One of the amazing things about being the "pioneer" breeder in Ontario, is being able to see other hamsteries begin, flourish and expand. I've had the lucky opportunity to mentor many of these newer breeders - I love sharing the knowledge I've gained, learning from them, and most of all - sharing the amazing hamsters I have with them!
In the fall, a lovely lady who I will refer to as Kay, sent in an application to adopt a hamster for her adult daughter who was in university. I accepted her application, and all was well. In December, she emailed me asking for help - she was going to adopt a hamster from the Humane Society, and needed some tips on building a bin. She didn't have the tools or knowledge to make one at this time.
I'm all for rescues, and so I said "hey, why not swing by, and my partner Andrew and I can make you one!".
Thus was the start of a beautiful friendship. Kay then went on to rescue a hamster named Holly, from a house where she "didn't get along with their dog", "liberated" a hamster from a US pet shop named Lilo, and eventually would go on to adopt Lentil from my L17 litter.
However, her love was for roborovskis, specifically my boy Fishsticks. We became fast friends and I encouraged her to explore more.
That was how Mustachio Hamstery began.
Now, eight months later, several trips to the USA, and an import from California, the robos are beginning to start their robo army in Canada!
In North America, we only had Moxie Hamstery in California who was ethically breeding robos. We have been hard strapped to find good candidates for our breeding project, so as such have many unknowns. Kay was very lucky to be able to adopt the last two pups from Moxie's lines (she's retiring now) and one of her older males. A plane trip later, and they're now honorary citizens!
Kay has most of the robos, but I've been happy to host some here. I ended up falling in love with one of the girls, named Tilapia, or Tilly, and when my first pair wasn't working out, Kay brought Mackerel (Mack) over. Mack was from Moxie's Lines, and had such scrumptious type. He carried pied and husky.
Unfortunately, a few weeks ago Mack passed away suddenly in his nest. It was heartbreaking finding him, especially as he was not my hamster but Kay's. She's mourning his passing, however there is a glimmer of light - before he passed, he did manage to successfully breed with Tilly.
Tilly had a fairly large litter on Saturday, and has been quite the doting mom since. Tilly carries husky too, and has quite nice size and very stark white agouti markings. She really likes me (and is not so fond of Kay) so she will likely stay here at SBH.
I can't wait to see these little ones once they're mobile, and will happily update the forum with photos of cute robos! I haven't had a robo litter (and I may never have another, we'll see) so I'm really excited to see them mature. They're already very different from my Syrian litters - loud, opinionated, and TINY! Tilly has moved her nest a few times... unfortunately I was too loud with the supplements. But, she seems to have settled now, so fingers crossed.
TLDR; Robo babies! Hahaha.