A bit of advice needed

Heather · 02-19-2015, 02:09 AM

I recently bought 4 roborovski hamsters and I feel a little bit out of my depth as it's the first time I've housed multiple hamsters. I did lots of research and I think I've set up the cage correctly (avoiding multiple levels, houses with multiple entrances, multiple wheels etc). I just have a few questions:

1) The cage is a zoozone 2, it's about 100 x 50 x 40cm, is this large enough for them or would it be better to split and have just two in this? I have a few large bin cages spare anyway because I was worried if they all started fighting I would need to split them. But they haven't been fighting, I'm just concerned if the space is actually large enough for 4. If I should split them, how do I decide which ones to split?

2) One of the hamsters seems to have a hunched back, he also seems to be a bit of a loner. The other three sleep together and run on the wheels together. He's not being bullied by them, if anything they seem a little scared of him. I've never seen him act aggressively to the others, they just seem to avoid him

. He is all white with a grey spot on his head (he looks very different to the others)- from research I get that this is less usual? It's made me worried that he has poor genetics and may have health issues. Do you think I should take him to the vets for a check?

Sorry it's a bit long and babbly! Any advice would be really appreciated.

cypher · 02-19-2015, 02:41 AM

I'm no expert on keeping multiples so hopefully someone with more experience will be along to help but a hunched back is never a good sign with any ham he may possibly need a vet check, is he eating, drinking & everything else ok? The colouring is more unusual but I don't think it's any indication of potential problems, if he is sick it's much more likely the others will bully him so you will need to keep a very careful eye on that.
It's not a good idea to keep three together so if you do have to remove him & house him separately you'd need to do the same with one of the others, how you choose if they all seem fine I really don't know, sorry!
I'm not sure about the cage size either, it's plenty big enough for a pair but I'm not sure how you figure that out for more than two, not much help there either!

Heather · 02-19-2015, 02:48 AM

I'm a bit annoyed at myself for buying 4 when I'm new to it, I had my cage all set up for two but when we went to the shop they had new babies in and they were so adorable we left with 4.

He seems to eat quite a bit, whenever I put food in he's always the first out. He seems to be up during the day more than the others. I've just been reading online and someone mentioned squinty eyes being a bad sign. I hadn't really thought about this, but when he's up in the day he does squint a bit - I thought he was just sleepy. I can't really comment on whether he is drinking normally because I've not had him very long, he seems to drink a similar amount to my syrian though with I guess is a lot because he's much smaller.

Heather · 02-19-2015, 03:03 AM

I also wondered, if I take him to the vets should I take the others too? If he has some kind of infection I mean? Or is it more likely to be something non-infectious?

racinghamster · 02-19-2015, 03:13 AM

Hi Heather. If this little one is eating and drinking and the others are not bullying him (or him bullying them!) I wouldn`t worry too much. If he was so ill, he would look unwell, possibly sit in a corner and actually look out of sorts, so unless you see that, a vet will just put him on an antibiotic called Baytril and it would be difficult to administer orally unless you caught him every day and used a dropper or a syringe to get the dosage into his mouth. Most vets just to this as a precaution that something may be wrong, but I wouldn`t rush into it personally.

As for your cage, it`s HUGE!

So no worries on that. They will be fine. Just the usual though with keeping small groups, they will need closely watching for any signs of aggression, bum biting (this can be a sign that the one being chased is being driven out of the group) and blood can be seen where the biting has taken place. With robos, it`s nearly always on the rear end.

You done everything right by not adding shelves or not having enough wheels etc... scatter feed too as this will encourage foraging. Never (if possible) do full cage cleans as this will remove the scent from the bedding/shavings etc. Hamsters like their own smell, so spot clean around them, let them play while you do this and they will get in the way! But it`s all fun. Always keep them together, even for a vet visit, yes. Removing one alone could well cause the others to smell strange scent from him if he`s taken out for a vet trip, so yes, keep them all together.

How are they today? x

RubyDG · 02-19-2015, 03:14 AM

I would suggest seriously considering investing in a Detolf. I think it would definitely be big enough for 4 and should they fall out you can split it and end up with three separate cages including the Zoozone you already have.

cypher · 02-19-2015, 03:29 AM

Four is quite a lot to take onboard as a first group so you might just be over worrying & over thinking things a bit! You are doing all the right things so just carry on, keep an eye out for problems as you are & see how they go, if the different one is eating fine he's probably ok.

Heather · 02-19-2015, 03:34 AM

Hi, he's definitely not just sitting. He darts around the cage and uses the wheels. I watched last night, the other three were running together and he came over and started to run with them and they all just left. It made me a little sad, he didn't seem too bothered he just happily ran on, but it seems odd that they don't seem to really acknowledge him.

That's good to know. I do tend to rush the vets over everything because I panic, with my dog it's fine because he's not stressed by the visits and it puts my mind at rest, but I really don't want to put my hamsters through stress just because I get so paranoid about EVERYTHING. But I also really don't want to not take them and then find out later it wasn't just my paranoia!

That's interesting about the cleaning, its actually due a clean today it seems to smell much quicker than my other cages - I guess having 4 in one cage that would make sense haha.

No one is up yet, I expect the little white one will come out soon though I keep looking out for him...it probably isn't a good idea to have hamsters in my office, it's far too easy to procrastinate!

Heather · 02-19-2015, 03:43 AM

I would love a detolf, I actually found one for £15 close to where I live but I have no where it could go

. I don't really like bin cages but I thought they made most sense as stand by cages because they are cheap and stackable.

I hope I am over worrying! I think because I've never owned a roborovski before and to suddenly have 4 I have no idea what is really normal for them.

cypher · 02-19-2015, 04:12 AM

Hamsters in your office lol! that sounds like a surefire way of getting no work done!

He does sound as though he's doing fine, I know it's easy to panic a bit with everything being so new & not really being sure what's normal for them but trust your instincts, I'm sure you'll know if anything is really wrong & don't worry too much if you have to go at some point, mine have never really seemed to get that stressed by a vet trip & my vet has always considered just about every option before handing out antibiotics which I can imagine would be very difficult to give to a robo if they were ever needed!

With 4 in a cage it probably will smell a bit, have you figured out where they pee yet? If they pee in the wheel as they do have a tendency to do just give it a wipe down with a damp paper towel when needed & don't disinfect or wash them too often.