Register FAQ Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Navigation
Front Page
Forum
Gallery
Wiki

Ads by Google


Go Back   Hamster Central > Hamster Species > Hybrid hamsters

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 12-28-2016, 05:55 AM   #1
alpacassei
PM Fluffy for custom title
 
alpacassei's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Cornwall, UK
Posts: 1,109
Default Francisco is now twice the size of Stephano

So Franny is becoming a giant hamster. Stephano is roughly the size of the WW I had when I was younger but Francisco is double his size. I bought them together so I've assumed they're siblings(?) and they both eat the same amount (and Franny's not stealing Stephy's food) so I don't understand how Fransisco is so much bigger. They were almost the same size as eachother when I got them.


They're currently in a mini duna but don't worry, I'm ordering a bigger cage next week.
alpacassei is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-28-2016, 06:47 AM   #2
cypher
Dwarf whisperer
 
cypher's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Wales UK
Posts: 24,789
Default Re: Francisco is now twice the size of Stephano

That is a huge difference, siblings can be quite different but that does look as though Francisco may be hogging the food, how do you know they both eat the same amount, it's hard to tell with hams as they usually take food away to eat & stash.
Is Stephano more active than Francisco? Again it can be hard to tell I know as they tend to be most active when we sleep.
Keep a close eye on them if you upgrade the cage, the stress of the move or the extra space could be enough to cause them to fall out.
__________________
Slave to Zak.
Always loved, never forgotten, forever in my heart
T'ycor, Ziggy, Zephyr, Flynt, Mickle, Little Whisp, Zen, Zeki, Tinwë, Zylvan, Míriel, Calyanwë, Gusto & Meri
❤️
cypher is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-28-2016, 07:01 AM   #3
souffle
Moderator
 
souffle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Yorkshire, UK but my heart lies in Scotland!
Posts: 28,184
Default Re: Francisco is now twice the size of Stephano

I'd also be concerned about the size difference. The larger one may well be hogging and resource guarding all the food. Make sure you feed loads and scatter it around. Make piles wide apart so he can't possibly guard it all at once. Mental stress from this can also make a hammy lose weight or fail to gain weight even when feeding enough so I'd watch these two very closely. Check them daily all over for bite wounds especially underneath.
souffle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-28-2016, 08:03 AM   #4
alpacassei
PM Fluffy for custom title
 
alpacassei's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Cornwall, UK
Posts: 1,109
Default Re: Francisco is now twice the size of Stephano

I scatter feed all over their platform (which is 20 x 30cm approx) and put a pile of food in one area since Stephano is blind I worry its harder for him to find food but he seems good at finding it tbh. They usually sit and eat the food as they find it. Stephano has a small food store but Francisco usually just keeps his food in his pouches. They don't fight and I haven't noticed any injuries on either of them. I've tried giving Stephy extra mealworms to see if that helped him gain weight but it hasn't made a difference.

Stephy is much more active, Franny hardly ever uses the wheel unlike Stephano but he really likes his new hamster ball so he's becoming more active. He spends a lot of time eating though. Francisco has thick woolly type fur and Stephano has thinner Satin fur so I think that makes him appear smaller but Francisco is definitely longer as well as wider.

I'll try weighing them when they wake up later and let you know their exact weights.

Their new cage is a larger duna so it should be easy for them to adjust and I'm going to use some of their old bedding and put their toys in the same place at first too so hopefully they'll be fine.
alpacassei is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-28-2016, 08:05 AM   #5
alpacassei
PM Fluffy for custom title
 
alpacassei's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Cornwall, UK
Posts: 1,109
Default Re: Francisco is now twice the size of Stephano

they've only argued over food once when I gave them each a small piece of carrot and Stephano ate his first and tried to steal Franny's.
alpacassei is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-28-2016, 01:12 PM   #6
alpacassei
PM Fluffy for custom title
 
alpacassei's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Cornwall, UK
Posts: 1,109
Default Re: Francisco is now twice the size of Stephano

Just weighed them. Stephano is 42g and Francisco is 59g so he's 17g bigger than Stephy. Some sources said that 42g is just over the minimum weight and some said it was just under so I'm not sure. What do you guys think?
alpacassei is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-28-2016, 11:36 PM   #7
cypher
Dwarf whisperer
 
cypher's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Wales UK
Posts: 24,789
Default Re: Francisco is now twice the size of Stephano

Hybrid weights vary quite a lot, they are both in a healthy range at the moment, not over or under although Francisco is quite big & probably shouldn't gain much more weight now but I would still keep a very close eye on them & try to weigh them regularly to be sure Stephano continues to thrive & Francisco doesn't get overweight.
__________________
Slave to Zak.
Always loved, never forgotten, forever in my heart
T'ycor, Ziggy, Zephyr, Flynt, Mickle, Little Whisp, Zen, Zeki, Tinwë, Zylvan, Míriel, Calyanwë, Gusto & Meri
❤️
cypher is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-29-2016, 05:37 AM   #8
Thin Lizzy
Hamster Warrior
 
Thin Lizzy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Lanarkshire, Scotland
Posts: 15,575
Default Re: Francisco is now twice the size of Stephano

WOW! That's quite a difference between the 2. It does sound like Francisco is hogging the food. I'd be sure to keep a close eye as this can be a sign of bullying, should this increase you may have to separate them.
__________________
Mom To Gorgeous Noah
Over The Rainbow Bridge - Master Harvey 2 years & 5 months, Twinkle 'The Diva' 1 year & 8 months, Archie 2 years & 3 months & Xena 2 years & 9 months. Forever loved by T-Liz.
Thin Lizzy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-29-2016, 09:47 AM   #9
alpacassei
PM Fluffy for custom title
 
alpacassei's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Cornwall, UK
Posts: 1,109
Default Re: Francisco is now twice the size of Stephano

I've been keeping an eye on them and they haven't been bullying each other or stealing each other's food. They're actually really close and eat, sleep and use their wheel together. I was wondering if they were from different litters that were just put together in the pet shop since the size difference is so big and stephano is an albino satin coat and francisco is black eyed argente normal coat?
alpacassei is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
size, bigger, francisco, stephano, understand, fransisco, eachother, ordering, cage, week, worry, duna, mini, food, stealing, bought, giant, double, hamster, roughly, younger, assumed, amount, frannys, eat

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Optimisation provided by DragonByte SEO v2.0.43 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Copyright © 2003-2022, Hobby Solutions
All times are GMT -7. The time now is 03:41 AM.