Spinning Robo!

[heidii]

Hi, hope this can be of some help, as I don't post here as often anymore.

Without a veterinary practitioner seeing him, there's not a guaranteed way of knowing what it could be. A lot of people had told me it was an ear infection, but my hamster had no head tilt or other behaviours that would insinuate that. I would say my best advice would be a vet. An ear infection needs to be treated, but it may not be the cause for this.

I had a Robovroski hamster not too long ago. He also demonstrated a spinning behaviour, had no head tilt, was otherwise in fine health. I may have some videos of him spinning that I can attach if anyone needs to see it for reference. Due to him displaying this behaviour, I did a bit of research so may know a tad bit about why your hamster may be doing this.

As far as I am aware, there isn't a MASSIVE amount of research as to why it is so common in Robovroski hamsters. It is considered a genetic neurological disorder that affects balance. From what I have found, this is especially common in white face and standard agouti Robovroski's, though any Robovroski (and further, any species of hamster) can be affected by this. This is typically caused by a really small genetic pool, meaning these hamsters, like most pet store hamsters, are unfortunately inbred.

It may be exasperated by things like excitement and stress. You may have found any enclosure changes, meal time, or artificial lights cause the spinning to worsen. This would indicate it is not an inner ear infection, but again, get it checked with a vet. This being said, my Robovroski could not handle coming out of his enclosure, so he was strictly bound to his DETOLF. I also found that larger spaces (for mine, it seemed like it didn't matter how crowded the enclosure was, but please try and crowd your enclosure as this does typically help) worsened his spinning.

Unfortunately, I did notice at one point his spinning was worsening. He was a rescue, but estimated at about 18-20 months. He unfortunately died not too long after.

It is important to note, this disorder differs in severity. Where a hamster may occasionally spin when excited or stressed, another suffering from the same disorder may not eat or drink as a result. These hamsters are unfortunately advised to be put down due to the poor quality of life. And I'm not sure if this has to be said, but please do not breed this hamster. It is a genetic condition, meaning any litters may also suffer from it.

Hope this could be of some help to you. Please let me know if I could answer anything else. This is just from my experience with my Robovroski and the research I put into his disorder.