How Do Hamsters Communicate with Each Other?

How Do Hamsters Communicate with Each Other?

Hamsters love to communicate and play with each other. The best species of hamster is the Syrian hamster. This species is also the most common household pets. Hamsters are nocturnal animals. They remain underground all day long to avoid any danger.

How Do Hamsters Communicate with Each Other? Hamsters communicate with each other through different means. They also make some sounds to communicate with each other. These sounds are only audible to other hamsters because these sounds lie in the ultrasonic range. If you see carefully, you can see they also communicate with humans with different body languages.

Hamsters are solitary in nature and are very aggressive towards each other. Hamsters are also very quiet. Although they communicate with each other and even with humans.

How Do Hamsters Communicate with Each Other?

Hamsters use different body language to communicate with each other. They use different body posture to convey different feelings to each other, either happiness or aggression. Here are the following body postures they use to communicate with each other.

Sniffing in a circular motion

Hamsters circle each other and sniff to dominate each other. They continue this motion until they decide who is dominant over others. In this body language, the hamsters circle around each other in the T arrangement. One hamster continues to circle and sniff in an upright position.

The other submissive hamster will lay down. The dominant hamster will also try to bite the hamster lying down on undersides. This sniffing and circular motion continues, and the hamster will change their positions. The hamster who surrenders will sit back on its legs in an upright position to avoid any fall.

Face to face attacking

Hamsters are usually solitary animals and are somehow aggressive. They always try to dominate each other. Due to this behavior, there is always a tension between them. In face to face attacking the dominant and robust hamster, try to bite at the belly of another submissive hamster.

The docile hamster tries to defend himself with its posture straight upright and push the other hamster away from himself.

The hamster will keep on changing their position throughout this face to face attacking behavior. The submissive hamster gives up by sitting straight upright, its paws extended and open moth.

Appeasing each other

Hamsters are usually angry and aggressive in nature, but they also appease each other to avoid any stress or conflict. In appeasement, one hamster hold its paw and try to avoid any eye contact with other hamsters.

The submissive hamster also tries to run away to prevent any severe fight with the dominant hamster.

The fight continues until the passive hamster surrender. The docile hamster then freezes himself in an upright belly position to surrender. They also escape from such situations by keeping themselves in an upright position.

Fight and flight

This usually happens when one is in the mood to fight, but the other one simply wants to escape from the fight. In this situation, the hamster makes high pitched squealing sounds. These sounds indicate that the hamster is in danger or very aggressive.

These sounds then turn into fierce fighting. This fighting will then result in serious injuries or wound to both. The submissive hamster also tries to escape, but the dominant hamster won’t let him go to the cage.

Hamsters communicate with each other by Chasing

The hamster also chases each other in case of any stress or anger between them. The dominant hamster chases the submissive hamster. This simple chasing can turn into brutal fighting between them.

This chasing can cause severe damage to the submissive one if he lacks any space to escape or hide. This chasing can be avoided by some water or by separate cages.

Rolling fighting

In this kind of fight, the dominant hamster will stand upright fully on all four paws. After this, he tries to attack the submissive hamster and bite on the belly of a docile hamster. This fight ended when the passive hamster surrender with its belly in an upright position.

Flicking tail

The flicking tail by a hamster is an attempt to stop any fight or aggression. The submissive hamster will flick its tail upward with its back launching in an upward direction.

They also move slowly to avoid any stress among them. The dominant hamster will try his best to attack the submissive one as a sign of victory. Flicking tail is a sign that hamsters don’t want any dispute.

Folding ears back

The hamster folds its ears back in a situation of extreme stress or fear. They may feel fear or shyness of other hamsters. In this situation, they fold their ears back to alert themselves of any danger.

They also fold their ears back in the fight as a symbol of aggression. They also fold their ears back when they are irritated.

Auditory signals

Hamsters also communicate with each other with auditory sounds. They produce high pitched sounds when they are with other hamsters. They produce sounds to communicate different things like hissing sound or squeaking sound.

Matting calls

Hamsters produce sounds when they need to mate with hamsters of the opposite sex. The females produce sound when they are lactating. They also produce sound when there are no male hamsters. The male hamsters produce sound when they have female hamster around.

Teeth chattering

Teeth chattering in hamsters are a sign of aggression. This teeth-chattering is common in both males and females. The male chatter teeth when they encounter another male hamster.

The female also chatters their teeth when they see other female hamsters. Teeth chattering are a sign that hamsters need some isolation and space. The same teeth chattering are heard in response to the presence of humans.

Chemical signals

Hamsters also communicate different messages through chemical signals. They have different scent glands to communicate with each other.

Flank scent glands

Hamsters have a pair of flank glands on each hip. These scent glands are the best cue that hamsters use to communicate with each other. They rub their scent gland to mark their territories.

They rub their scent glands on things to announce that this is mine. They also use scent glands for status marking like a dominant or submissive hamster. Some species have their scent glands on their ears belly and genitals.

Salivary glands are used as a tool for recognizing each other. The hamsters have a specific breath odor. The hamsters also recognize each other through their breath.

Team: Hamstersauthority.com

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