Question about Breeding?

SnuggleHam · 05-14-2005, 05:39 PM

I was thinking of getting a female Robo and perhaps breeding them, so I'm currently on a search for a female, if I can find one... I'm not sure that I mentioned this in my "One or Two" thread, but since they are so rare and hard to find I thought it might be a nice thing to take advantage of, and I had already thought of doing this in the past.

Anyway I've been posting around on forums and such looking for a Robo in my area and got this message from someone and want to know how accurate it is... I figure you babyboos and Emma will have a better idea since you have had them a bit longer..

Here is what this person wrote..

Quote:

Please don't breed Robos. They are very hard to at a young age and by the time you are able they have already mated. I started out with 3 baby Robos from a pet store. I wanted 2 since they looked like they got along so well, but I didn't wanted to break up the trio. Anyway, 2 of them started fighting something terrible within a couple of weeks - he still has the scars. What I didn't know was there was a female in the group. I found out after the babies were born and she was already pregnant again. I tried putting the 2 males back together, but the other one started doing a payback. Since I didn't have another cage, I put the father back with the mother until I could get another cage which was only a couple of days. Well, she had 3 litter with a total of 18 babies. I ended up giving a friend what I thought were 3 females - boy was I wrong. There was a male in the group that time and there were babies.

The reason for this long e-mail is if when you decide to sell the babies you won't be able to separate them accordingly and there will be other problems. I was under the impression Robos could live in groups - wrong again. One was killed by his siblings as my friend also experience - twice. I decided not to give the babies back to the pet store since though Robos are cute they are not for handling and I was afraid what might happen to them. I ended up having to buy separate cage for each of my males and pairing up my 4 remaining females since they also fought with one another.

Robos are pretty much like Syrians - they pretty much prefer to live alone unless with a female.

Is this the persons experiance the result in not knowing what they are doing and simply not being able to sex Robos properly? They say that they are much like Syrians, I haven't had as much experiance with Robos but I feel like I have to dissagree. I am prepared to seperate them into seperate cages if need be etc. but I am very interested in the idea of breeding.

Perhaps if I started with one female the chances of fighting lessen? Anyway your thoughts please of his email.

I personally feel although I haven't as much experiance with this species I have a great source of help and encouragment from people here

**babyboos** · 05-16-2005, 03:47 PM

We all know they can be quite brutual to their cagemates but I still disagree on the point that they are like Syrians prefering solo company (unless it is female) the other experiences this person had are very believable. They do tend to have a few litters in a row and they are not the easiest little things to sex. Have you tried asking the petstore where you obtained your two boys Candace whom they got them from - for legal reasons I would have thought they should keep a written record???

SnuggleHam · 05-16-2005, 04:07 PM

Thanks babyboos,

Im actually going to call that petstore tomorrow and see if they can give me the contact info as to where they got them from becasue no matter what I do I can find anyone with robos that inst either across my country or over seas.

Emma · 05-17-2005, 01:35 AM

I think that woman had a lot of bad luck with hamsters who didn't like their cagemates (and seemed to pass that trait on maybe!), she also had fairly large litters, but also didn't help herself - she put a male back in with a female she already knows is fertile and seems surprised she had a third litter, for example. I've spoken to several people on forums who were in a similar situation to her - thought they had a single sex pair/group and had a surprise litter - but they all managed to sex the offspring correctly and then run separate sex groups with the parents & offspring (some had fighting males that had to be housed separately).

They are like babyboos said not the easiest species to sex but I managed it on 5 week old pups, there were definite differences, there are plenty of people in the hamster clubs here who can do it, its just a case of learning how to. Many people say sex them daily to recheck, and until you're sure any "don't knows" go in with the boys, as one girl in the boys is less babies than one boy in with the girls!

I definitely don't think they prefer to be alone, you should have seen Pippin turning the cage over when I took Merry out, and see Lola and Shirley grooming each other.

Starting with a single female for breeding seems like a good idea to me, if (when!!) I am able to breed I will start with pairs rather than trios, apart from there being less risk of fighting etc it'll also be easier to keep track of who is the mother to which litter. There'll also be less babies to deal with when starting out, you're finding it difficult to find a single robo in your area, you don't know yet what the demand for the babies will be like.

SnuggleHam · 05-17-2005, 04:37 AM

Thanks for the post Emma, I was thinking the same thing. I know that some hamsters are just a bit more aggressive then others, and I think that can apply to many communal species of rodents, including Campbell’s, WW and even gerbil clans. But I also dont think it makes them like syrians.

I understand it can be difficult to sex them but it can be done with a well-trained eye. This person didn’t seem to know what they were getting into, I on the other hand want to breed and am prepared to do so.

Plus with you and babyboos to refer to I’m sure I can get the best advice/help

at lest I know I have that resource and an affordable vet.

It is difficult to find the robos in my area, but I do know that the place I got mine from theirs sold up like hotcakes!!! The owner is apparently on the look out for more. I think apart of the reason they are and to find is they are finicky breeders. I believe they are supposed to be difficult to breed?