually, I'm not surprised our one remaining hamster turned out to be a murderess! She's a nasty little fecker! Pretty to look at, but no-one's ever managed to pick her up or anything. She's not a cuddly pet!

It was just unfortunate that when I collected her back (with the corpse in a shoe box) the dc's wanted to see said corpse to "say goodbye". I lifted the lid a little and we all saw the damage at the same time. I will go to my grave with little children's voices haunting me with "aaaaahhhhhh where's her foot?????????"

Don't think we'll have another russian

Awww - poor hammie

Sounds like the remaining one is a hamster with attitude!

oh god! I hope they don't kill each other. Ds2 will go crazy!
one is a winter white,...she's definitely the least friendly. But we've been handling them a lot and they come out when I call them. They seem to like the dog most of all and she's fascinated by them.

Oh My God! They've woken up and the fighting is terrible!
It's the winter white who's being attacked. the other one won't let her go to the food bowl, or the water.
I'm in the middle of nowhere, can't get to a pet shop now any ideas on how to get them through the night? or shall I just cross my fingers?

Yes, please separate them and put one in any kind of ventilated box that she won't chew through.

Help! Like what! The only thing I have is a tupperware box and the bloody man at pets at home said that was no good. I was planning on puncturing loads of holes in the lid surely that'll be ok?
So I've just had a right go at said man,....said no-one mentioned they might fight like this and that they're not from the same litter etc, etc.. anyway result is I'm getting another cage in the morning, same as one we've got... 75% off!

Tupperware will be fine - use a metal skewer, screwdriver, scissors - anything! - to make lots of holes in the top.

Good for you re PAH - they should tell people that although some can live together fine, some can't.

Best of luck & hope they're both OK.

morning.. update
... the winter white was fine in the tupperware overnight. Went to pets at home and had a long discussion with manager, basically told him off for not mentioning fighting in any of their literature, in shop, when we bought them etc. In the end he gave me another £40 cage for free! Result.
Thanks for all your help everyone. Thank god for MN.

Way to go, Ingles, way to go

Thank God you have seperated them.

My 2 boy Russians lived together happily for a year and then the squeaking started. It does say in the PAH book that this is a sign of distress and they need to be separated. We had a sleepless night hoping they would survive the night and we lost one of them just last week.

well done for seperating them ingles

hammies will fight to death

and also shag to death - evetually females will have enough and attack the male who just wont give up