Well 2 days ago i bought 2 little dwarf hamsters. They were doing great together. Running around, playing, and everything was going great. But then today i look down in their cage and the female is eating the male. His head is off already, but she's still eating chunks of him and theres blood everywhere. How do i get rid of the cage? And should i still keep the other hamster who is eating the dead one? I dont know why she ate him or killed him or whatever, but it's just gross. Idk wat to do and it wud be great to get some help. Thank you! =)
2007-12-03 11:42:06 · 36 answers · asked by Benny 2 in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
Hamsters are solitary animals. In the wild, adult hamsters only meet each other during mating, and if the male can't escape the female's den after the mating, she will kill him. Never put two adult hamsters in the same care again. She did not kill him because he was dead already, you didn't feed them enough, or whatever else someone told you. She just killed him because she wanted that cage to herself. If shes pregnant she'll only take care of the young until they can fend for themselves, and then you have to remove them from her care and find new homes for them, or she'll eat them too.
Its also not a good idea to handle the babies too much before they are ready to leave the mother, or she may reject them, and decide to dispose of them by eating them.
You should keep her, and take her out of the care while you clean up the mess. Put her in something that she won't climb out of while your away.
2007-12-03 19:56:21 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Gross, but pretty darn common. Hamsters cannibalize more often than any other small animal. It happened to our only pair of female hamsters (when we were kids). They lived together for a long while before it happened. My brother didn't clean the cage and skipped a feeding I think. They crack pretty easily. We heard too late that they don't like to live together in the first place. We had a hard time feeling okay about the one that remained. Disgusting and shocking. So sorry this happened.
Don't put your hamster in another cage unless you think the one she's in is too small and may have caused the stress that made her do this. Switching cages may cause stress, too and there is a remote chance she might self-cannibalize. Just clean up and go on caring for her. Forgive her. It wasn't her fault. It is very instinctual and natural for her to do this. Just make sure she is comfortable, always has fresh food and water, a clean cage, and plenty of room. She should be fine. If you get another one, enjoy them in separate cages.
Best of luck to you.
2007-12-03 12:23:28 · answer #2 · answered by Amber 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Give the cage a good scrub and you will be able to put her back in the cage, you may also want to clean her off.
From this behaviour it seems you have a very territorial hamster, keep her by herself.
You should also never purchase opposite gender hamsters, with dwarf hams always get same genders, every hamster is different though, and the male may have tried to mate with her and she wasn't in heat, so she could have easily gotten annoyed with him and killed him, he may have also mated with her and she killed him to ensure her pups would be safe.
Another scenario was your male was ill and died, and the female was simply disposing of the body in the only way she knew how.
If the female is sweet to you and you can handle her, I don't advise getting rid of her.
2007-12-04 07:33:33 · answer #3 · answered by killedbyapenny 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
even though they may seem like they're friends, most of the time hamsters are solitary. your hamsters could've gotten into a fight and the male died and then the female started eating him. you should just keep the one you have now, but please dont get another hamster unless you have another cage to put it in, and only put females and males together if you want them to breed. hamsters are cannibals, and they do like the taste of blood, so once the female took a bite into the male, she may have liked the taste and started eating more. is your hamster cage big or small? you should be able to fit it into your garbage can. i would just buy a new one instead....also, if your male didnt die from a fight, it would be possible that he died and then the female started eating him. check the female for scabs/wounds, if she has them, then you know that he died from a fight because its hard for a hamster to kill another hamster without getting hurt.
2007-12-03 11:48:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Yep, hamsters have a habit of doing things like that when u put them together. It's not really strange at all... Just empty the cage out & rinse the cage well in warm water & dry it. Keep the hamster you have now, just don't put him with any other hamsters anymore.
2007-12-03 11:46:42 · answer #5 · answered by Princess Leia 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
That male probably just died. He may have been sick or he could've been injured while they were playing. It's natural for animals to eat the body of a dead one. One of my kittens was killed while playing with an older cat, and the three other cats in the house began to eat the body. I also know of a mother cat who ate her newborn kitten that had died. Both times, the head was pretty much gone by the time I found out what happened. I freaked out at first, but apparently that's what animals do. Don't be mad at the other one, she likely didn't do anything to purposely harm him, he may have just died and she did what comes naturally.
2007-12-03 11:49:28 · answer #6 · answered by melissa 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
yes, she could pe pregnant and as a first timer shed did not know what to do...... remove the dead hamster and give the female alot of nesting material - if she builds a nest, then she is due to give birth soon. When she gives birth leave her alone, do not touch the babies or else she would panic again and eat her young!
2007-12-04 00:58:50 · answer #7 · answered by Hamster-Club.com 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
From what this site states, hamsters are quite prone to
doing this for a variety of reasons from inadequate nesting materials to a wire cage floor. Have a look.
2007-12-03 11:52:07 · answer #8 · answered by graceful.tantrum 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
lots of animals do that sort of thing its natural for hamsters to sometimes eat their young if they are too crowded is your cage too small??? keep the hamster but if you get another get a female and see how they get along. i used to have hamsters and one day there were about 10 dead babies all over the cage and we didnt know ware they came from.
and maby you could find a book that could tell you.
2007-12-03 11:48:11 · answer #9 · answered by pj 1 · 1⤊ 2⤋
get rid of the hamsters,they are mean we started with one hamster in 4 months we had 15 hamsters,it was a nightmare!!We tried to seperate them but it didn't work they breed so fast,and the more they cross breed the meaner the hamsters will get,toward the end we could't even hold them,they were so mean,we tried to get rid of them at pet stores and they wouldn't take them either,they told us they only buy dwarf hamsters from suppliers because of that reason,ours started eating each other too if you want to keep them you need to take the males out of the cage.We finally had to take them to my sons and let them go in the woods
2007-12-03 11:58:32 · answer #10 · answered by salgal 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