New baby Robo

[Wollfie]

Hi,

We got a 10 week Robo from Pets At Home yesterday and for some reason he’s not using his house. He’s sleeping in one of the hay tubes instead and I’m a bit worried because it’s cold here I the UK at the moment and there’s no nesting material in the tube.

He has a big wooden house full of hay to nest in, any idea why he’s not using it? Is this normal? Should I use paper nesting stuff instead of the hay in the house?

[Ria P]

I'm no expert but I think hamsters use hay mainly for building tunnels not nesting. Mine has hay and paper available and always uses the torn up plain white toilet paper to build his nest and some paperflakes bought from pet shop. I put a heap of torn up loo paper in his cage and then he helps himself. He shreds it to the size he wants himself. Don't use the cotton wool type though.

[Wollfie]

I’ll change it out for paper bedding today. Cheers.

[Pebbles82]

Hi - baby robos are so whizzy aren't they! We have a robo and I quickly learned that their nesting habits are very different from Syrians. Ours ignored all little houses put out and burrowed under the substrate under a shelf, then piled a mountain of substrate on top of it - thus creating a burrow which he would pop out from and use the tunnel next to the shelf as an entrance.

They do like to be under something and not feel too exposed. And they like to sleep in the dark. With houses it's best not to put anything inside them. They like to forage for the nesting material and build the nest themselves. So best to put toilet paper strips out in a pile somewhere in the cage or near the house and if he decides to nest in the house he will take some and use them to build a nest.

You could try tempting him into the house by putting a bendy bridge tunnel over the doorway so it has a tunnel entrance and is dark inside. Also making it a bit subterranean - eg push it down onto the base of the cage so it is almost buried and then scoop out the substrate in front of the door and put the bendy bridge there and scoop out a bit just in front of the bendy bridge. Then he has a nice dark home that feels like a burrow. You could put a smelly treat in there too - a piece of cucumber or cheese - and he may go in and decide it's a good place to nest.

Our robo has two nesting places now and he moves between them. If one gets disturbed he moves to the other one! Quite handy for spot cleaning them!

If you've just got him he's probably settling in and deciding where to nest. I'm sure if he was cold he would burrow down in the substrate. Do you have enough substrate in the cage? 3 to 4" minimum depth is recommended.

Not all hamsters like hay - I'd just take it out of the house - you could try it somewhere else in the cage and see if he shows any interest - if not, best removed.

I tend to worry that hay may harbour mites or something so I tend to freeze things like that before use.

Main thing is if his cage is suitable. Too much height isn't good with a robo as they can climb and fall and get injured.

Also don't clean him out for the first two weeks while he's settling. After that it's best to just "spot clean" mainly rather than full clean outs. After a few weeks you may need to change the substrate, but even then it's good to replace some of the old or sprinkle it on top of the new so it still smells familar, as cleanouts can really stress them. You can do any toys a different week and the wheel a different week again.

I tend to leave the nest and hoards alone unless they are pee'd on. Our robo is very clean and never pees in his nest or on his hoard and gets very upset if they are messed with.