New to hamster care. House advice for a robo.

[racinghamster]

Serendipity wrote:
Maybe yours was not quite right RH.

I think that was the case S. I never managed to fully close the door on this cage and as you described above, clipping the door over the 1st bar meant having the slight gaps either side. But when I tried closing it over the 2nd bar, that`s when I found it to be very tight and never bothered much as I had a Syrian in it and not a robo!

[jack5125]

Hi all, I'm back.

I've set up and moved food over to new home in mickey 2xL, it's a lot bigger than in the flesh so to speak lol.

He seems have taken to it really well and seems to love it. He has a few hide holes and I bought some recommended stuff in this thread. The platform and cord tunnel he loves. I added a long bendy bridge as a ramp to platform. On the platform are is his wheel, food bowl and water bottle.
I have also added a little sand bowl thing. Should I keep this in all the time and change sand anytime he uses it as toilet? Also would it be worth it to pee train him with a corner pee place??

I'll attach links to images.
Hope it's set up OK.

https://ibb.co/fMYUdS
https://ibb.co/cHDHXn
https://ibb.co/jdPfk7

[jack5125]

Also my hamster seems to have brought food from food bowl into his sand bowl is this normal and should I remove any that are there?

Also I'm not sure what's the best diet for him as I have read dwarf hamster are different from syrian ones. I use the one we got first with him it is sealed in a jar with air tight lid. It's the Harry hamster tasty mix but, I seem that there is a burgess mix or sometho g that is ideal for them. Not sure if it was only other dwarf hamsters and not robo ones.

He loves those black seeds in the mix, anywhere I can get them. Also I do t know what weight he should be either he is about 15 weeks.

Thanks.

[cypher]

That looks nice, glad he's enjoying his new palace
If you have enough substrate I would completely fill the base of the cage, they really love to dig & make burrows & you have plenty of space for that now.
Leave the sand in all the time, if he pees in it you can just scoop out any damp clumps, you don't really need to change the sand that often.
Let him put his food wherever he likes, just let him get on with it basically, it will be fine in there, my Russian tends to like to eat in his sand bath.
Harry Hamster isn't ideal for dwarf hamsters, there are a couple of dwarf specific mixes available . that are good, the Burgess dwarf hamster harvest & another from zooplus, Bunny Dwarf HamsterDream Expert, the Burgess one does lack variety & they can get a bit bored with it so the Bunny one is probably better.
I'm not sure about robo weight tbh, someone else may have an idea what he should be.

[Pebbles82]

It's looking really good! I think that shelf looks great in there. I agree with Cypher - just let them leave food wherever Our Robo also leaves food in his sand bath - I think he must sit in the sand bath to eat it or something.

I also agree about adding more substrate. It's actually quite important to have it as deep as possible as Robos are so small and a fall from the roof could cause a lot of injury. I would also move the wood bendy bridge under the shelf and put a different toy there (eg a toilet roll) - the bendy bridges can be quite hard if landed on. Otherwise it all looks great! It might seem expensive or extravagant to fill the cage base to the top at first but you will find you don't need to change the substrate for a long time with it being that deep. Your robo will probably dig some tunnels if it's deeper and make the odd little mountain here and there with it, but mainly it will cushion any falls if he decided to monkey bar across the roof.

Toilet - have given up trying to litter train our robo - they might use the sand bath as a toilet, otherwise I have no idea where ours pees! But I do know it doesn't smell so he clearly keeps his toilet area covered up and clean. Also I think they pee such tiny amounts that most of it probably just evaporates

Leave the sand as long as possible he has probably just got it all nice and how he likes it

Harry Hamster -it's better for syrians really as the pieces are quite large, but it is sugar free which is good. The dwarf specific one in the Uk is the Burgess Dwarf Supahamster, which is also sugar free and quite good.

I think pets at home sell it or you can get it online - a bag should last ages.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Supahamster...rf+supahamster

The little black seeds are either - sunflower seeds - or your hammy's poops he has carefully put in his food bowl lol. They sometimes do that so they can eat them for extra vitamins (they have two stomachs and can redigest nutrients from their poops which don't smell at all and aren't dirty really so they can be left).

[hellobg]

Hello jack5125!

What cypher and Serendipity7000 suggested might be the best for your hamster.
This cage I found seems like a good one as well
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mouse-Hamst...ter+cage&psc=1

It isn't too high nor too small I think.

EDIT: It seems I was too late to answer, hopefully your Roborovski is happy in his new home! My apologies for posting such a late answer @.@

[Pebbles82]

There are so many great cages in Germany!

[hellobg]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

There are so many great cages in Germany!

Agreed! I can't believe the minimum is always 100 cm x 50 cm in Germany and Switzerland (Switzerland a bit more as they demand a bit more.).