Roborovski's and cage size

[Gunt]

Hello I started with 2 roborovski hamsters.Now I've 7.Which I don't mind.
But I want to separate the males from the females.I read that a cage should be 80cm x 40 or 50cm. Not bigger,because they can get territorial.Where can I find info about the cage dimensions in connection with hamster numbers. For example,how big should a cage be for 5 roborovski's? Thank you.

[cypher]

Was this an accidental litter?
I'm guessing that's the case, so are you planning to separate the males & females into two separate cages & what about the parent hams if it is an accidental litter?

There is no "official" cage requirements & any info on cage sizes for pairs or groups is a bit patchy & controversial so I doubt you will find anything definitive or really helpful tbh.
80x50cm would be a good size to keep a pair, some people manage to keep three or maybe even four together but it's not easy & you would need one each of everything like bottles, wheels, houses etc which is quite a lot to fit in, you are right though, too much space or lots of toys can sometimes increase the risk of them fighting & needing to be separated.
Whatever precautions you take there is always the chance they will need to be split up anyway so you will need a total of 7 cages ready just in case!

[Gunt]

Cypher,I started out with 2.A male and a female.Four week ago there was an accidental litter of 3.Which was ok.But now we've got an other litter of 4 from the same parents.So they need to be separated.I bought 2 robo's because I read that they could live in a group.That is a shame.

[cypher]

That really is quite a handful!
I know they can be a bit difficult to sex as babies & pet shops do often get it wrong so accidental litters aren't that rare, but I do hope you can sort them all out & separate them before any more accidents happen.
Are you going to be able to manage with keeping them all or do you think you could find any other homes for some of them?

[Gunt]

I hope that I can keep in pairs.I red that females are not so territorial. Seven cages of 80cm x50cm is impossible. But I'm not going to bring them to a shop.I want them to be safe and have a good home.So I'll see what's going to happen in the future. Hopefully the get along in pairs.

[Pebbles82]

How old are the babies now. You will need a separate cage for the Dad I think. And the boy and girl babies need separating before a certain age or you'll end up with even more babies! They start mating from about 6 weeks I think. I'm not a breeding expert though, so one of the breeders will be the best to give advice really.

Sounds like you need to get an extra cage or three sorted quite quickly. Yes the recommended size for a pair is often quoted as 80cm by 50cm with 70 x 40 quoted for a single hammy.

You can stack some cages so they don't take up too much space. So you'd need three cages at least right now I reckon. One for the Mum and girl babies. One for the Dad and one for the boy babies. Then a fourth one for the girl babies depending on how old they are.

Dwarf hamsters can live in sibling groups - ie brothers can live together and so can sisters, but they would be best having their own cage by the time they are old enough to be sold on (I think that's about 8 weeks old - but wait for a breeder response!)

If you're handy at diy you could make some bin cages from Ikea Samla bins that cost about £10 each, but they need something like a hot knife to cut out panels and then the panels meshing.

These duna tanks are not too expensive and good for one hammy. This place does next day delivery and postage is only £2.95, which would be quicker than making a bin cage, and could work out cheaper if you need to buy tools and so on specially.

Cage Duna Multy

So one litter will be older than the other. My guess is - one cage for Dad, a cage each for the boys and girls of the first litter. Assuming the second litter is quite recent, they can stay with Mum for now.

Do you have any dates/ages? What you can't do I think is put the different age litters in together - the younger ones could get bullied and attacked.

Could you list it, for the sake of working out what's what ? Eg how many boys and girls from the first litter, and their ages, and how many boys and girls from the second litter and their ages.

[cypher]

Originally Posted by Gunt

I red that females are not so territorial.

I've never kept robos but with the other dwarf species I've found the exact opposite to be true which makes sense as naturally they would have more reason to be territorial in the wild.

I wasn't suggesting you sell them on to a shop, sorry if I gave that impression, I was wondering if you knew of anyone who knows about & enjoys hams who might be willing to take some on.
Or you could post something here in the rescue/adoption section of the forum.

[Pebbles82]

Apparently the males and females need to be separated by 28 days old. The Mum comes on heat again the day after a litter is born so she could well be pregnant again if Dad is still in there.

[kyrilliondaemon]

I wouldn't stress about getting 80x50cm cages for everyone, I know people who swear by cages as small as 60x40cm (or smaller) for pairs right through to some who swear by 80x50cm or even 100x50cm for pairs. I now start pairs in something fairly small (like a mini duna) and go from there unless I know they were kept in bigger before I got them, if they were kept in bigger before then I'll try to match that and if they seem like they'd be happy with larger than a mini duna I'll consider trying them in 70x40cm or similar after a few weeks. When I joined this forum 70x40cm seemed to be about the usual suggested cage size for a pair and starting with that or smaller has always gone well for me.

I've kept some groups over the years and I found 80x50cm worked really well for a group of four I had. They were also okay in 100x50cm but any larger and they stopped getting along very well at all. There's not really an exact science to it and a lot of people will have different opinions, but I'd try to not worry too much about other opinions and go for whatever works for you and your hamsters. I don't go in for having one of everything per hamster either, I try to give one wheel each and its good to have multiple houses (with more than one entrance/exit) but I'd be quite happy giving a pair one toilet roll tube or one log bridge to share.

Even if the worst happens and everyone ends up alone, you may find that you don't need huge cages for them all, even for single hamsters cage sizes are a subject where everyone has a different opinion but I've got a few robos in cages about 55x40cm and all three are totally happy in them. Best of luck with your robos, I hope you can find something that works for you and for them and that they do well in pairs/groups for you

[Gunt]

Kyrilliondaemon,so it's possible to keep them in a group? Even the males? If you're in luck that is.