Syrians aren’t social at all - even in the wild
. They fight and a male only meets up with a female for mating - he goes to her burrow and she drives him out after the mating!
It’s hard to think they could be happy living solitary but that’s only the males really. The females aren’t alone as they have babies to rear until they leave the nest.
Animal territorial instincts with each other. But when first in the U.K. they were found to be friendly and easily tamed. It’s strange how they can be friendly with humans but not each other! But it’s hard wiring from the wild (to be territorial with each other).
I’m assuming it’s the same with the European hamster (solitary) but not entirely sure.
I think the two species of dwarf hamsters can live in groups in the wild but it tends to be just for the purpose of breeding and feeding. However - as the home page article highlights - pet dwarf hamsters are almost all hybrids of two species so they wouldn’t live naturally in the wild as they don’t exist in the wild. You never know how much a hybrid has more Campbells or more Winter White characteristics and the wild habits of both are very different. Two hybrid hamsters, even from the same litter - could see each other as a different species.
I believe winter white dwarfs are supppsed to be the most sociable - in the wild and with humans. Campbell’s male dwarfs are supposed to be good Dads and help look after litters in the wild - but again they cohabit solely for breeding and feeding - all very Darwinian - keeps the species going and alive. They have litters back to back if the male lives with the female and babies.
Robos - there’s a link to an article about that on the home page article about why hamsters should live alone as pets.
Robos are reported to live in colonies in the wild but it’s probably breeding and feeding again primarily and they do fight if kept together. The article quoted says although Robos have been seen living in pairs in the wild, it’s an exception and they live solitarily as well.
They probably have much shorter lives in the wild- being a prey species - hence the need to keep producing and nurturing babies. As pets you don’t want them breeding prolofically so their reason for living together is gone and they get territorial.
I know what you mean as rats and mice need sociability and cage mates. Maybe the difference is that they tend to live alongside humans rather than in wild territories. Keeping hamsters together usually ends in death or maiming.
When I first started keeping hamsters, there were proponents of keeping dwarfs or robos in pairs or trios - mainly breeders - if the cage set up was right to avoid territorial behaviours - it had to be not too big or too small, no levels, two or three of everything (so they can have their own house, wheel, water bottle etc to avoid territorial behaviour - houses had to have multiple entrances. But even then it was advised that new owners only got one hamster and it took a lot of experience to manage a pair or group and they could still start fighting or one suddenly kill the other. The slightest change - eg a cage clean or different environment. Even taking one hamster out if the cage for a short period could start territorial behaviours. They both needed to be out at the same time.
What tended not to be recognised though was dominance and bullying even if there was no actual fighting. One hamster would tend to get most of the food and get bigger and the other one stay smaller. And psychological effects of bullying and dominance as well. One hamster would fail to thrive.
It was something I had always wanted to try when I first had hamsters (it was seen as acceptable for experienced owners). I very nearly adopted a pair of robos from a rescue - but they had to be separated before adoption due to fighting - so I gave up on that idea and it was also a headache working out a suitable set up.
There are stories of pairs being kept together for life but it’s very rare. There were many more stories of killings and maimings.
There was a Robo breeder who kept colonies of robos successfully but as she was a breeder it was more the breeding and feeding cycle and hamsters would go to new homes - so they weren’t all together permanently.
