Getting ready

[Jasmine2016]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

The Falco is a fantastic cage for hammies. It does need some thinking about setting up though. Do you mean having like a full level?

I thought about getting the 100cm one for our large Syrian and spent ages working out how I'd set it up lol. The 80cm one will be fine for a pair of Robos and it's good you have it! Did you have it for gerbils before? My only concern is the idea of a level, as usually it's recommended not to have levels or shelves with pairs as it can make them territorial and lead to fights, which can be fatal.

An alternative could be to fill the base with substrate to within an inch or so of the top of the glass part - and then treat the top part like a normal cage. Then they would have a cage with very deep substrate for tunneling. It would still be a bit of a drop (about 20cm to 25cm) from the top without shelves or levels so again setting up would need to be done carefully so they can't land on anything hard. But having it set up that way would also mean access would be easier through the large top door.

With all that deep substrate to land on it should be fine, so the main thing would be making sure they can't land on anything hard, so maybe light cardboard or grass houses and so on or plastic dishes for sand baths rather than ceramic ones. And they will each need their own house, wheel, food bowl and water bottle, so two of everything (again to avoid territorial behaviour and fighting).

It might even be easier to have them in separate cages and set up the Falco for one Robo with a full level.

I expect if you've had gerbils you'll be used to deep substrate and tunneling! Keeping a pair of Robos isn't quite the same as keeping gerbils in pairs though (sorry if you already know that). They can fall out and fights can be fatal, so setting it up so they can't get territorial is quite important.

So I reckon there are two options with it. Either treat it as a standard cage with very deep substrate and no levels, and have two of everything at floor level. Or put in a full level and use it for one Robo and keep the other Robo in a different cage.

Two of everything will take up extra floor space, but unless you have particularly big houses for them it should be absolutely fine.

Meshing the bars sounds like a good idea. I would have thought the bar spacing was ok as it is 8mm, which should be ok really, but meshing will be a good belt and braces solution, especially as there will be areas where the spacing is bigger than 8mm (round the door maybe and the edges).

Re substrates - you can mix them - you could still use the Carefresh and mix it in with Fitch or a few of your kiln-dried shavings. Some people mix 2 or 3 different substrates and it's supposed to help with holding tunnels.

If you went for the deep substrate, no levels option, you could use flat house roofs for food bowls maybe or scatter feed instead.

I am getting one robo and the plan is to have one big shelf (so it will fit in the top bit with no gap so no danger of falling off (unless (s)he falls through the gap for the ladder!)) and the rest of the space will give plenty of room so the wheel can sit on the shelf and I can hang things, the bottom part will contain plenty of digging material and tubes and stuff.

Originally Posted by cypher

Jasmine2016 robos generally love to dig & burrow so yours will have plenty of opportunity to do that in there!
I highly recommend fitch too but find it holds tunnels better mixed with hemp, you might want too many big bags of substrate lying around to begin with so if you just go for one I'd get fitch.

Serendipity I'm pretty sure she's decided to go for just one robo.

I've ordered the fitch, I'll see how that goes and maybe get some hemp, my place is small so I'll have to see how much space the fitch takes up first.

Originally Posted by CMB

Jasmine your cage sounds fine for a single robo. It can has deep substrate to dig and there is room for toys, hides, toilet etc. Robos can be nervous and hide a lot. Yours may like extra tubes in so it can go through them to and from different parts of the cage without being in the open all the time.

Thanks, good to know........ was having panic stations for a while!

[flowerfairy]

My robos both have wide barred cages. Fairy has the alaska and Flower the grosvenor large rat and hamster cage. They have been in them since they were babies with no escapes.

Your cage looks really good for a roborovski. Cant wait to see pics.

[Lala Noma]

When is your hammy coming home?

[Pebbles82]

Sorry I didn't realise you were just getting one Robo! I like the sound of the full level Where the gap for the level is you could have another narrow shelf over the top of that gap maybe. I got quite a nice one from Ranch house cages on ebay and I know they do a 43cm by 15cm shelf which would fit along the side of the cage top over the gap (assuming the gap is going to be at the side rather than front - otherwise a different kind of shelf would do.

It sounds like your little robo is going to be having a lovely set up And like flower fairy said the 8mm bar spacing is probably fine. I have some gaps down the side of my cage and I just pulled them together with some cable ties which might be easier than meshing - I think the bar spacing might be nearer 7mm than 8mm anyway - I think I asked someone once. Anyway, if you have the cage there you can measure the bar spacing

[Jasmine2016]

Not sure about 'when' yet exactly, everything should be ready by the end of this week, so it depends on if the shop has any robos, but if they do, could be next week...... otherwise whenever they have some more.

[Pebbles82]

Looking forward to seeing him in his lovely cage

[Jasmine2016]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

Sorry I didn't realise you were just getting one Robo! I like the sound of the full level Where the gap for the level is you could have another narrow shelf over the top of that gap maybe. I got quite a nice one from Ranch house cages on ebay and I know they do a 43cm by 15cm shelf which would fit along the side of the cage top over the gap (assuming the gap is going to be at the side rather than front - otherwise a different kind of shelf would do.

It sounds like your little robo is going to be having a lovely set up And like flower fairy said the 8mm bar spacing is probably fine. I have some gaps down the side of my cage and I just pulled them together with some cable ties which might be easier than meshing - I think the bar spacing might be nearer 7mm than 8mm anyway - I think I asked someone once. Anyway, if you have the cage there you can measure the bar spacing

Sorry, not sure what you mean by the narrow shelf?

My father has taken the cage top home with him to fit the meshing, he says it's an easy job (he is a handyman) so hope it really is!

[Pebbles82]

Sorry! I was suggesting a smaller shelf over the gap where the ladder goes