Roborovskis!!!!

[Emma]

I just wanted to start a robo thread cos I love 'em



My two are brothers, Merry and Pippin. At first I didn't know how I'd tell them apart - until they grew a bit, or rather, Pip grew a bit and Merry grew a lot! M is quite fat, he's a greedy little thing, and always gets to the food first. I tried giving less food, but then M just ate all the good bits and left P the rest, and P started looking a bit thin. So I let them have more again, P looks much better for it, and M has just remained a little pig.



They are very active, but getting quite handlable, Pip especially is no real trouble now. I have spent several months working every day to get him to this stage though, and I still would only handle him sitting down near somewhere safe (the cage or a box) in case he got antsy. These guys are not at all cuddly like Syrians. They have mini exercise balls, which Pip seems to enjoy but Merry will only use for about 5 mins before stopping to have a wash and watch his brother. He's not that lazy though - he uses the wheel more than Pip.



My favourite thing is watching the both of them in the wheel together. They just fit in side by side, it's so cute. Especially when one stops running and the other goes for a little tumble, or they try and run in opposite directions and just succeed in climbing the walls a little bit before bumping back into each other.



Pip has a trick of running really fast in the wheel and then stopping dead so he does a complete loop-the-loop. It really worried me at first, but he hasn't harmed himself yet and seems to mean to do it - he is capable of slowing down as well.



That's it, I just wanted to go on about my boys! I'm really enjoying keeping roborovskis, and I would recommend them as a pet, with certain reservations.