Baby Robos! Help!

[Shelly1816]

Morning all!

I'm new to this site and new to robos!
I've always had syrian hamsters and bought one for my daughter back at easter. My twin boys kicked up a fuss about not having one so to save having lots of cages around the house we bought 2 female robos.

We found out a few weeks ago our 2 females were not both female, when I found babies! She had 5 babies, now just over 3 weeks old.
We were on holiday at the time (the sitter didn't notice!) and so by the time we were home the babies were already approx 4 days old and mummy was already expecting a 2nd set - which arrived yesterday.

Daddy was removed from the cage when we found the first litter (under the advice of the pet shop, although it was already too late!) and also as advised we removed the first litter a couple of days ago when mummy started showing and we noticed she was starting to push the babies away.

Anyway, I just want advice on how best to go forward. My kids want to keep all the babies, they have now become part of the family! Except for the 2 females in this first litter which my mum is going to have.

I feel really bad for dad being on his own, he seems miserable! Can i put the 3 boys in with him? Should I leave him on his own now and then just keep all the baby boys together including any from the latest litter??
We were planning on leaving any girls from the latest litter with mum. Although as yet I have no idea how many babies mum had yesterday. How many robos can be kept together? We have quite big tank style cages for them.

Thanks all!
x

[souffle]

Welcome to you and your robo family
Moderator Tammy has a great site with lots of robo advice
Oak Farm Rabbits and Rodents

Dad should accept his sons with not much trouble at this stage and is likely to keep them in order. Mum could stay with the daughters from her next litter. Probably a good idea to keep the first girls separate though as they may compete with the new babies for milk as they are still young.
I would try and home most of the new litter as it will be a lot to keep if you have them all. There are lots of members who will help you with the robo questions so feel free to ask.

[Sandti]

Welcome to the forum! Is quite a predicamant you have there.

I think you should try and rehome as many as you can unless you are prepared to seperate and house however many Robos you have incase they start fighting.

[Kissa]

On the housing front, I'd say the minimum for four Robos is 100cm by 50cm (5000 square cm). Robos so better in even numbered groups, and for every two extra I'd add another 20cm to the length (1000 square cm to the floorspace). Detolf cabinets from Ikea make great large, cheap tanks, if you have the space for them they're about 160cm by 40cm (6400 square cm), if I recall correctly.

Also everything souffle said, and check out Tammy's website

[vanilla-yazoo]

welcome I dont have much experience with robos, but im sure our member pompompoms will be along shorty, she had bred robos a few times, has had double litters and paired babies with mum and dad.

I hope they are all well x

[Tammy22]

Hello Shelly and welcome to the forum

Congratulations on your new babies, but obviously they are going to be very hard work!

If all goes well and there are no fall outs any male babies over the age of 4 weeks old can be placed with dad and any females an stay with the mother, so in theory you could have two cages, one of males and one of females, but it rarely stays like this!

As you have already been advised it is probably best to rehome as many of the babies as possible as obviously the more robos you have the more chance there is of them fighting and having to be split up. You could end up with them all in separate cages, so if you are not prepared for this then it is probably best to rehome some.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask, good luck with them all!

Tammy x

[Shelly1816]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Have put daddy in with the first litter. Only one of the babies has taken to him and won't leave his side, the others seem terrified!

So we now have 2 large tanks, daddy and older babies in one and mummy with new babies in the other. And we now have a smaller spare tank for someone who may not be happy!

Luckily we have stackable tanks so they don't take up a massive amount of space!

When can my mum take the girls from the first litter? They are 4 weeks this weekend.

I think I can get my kids to part with the boys from the 2nd litter as I let them keep the first lot. Luckily my family is animal mad so shouldn't be a problem re-homing them where the kids can still see them.

Starting to feel very glad we got all our other animals neutered!! We'd have a zoo!
Thanks all!

[souffle]

If they are already separated and in the cage they will be staying in together then I don't see why she couldn't take them now as long as she is experienced with animals. It will help to have her taming them and they will get plenty attention. Just keep feeding a baby hamster diet and give them plenty bedding and peace to settle.
I wouldn't normally recommend this as usually they stay in groups until they are around 6-8 weeks before going to their new homes but in your case they are already split. I'd maybe wait another week just to ensure they settle and are feeding Ok then they could go.

[Pompompoms]

Oh baby robos, so so adorable even when unexpected! Bless the little baby boys with their dad, adults will always accept babies up to about six weeks, most babies will be thrilled with a big fluffy adult to cuddle up to, but sometimes they will be a little shy to start with. My Rolo was terrified of Whizzbit when he went in with him as a baby, but to be fair Rolo is terrified of everything

In terms of keeping, the only thing to always remember is only have as many robos as you are able to keep separately. At the moment they all love each other, but puberty is coming, and they may well decide they don't.