Roborovski smell

[Emma]

Do others find that their robs have a certain, "aroma" about them? I have met a breeder who stopped keeping robos as she couldn't stand the smell. My two do have their own particular scent - I can hardly smell it most of the time, but my Mum thought they stank. It's not a particularly unpleasant smell, kinda musty I guess, I wouldn't describe it as strong but it's definitely there all the time - and it's the hamsters themselves. It became noticable a little while after I got them, I suppose as they grew up a bit, as their scent glands became more noticable too.



Maybe it's just males? What do you think?

[SnuggleHam]

My Roborovskis kind of smell, their tank does anyway, I don't handle them unless I'm cleaning the enclosure, but the tank does have a distinct musky smell, and its not because it isnt' clean. My gerbils have the same smell, I wonder if its to do with scent glands? Gerbils also have a large scent gland on their belly.

[Emma]

Other dwarf hamsters have scent glands too though, and they don't have as strong a smell like Roborovskis do (or at least most that I've met haven't). Maybe it's more of a Robo thing (and seemingly a Gerbil thing) than a scent gland thing.



Interesting that girls have the same smell (are you sure Macchu and Pichu are girls now?) - for some reason I thought boys would be a more noticable scent. Not sure why I thought that though.

[babyboos]

Wow you guys I am researching Roborovski scent glands just now - how bizarre :shock: A friend from PWS referred me to some interesting articles you may be interested in. I have asked them to come join us, so hopefully we can discuss this in more detail. This one is on Roborovski Dwarf Hamsters. There are also studies on Syrian, Campbell's and Winter White Russian Dwarf Hamsters:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... t=Abstract (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9004898&dopt=Abstract)

Unfortunately the whole article is in Russian and my one solitary year of study in this language just does help me translate it properly.

[SnuggleHam]

That was strange... great minds think alike! :wink:



I still don't know what sex my Roborovskis are... :lol: They are just too small.. But the last time I looked they appeared to look the same down there so I’m sure both are the same sex, just not that sure what sex....



I think next time I clean the cage I'll try and get a look again and see if there is any real visible scent glands. I have a clear plastic rodent carrier I can put them in to see underneath...

[Emma]

I did two years of Russian (even got an A at GCSE) but I can only just about remember how to say "Hello my name is Emma" now, I think scientific articles would be a bit beyond me too!



The abstract seems a nice summary though ("conspecific" means "of the same species" btw - took me a few minutes to understand that) - they believe that the scent glands are more to do with territory marking and scents in urine more with sexual attractiveness, and that poo isn't as interesting! It's interesting to see they found variances according to season that fit in with their seasonal reproduction. It all makes a lot of sense.



Do your robos have a particular scent babyboos, more than the other hamster species?



When I was staying up with my parents, I had Alfie's cage in the same room as Merry & Pippin's (usually they are in separate rooms). I did notice that all three of their scent glands secreted more, although their behaviour didn't appear to change much. I thought at the time that might fit in with them smelling another hamster around and being a little territorial. Shall see if they secrete less again, now they're back in their own rooms.

[Emma]

It's a shame a lot of the research involving phodopus species appears to be in Russian, and not translated. I was looking into other hamster species the other day (the various species not kept as pets) and a lot of the published research about them was in foreign languages, often Chinese, or in journals that I don't think I can get hold of.

[babyboos]

I totally agree... I have Systran Language Translator Software as I need to translate a lot of foreign papers for my job and it really struggles with Chinese, Russian etc. My best friend is German and she is great at taking some time out to translate things for me :oops:

[babyboos]

Do your robos have a particular scent babyboos, more than the other hamster species?



Hmm... It is distinctive, but they really do not smell half as much as my Winter White Russian Dwarves, and to be honest I can go over a fortnight without cleaning their enclosures out. My guys are all very good at using their potties/sand baths and I use a special litter mix for them which seems to be very good at absorbing any odours. Often I think I am cleaning them out for the sake of it rather than because they particularly need it. I don't beat myself up if I am running short of time and need to leave them till the next night for example. My Diabetic Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamsters on the other hand need cleaned out a lot!

I would say I only really smell the Roborovski Dwarves when I am changing their potties and disturb their bedding when cleaning them out. The smell seems to sink through the litter to the bottom of the enclosure. They also live in Duna cages rather than wire cages like most of my other hamsters so this may well help to keep smells down, although they used to have plastic houses and the condensation seemed to build up in them and phew did it smell when you opened them! I don't have any ladies living alone currently to test the smell from their enclosure to a males, or mixed group, sorry.



The scent gland on the male Roborovski Dwarf is quite distinctive Candace so hopefully you will be able to tell soon if you have little boys or girls :oops: