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Old 08-04-2022, 01:06 PM  
Pebbles82
Hamster Antics
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 23,533
Default Re: Two questions: cleaning & feed

With robos I leave it as long as possible and then do a half cage clean - eg either the left half or the right half . So one half of the cage is always familiar with their scent. Our robo used to skedaddle over to the other half and had two nests one in each half. In two or three weeks I would then do the other half and our robo would skedaddle back to his other next in his house.

With syrians and plenty of substrate, as you say, it's easier. I just spot clean now and then and empty the litter tray. But with robos you're never quite sure where they've pee'd - so the "half cage" clean works well for me,

Even then I don't replace all the substrate in the half I'm cleaning - I just spot clean out anything that seems whiffy lower down and try and keep his nest and any hoard in tact although might reduce the size of the hoard if it's very large.

I've found our robos have lovely clean dry nests and and don't seem to pee in them at all.

Both mine have had a labyrinth house at one end of the cage, and they use it. But our first one had a kind of second burrow near the wheel under a cork piece I used as a step up to the wheel - which was very handy! So he could just decamp to his other nest and then venture back to the house when he'd got used to the change after the clean.

Our current robo only has the one nest but I got him out of the cage when I did the side with the house, so he just went straight back to his house afterwards.

Food - I don't know of dwarf specific mixes in the US - I'm not sure there are any, and you'd be best using a good quality hamster muesli probably and supplementing the protein. There's a Higgins one I believe - I think it's Vita Garden. Failing that, you can get Harry or Hazel Hamster in the US and that contains all nutrients and protein needed, and contains whole peanuts in their shells and sunflower seeds (ie some healthy treats). The rest is more like little biscuits. The pieces are a bit big for robos but they eat them anyway.
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