Paŭ's thread

[Banned Member 1]

Just picked up this tiny little guy. Somebody had bought him as a 'friend' for a hybrid hamster who wasn't too happy about this idea. They only had one small cage and a carrier and were swapping which one was in which. Obviously a bad time for both of them...

 

[RainbowBrite]

Oh congratulations! What an adorable little robo. It is very lucky you found him.

 

[elusive]

Aww he looks adorable, so glad to hear he’s been rescued from such a stressful situation.

 

[Banned Member 1]

Yeah, what a few days for him... Pet store, annoyed bigger hamster, spending half his time living in a carrier, now being taken half way across london on the tube...

 

[RainbowBrite]

Do you know what happened to the other hamster?

 

[Banned Member 1]

Do you know what happened to the other hamster?

Living in the Pets At Home cage... She was planning to try again with another hybrid hamster so i explained that most likely the same thing would happen again and they can seriously injure each other. I think she accepted that hamsters do fine by themselves. I will probably link her to Victoria Raechel on youtube in the hope that this encourages her to improve her care.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Living in the Pets At Home cage... She was planning to try again with another hybrid hamster so i explained that most likely the same thing would happen again and they can seriously injure each other. I think she accepted that hamsters do fine by themselves. I will probably link her to Victoria Raechel on youtube in the hope that this encourages her to improve her care.

Oh gosh, how sad the person did not seem to understand and thought of getting another hamster without researching. You are great to recommend other sources to them.

I like the name Pau

 

[Banned Member 1]

Anything I need to know about robo care? I know they love to have a big sand area. I think they're not diabetes prone like hybrids so can enjoy a little fruit?

 

[RainbowBrite]

Anything I need to know about robo care? I know they love to have a big sand area. I think they're not diabetes prone like hybrids so can enjoy a little fruit?

That is right. My robo likes the odd bit of banana and he really loves bell pepper. I would not have thought there are many differences between robos and dwarfies care other then the low sugar foods needed by dwarfies.

 

[Banned Member 1]

It's not much, but it's what I could throw together on extremely short notice

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[Banned Member 1]

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I do need to pop out to Ikea in the morning and get some tealight candle holders. That water dish is way too big, hopefully he'll be ok with it for one night though.

 

[elusive]

That little face peering out of the house at the beginning of the first vid just melted my heart
It looks great & must seem like a palace to him after where he’s been, he’s certainly having a good explore. Look forward to seeing more of him as he settles in.

 

[Banned Member 1]

He's sleeping in the carrot cottage at the bedding end of the cage. I elected not to put any of his old bedding in his new enclosure because it'd smell of both him and the hybrid hamster and I figured it'd potentially be more stressful to have the smell of a hamster that was aggressive towards him in his new home. The little plastic house is the only familiar thing he has.

 

[Maz]

So glad you rescued him! He will enjoy that cage. I would leave things exactly as they are for a few weeks while he's settling in. Lovely to see him exploring it. I think like most hamsters, they check everything out, try to find an escape route, then disappear and go in hiding for a bit! Robos particularly. I may be wrong. He looks a good size and healthy despite his ordeals. I bet he will make a burrow in that nice deep substrate And enjoy running around in the sand area at night. Personally I might try adding a sand bath in the sand area as well - they do seem to like hopping into one and feeling semi enclosed while they roll around in it. Like a sand "hide". I may be wrong though as haven't had a sand area in a cage before and he will enjoy that anyway.

I'm curious to know what the plastic tub is at the far end. Is it beech chips?

 

[Banned Member 1]

So glad you rescued him! He will enjoy that cage. I would leave things exactly as they are for a few weeks while he's settling in. Lovely to see him exploring it. I think like most hamsters, they check everything out, try to find an escape route, then disappear and go in hiding for a bit! Robos particularly. I may be wrong. He looks a good size and healthy despite his ordeals. I bet he will make a burrow in that nice deep substrate And enjoy running around in the sand area at night. Personally I might try adding a sand bath in the sand area as well - they do seem to like hopping into one and feeling semi enclosed while they roll around in it. Like a sand "hide". I may be wrong though as haven't had a sand area in a cage before and he will enjoy that anyway.

