Robos, how many?

[Hana]

As I have said before, when Snowy and Smokey pass on (not for a long long time I hope!) I would like to get some robos, but I want to think it through and do some research before I get them :)
But I was looking at the posts on the Roborovski section here and it was kind of worrying me on the amount of posts there are about robos having to be seperated! :?
Are they not as social as I think?
And also I have seen that people keep more than 2, how many do you think I should get? I was thinking maybe either 2 or 4; I thought if I got 3, 2 of them might gang up on the other one. :?:

I dunno :oops: what do you guys think?

[SnuggleHam]

I think that any amount really would be fine, so long as you have a same sex colony and are able to provide them with enough personal space, extra wheels and sprinkle feed from the start. Just remember that for whatever amount you decide to adopt you need to be prepared with extra housing and enough space to do so in the event that they don't get along at some point.

I think that since they are communal creatures we owe it to them to at least give them the change to live with another cage mate. From there is really up to them. *shrugs*

They are great little animals to watch, and even though mine live alone they seem perfectly happy and content.

[racinghamster]

There does seem to be lots of people having to seperate their robos for fighting reasons and I`ve also read this on other forums too not relating to hamsters. It`s always great to have them live together and I feel if a pair have lived together into maturity (passed the hormonal and puberty stage) this is probably what to look out for. Young babies are cute, but as many have said, this goes fine for three-four months then all hell breaks loose!

I love my two boys even though they are destined to live seperate lives now, but I have to say I won`t be replacing them when they live out their natural lives.

Winter whites on the other hand are lovely little hamsters and my Scooby is fine on his own and is a cheeky wee monster! :) Robos are just TOO feisty and nervy to be honest. x

[Hana]

hmmm ok thanks for your opinions everyone!

[LilaHam]

robos may not be th ebest choice for you. My friend is scared to get hers out because she knows they'll bite her

maybee its just the way she tamed them as i know another friend who has the most friendlyest robos ever!!!

[SnuggleHam]

My robos have never bitten me. Muffin and Cupcake have "tested" me but giving gentle nibbles.. but that's probably because I smell like their hamster feed since it's usually around when I feed them that they try this :lol: . They have never bitten me when I picked them up. :)

[Hana]

Snowy bites me, but I still love him and and I'm not worried about getting him out.

I have held a couple of robos before and they were gorgeous and they were tame and this was in a pet shop. I am going to go to that shop when I get mine, the man really seemed to know what he was talking about! I was impressed! :wink:

[babyboos]

I have never, ever been bitten by a Robo in fact they are one of the best species for not biting but sadly due to their size and agility they are unsuitable for children which is a shame as biting is a reason many people go off hamsters as a first pet choice.

[Hana]

Thats what I thought, Has anyone had sucsess in keeping more than 2 robos in the same cage? Or keeping colenies?

i would say have 5 gallons per hamster and wheels for them all.scatter food

[SnuggleHam]

i would say have 5 gallons per hamster and wheels for them all.scatter food

Five gallons in my opinion is far to small for a single dwarf hamster. I would say no less then ten gallons. And if you are keeping a pair I would go larger then ten gallons to keep them from fighting. :)

[Hana]

Ok thaks for your help everyone.

[Hana]

Can robos be kept in wire cages or are they too tiny?

sorry for the confution

[SnuggleHam]

Can robos be kept in wire cages or are they too tiny?

I would stay away from wire cages with dwarf hamsters. But thats just me. There are cages out these that are part plastic and wire and are designed for dwarf hamsters so the wires are spaced closer together to prevent escape. But then most of the time those cages are way to small, smaller then ten gallons. But Im going on what Ive seen here in the US *shrugs*

[Hana]

ok, would a cage with 1cm spacing on the bars be ok or would it have to be 0.5cm. Sorry for all the slightly strange questions :lol:

[racinghamster]

Hi Hana. I would say the only barred cage suitable that I know of is the Savic Mickey Max cage. This is the larger of the two `Mickey` cages. However, the shelf and ramp on the indide are unsuitable as robos wee legs actually fall through the small gaps believe it or not (I`ve seen this happen when I used the cage as a holding zone) and I decided than the wire level would have to be removed or completely covered to make it safe for them to walk on.

My two boys each have a Savic Rody tank now, although I have to say the Ferplast Duna tanks are MUCH better! If you have two robos, I would go for a Gabber Rex. For a single robo, either a ferplast Duna or something similar.

You can also pick up old glass aquariums pretty cheaply and make a small mesh wire lid as you do with gerbilariums. I would say look for a glass tank going cheap (with or without a lid) and furnish this! Perfecto tanks are fine, but you can`t hang a water bottle in these because of the sliding lids they have, so an old fish tank would be much better as you can buy metal bottle holders that `hook` over the tank side that are adjustable. You then just place the water bottle into it at a height the robos can reach. x

[Hana]

Ok thanks for your help, if I can I want to get the Gabber rex but I was just wondering about my imac fantasy.