[xlizx]

I have two Russian dwarf hamsters one of them appears to be putting on weight and getting a little fat. The problem is that he steels all of the food and will sit in the bowl eating all of the nuts not giving the other any, he also never goes on his wheel the other one loves it. Anyone got any advice?

[Hippysnake]

Separate hamsters. Give skinny one food. Give fat one food only after he uses the wheel. Classical Conditioning.

[TheHistoryStudent]

(Original post by xlizx)
I have two Russian dwarf hamsters one of them appears to be putting on weight and getting a little fat. The problem is that he steels all of the food and will sit in the bowl eating all of the nuts not giving the other any, he also never goes on his wheel the other one loves it. Anyone got any advice?

I've never owned hamsters so I dunno if it would work, but perhaps you could separate them? Either in separate boxes/cases or by just putting a divider down the middle of the one they have now, and giving them separate bowls of food, feeding the chubby one less I honestly dunno how you would get it to use the wheel though.

[xlizx]

I'd be a bit worried about separating them, the pet shop told me Russian dwarf hamsters are pack animals so should be kept together

[darkxangel]

(Original post by xlizx)
I'd be a bit worried about separating them, the pet shop told me Russian dwarf hamsters are pack animals so should be kept together

how about two bowls while one is eating from one bowl the other one can eat from the other bowl.

[Casshern1456]

I'm sorry but can you post a picture of the fat one, I'd like to see it I'm sure most people would.

[Hopple]

Feed them one at a time. And really, they're not acting as a pack if one takes all the food...

[posterchild]

I had to split mine for a while because one of them got injured (on the cage), and when I tried to put them back together they fought badly. I had them separated until the one that was injured died. The other died about a year later. When I researched it, I read that separation should be more or less a last resort kind of thing because they can apparently die of loneliness (I couldn't quite believe it so I'm not entirely sure). Try getting a food stick-type thing you clip to the side of the cage. Could be the fatter one just wants to munch or something.

An alternative could be to either distract the fatter one while the other one eats, or just separate them temporarily whenever the little one needs to eat? Perhaps if the big one has a ball, put him in while the other one eats or something.

[Hopple]

Or a leash! Put a leash on the fat one so it can't quite reach a certain corner, and leave food for the other one in there. That way they can still interact.

[Norton1]

(Original post by Hopple)
Or a leash! Put a leash on the fat one so it can't quite reach a certain corner, and leave food for the other one in there. That way they can still interact.

There must come a time in anyone's life when they feel they've entered a Dali painting. I suspect the person leashing a hamster would get that quite acutely.

[Hopple]

(Original post by Norton1)
There must come a time in anyone's life when they feel they've entered a Dali painting. I suspect the person leashing a hamster would get that quite acutely.

I've seen ferrets on leashes, hamsters aren't too different, just shorter with not quite as sharp teeth.

[Parakeet]

Ask the petshop?

[wordjunkie]

I have two chinchillas and one of them is bigger than the other but they were like that when we got them. However, recently I've noticed that the bigger one has been losing weight and the smaller one gaining so they're balancing out. So maybe when they get more mature the same will happen to your hamsters?

[death.drop]

Make/find a little wooden box with a hole small enough that the fat hamster can't get in but the skinny one can. Put most of the food in there and only a small amount out for the fat hamster.

Alternatively, I'd try taking the majority of the nuts and seeds out of the food and feeding them by hand to the skinny hamster over the course of the day?

[AspiringGenius]

The hamster isn't fat, it's curvy and beautiful. God why is everyone so nasty!

I'd much prefer it if we used the title "big", "round" or "curvy" for the hamster, rather than hurting it's feelings.

[elldeegee]

CDo not put it on a leash!
The other hamster is bullying the first one, you need to somehow separate them. You can buy partitions for cages so that they are not together. This way you can give them a separate bowl. Maybe take one out and put it in a separate cage for a certain amount of time each day so that the skinnier one gets chance to eat food and can store it if he/she wishes.

[elldeegee]

(Original post by posterchild)
I had to split mine for a while because one of them got injured (on the cage), and when I tried to put them back together they fought badly. I had them separated until the one that was injured died. The other died about a year later. When I researched it, I read that separation should be more or less a last resort kind of thing because they can apparently die of loneliness (I couldn't quite believe it so I'm not entirely sure). Try getting a food stick-type thing you clip to the side of the cage. Could be the fatter one just wants to munch or something.

An alternative could be to either distract the fatter one while the other one eats, or just separate them temporarily whenever the little one needs to eat? Perhaps if the big one has a ball, put him in while the other one eats or something.

This is also a really good piece of advice, go for this over mine

[syrettd]

Put the fat one in their ball for longer, while giving the skinnier one time to eat food. If they both store their food in different areas of the cage (my hamsters used to take food from the food bowl and store it in their own private areas) then try taking some food out of the fat ones section.

[LinzyLoo]

Take MOST OF the nuts and seeds out of the food and keep them separate. These are the most fattening things in hamster food. Don't take them all out coz the fat hammy still needs the nutritional benefits of them. Fill 2 separate food bowls, with nuts removed, far apart from each other. Feed the separated nuts and seeds by hand to only the skinny hamster.