Register FAQ Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Navigation
Front Page
Forum
Gallery
Wiki

Ads by Google


Go Back   Hamster Central > Hamster Species > Dwarf Roborovskis Hamster

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 03-28-2005, 07:09 AM   #1
Emma
Hamster Addict
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: North Somerset, UK
Posts: 877
Send a message via MSN to Emma
Default Roborovski smell

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?
__________________
Emma

Hamster Central Moderator

Owned by Merry, Pippin, Lola & Shirley (roborovskis) Toby & Hazel (syrians)

Missing my angel Phoebe
Emma is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2005, 07:11 AM   #2
SnuggleHam
Former Admin
 
SnuggleHam's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2,590
Default

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.
SnuggleHam is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2005, 07:20 AM   #3
Emma
Hamster Addict
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: North Somerset, UK
Posts: 877
Send a message via MSN to Emma
Default

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.
__________________
Emma

Hamster Central Moderator

Owned by Merry, Pippin, Lola & Shirley (roborovskis) Toby & Hazel (syrians)

Missing my angel Phoebe
Emma is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2005, 07:20 AM   #4
babyboos
Retired Moderators
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Scotland UK
Posts: 3,393
Send a message via MSN to babyboos Send a message via Yahoo to babyboos
Default Great minds

Wow you guys I am researching Roborovski scent glands just now - how bizarre 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

Unfortunately the whole article is in Russian and my one solitary year of study in this language just does help me translate it properly.
babyboos is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2005, 07:25 AM   #5
SnuggleHam
Former Admin
 
SnuggleHam's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2,590
Default

That was strange... great minds think alike!



I still don't know what sex my Roborovskis are... 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...
SnuggleHam is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2005, 07:34 AM   #6
Emma
Hamster Addict
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: North Somerset, UK
Posts: 877
Send a message via MSN to Emma
Default

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

Hamster Central Moderator

Owned by Merry, Pippin, Lola & Shirley (roborovskis) Toby & Hazel (syrians)

Missing my angel Phoebe
Emma is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2005, 07:37 AM   #7
Emma
Hamster Addict
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: North Somerset, UK
Posts: 877
Send a message via MSN to Emma
Default

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.
__________________
Emma

Hamster Central Moderator

Owned by Merry, Pippin, Lola & Shirley (roborovskis) Toby & Hazel (syrians)

Missing my angel Phoebe
Emma is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2005, 04:56 PM   #8
babyboos
Retired Moderators
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Scotland UK
Posts: 3,393
Send a message via MSN to babyboos Send a message via Yahoo to babyboos
Default German

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
babyboos is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2005, 05:34 PM   #9
babyboos
Retired Moderators
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Scotland UK
Posts: 3,393
Send a message via MSN to babyboos Send a message via Yahoo to babyboos
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Emma
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
babyboos is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Fishy smell? Murada Hamster Healthcare 5 09-17-2008 11:52 AM
Natural ways to get rid of smell. sammys/mum Hamster Chat 2 04-28-2008 10:29 AM
hamsters sense of smell hambelinski Hamster Healthcare 2 01-30-2008 01:48 AM
Mean Roborovski!!! SnuggleHam Dwarf Roborovskis Hamster 14 04-08-2005 07:07 AM
Reducing the smell ? carefresh Housing 9 03-10-2005 04:18 PM

Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Optimisation provided by DragonByte SEO v2.0.43 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Copyright © 2003-2022, Hobby Solutions
All times are GMT -7. The time now is 07:13 PM.