I'm curious to know what the plastic tub is at the far end. Is it beech chips?

Yeah the plastic tub has beech chips in it. I might replace the plastic house in the sand area with a small wooden house that doesn't have a base to act as a sand hide. Thanks for that suggestion. Will try and get one tomorrow

 

[Banned Member 1]

Do robos eat noticably less than hybrid hamsters? I usually give Snowy a 5ml spoon of her seed mix plus a science selective nugget and then hand feed a few treats. I know robos are smaller but they're also so fast and active!

 

[Maz]

Yes they eat teeny tiny amounts! Having said that I give a dessertspoonful of hamster mix a day - more than a teaspoonful. I top the bowl up for a day or two and then tip anything left out (as by then the bowl is full). They still need fresh mix every day even if they don't eat much of it. I give that much as they like to forage through it quite a bit and if I put less out our robo gets a bit panicky! Which mix are you using? I use the Bunny dream dwarf expert, which they like - it has a lot of small seeds and mealworms. It's slightly low on protein so I give a piece of nut twice a week as an extra treat - either a quarter of walnut half or half a cashew nut half (v small basically!). Veg daily - they love that. I give a really tiny piece of veg. They tend to nibble what they want and leave the rest. For example Raffy (Syrian) gets a piece about 1cm cubed size. Pip (robo) gets half that amount - and doesn't eat it all. The other reason they like enough food putting out is they do tend to hoard quite a bit. Yes they can have the same as Syrians - fruit as well as veg - although I still keep fruit to a very occasional thing.

So my rule of thumb with feeding is a rounded tablespoon of mix for a Syrian and a level dessertspoonful for a robo. Plus anything you decide to scatter for foraging. I gave up doing that as the cage was ending up with too much food lying around. So I put out an extra treat instead in a particular place and occasionally scatter the odd sunflower seed. Even those started piling up a bit. They are so cute when they sit in their food bowls

 

[Banned Member 1]

Yes they eat teeny tiny amounts! Having said that I give a dessertspoonful of hamster mix a day - more than a teaspoonful. I top the bowl up for a day or two and then tip anything left out (as by then the bowl is full). They still need fresh mix every day even if they don't eat much of it. I give that much as they like to forage through it quite a bit and if I put less out our robo gets a bit panicky! Which mix are you using? I use the Bunny dream dwarf expert, which they like - it has a lot of small seeds and mealworms. It's slightly low on protein so I give a piece of nut twice a week as an extra treat - either a quarter of walnut half or half a cashew nut half (v small basically!). Veg daily - they love that. I give a really tiny piece of veg. They tend to nibble what they want and leave the rest. For example Raffy (Syrian) gets a piece about 1cm cubed size. Pip (robo) gets half that amount - and doesn't eat it all. The other reason they like enough food putting out is they do tend to hoard quite a bit. Yes they can have the same as Syrians - fruit as well as veg - although I still keep fruit to a very occasional thing.

I have half a bag of Bunny Dream Dwarf Hamster Basic and have given him some of that as well as a few science selective nuggets. I was just thinking that given his age he'll need some extra protein. I have a tub of Little One Insect Mix, is a couple of insects from that each day enough extra protein?

 

[Banned Member 1]

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He is still busy digging in his sand and figuring out how to use his wheel. He must be so happy!

 

[Maz]

It depends if he eats them! Some hamsters won't eat the insects and turn their nose up! Giving a science selective pellet is a good idea. Pip has been on the Bunny dream expert since he came to me as a baby plus a few high protein treats a week. That can be nuts, fresh meat, freeze dried chicken or shrimps etc. Doesn't have to be insects if they don't eat them. The thing with some freeze dried meat and fish is it can go off very quickly. The chicken bites Elusive uses are good!