Meet Marry, Pippin, Rand, and Matrim! - Page 3

amie · 11-20-2012, 05:31 AM

They are lovely boys. Well done for rescuing them.

lucyeleanor · 11-20-2012, 06:09 AM

How adorable! You are very lucky, and so are they for finding you!
Ideally, they need at least one wheel each to avoid fighting. If you don't have the room, have you thought about buying a flying saucer so there is plenty of space for them all to run on it at the same time?

LokiWolf · 11-20-2012, 10:04 AM

Robos are just joys; I hope you can get some in the future, Sandti.

Thanks.

I know they need one wheel each. If I had gone with the 4.5 silent spinners, I might have been able to squeeze four in, but I like the 6.5s as they can run on it together. If I take out their house and log, I may be able to stick two more wheels in, but than they would be lacking a house and toys. As for flying saucers, I have thought about them, but again space would be an issue (Plus Petsmart only carries 12s right now and Petco JUST started carrying them, not all of them are selling them yet as it is a new item (not on their website yet either)). Yes, yes I know I could look online and order from like amazon or something. Anyway, the best thing would be getting a bigger bin for them so I have more space for wheels, I'm looking into doing that as I think the 62.5 liter is much too small for them (it was the only thing we found at that time). I did see a 110 liter yesterday at Target that would have been perfect, but it was 21 dollars (the 62.5 was 11) and I thought that was much to much as I've seen 110 liters go for about 16. Plus that one was missing its lid so even if I sprang on it, I wouldn't be able to use it.

LokiWolf · 11-20-2012, 12:00 PM

Okay, so I found almost the same exact storage bin that I saw at Target on Home Depo's website for much less, only 16 dollars. The Target one was 110 liters, the Home Depo one 100 liters, not that much of a difference in size.

We're going to Petsmart, mom wants to pick up disposable cat litter boxes as she and dad are going to visit my sister and taking the grumpy sink cat Six (I'm staying home to watch the other pets). And Home Depo is in the same shopping center, so we're going to pick the bin up (if it's in the store) and I'm going to work on it as soon as we get back home. I also plan to pick up some other things at Petsmart for the boys. I don't think I'll pick up two more wheels yet as I want to see Petco's pricing on the Flying Saucers.

lucyeleanor · 11-20-2012, 05:25 PM

I really hope that I didn't sound like I was telling you off in my post, it was merely a suggestion because the idea of the flying saucer popped into my head as I was reading the thread. I'm very sorry if it did.

The new bincage sounds fab - your four will be some very lucky boys! It's up to you which way you want to sway with the wheel/saucer thing, I can't believe they have only just started to stock FS in America! My Syrian Poppy would be most displeased to hear that! I really hope that your boys don't squabble any more and stay happy together, as it's such a shame if they have to be separated. I'm currently trying to reintroduce a pair of my own after a very bad falling out when I took them in, probably due to the stress of moving, much like the small squabble which you had. It's a difficult process but I hope it works out, I'd love for them to be happy together again and snuggle up like yours do.

LokiWolf · 11-20-2012, 05:47 PM

If I made you think I thought you were telling me off, I'm sorry. I just wanted to explain.

PetSmart had FS for awhile, but they just stopped carrying the small ones for some reason. I was go glad when I saw Petco starting to carry them.

And I'm afraid to say this, but I did just separate Matrim a couple minutes ago as I noticed the space between his vent and tail was bloody (and no it wasn't coming from his vent, it was coming from a wound; it was pretty fresh too). I put him in the carrier and now I'm working on drilling holes in the 100 liter bin (yes, I did get it) to move Rand, Mary, and Pippin to it, so I have move Matrim to the 62.5 liter bin cage (I don't want him to stay in the carrier for the whole night).

I'm so sad, I really hoped I could have kept them all together. When I picked him up, he had just been cuddling with one of his brothers. I think it was just one of the other three being the bully otherwise he would have had more wounds if it was all three. I never did see who did this to him as it looked like everyone was getting along.

lucyeleanor · 11-21-2012, 05:14 AM

I'm very sorry to hear that you have had to separate Matrim.

On the plus side, it sounds like you caught it just in the nick of time. I'm almost positive that if you hadn't noticed right there and then, it probably would have been much worse.

Matrim will soon settle in and be okay. Give him plenty of love and attention to stop him feeling lonely at the moment and as many toys as possible for when you are not around. He will heal pretty quickly, I think Souffle said to me when mine was bitten, that it's around 10 days for the wound to heal and the scab to be off. Probably less if it's only a little nip.

Keep an eye out on the others, just incase you have a real bully left in the three. Personally, I think it sounds like it is likely that they just ganged up on the 'weakest' as it were.

Once Matrim is healed, you could always have a go at reintroducing him, they might be less likely to bully him with more wheels and more space. Just be very careful. I'd recommend following the split cage method, which I'm attempting myself and documenting here.
Alternatively, if you didn't want to put him back in with the other three. You could always pair him up with one of the others, using the split cage method, and have two pairs of hamsters.
Or, if you don't want to risk it, Matrim will be okay by himself with plenty of attention.

I hope it works out with the other three and you don't get any more injuries.

LokiWolf · 11-21-2012, 09:51 AM

Okay. I had planned to give him loads of love and attention before he was separated, I'll just give him more now. His ear is already healing nicely, I'll see how his butt heals in the next few days.

I am keeping an eye on the other three as I am worried that the bully is a real one. I think Matrim was picked on because he was the runt or it could be he is getting sick or something and the "bully" doesn't know what to do. I'll be watching Matrim closely for any sign of sickness if that was the case and take him straight to the vet if that was the problem.

My mom wants to reintroduce or have pairs, but I have a feeling she thinks it'd be as easy as when the girls were introduced (which was easy as pie introducing them) and that is not be the case here. If reintroducing doesn't work out and he is still lonely, another option is getting a baby Robo to introduce to him (I've read that introducing a younger Robo is sometimes easier as it can bring out the older's natural instincts to care for the young). But right now is healing time, I'll time about all that other stuff after he has healed.

And I hope the other three can stay together too.