Mean Roborovski!!!

[SnuggleHam]

Well I knew there was something going on in the Roborovski tank. Pretty much since I bought them not long after they suddenly started sleeping in different places. One of them has taken over the huge igloo all to himself and kicked the other out. So I bought another home that the reject has been living in ... aww poor hammy reject!



Anyway I noticed the other day that the kicked out hamster seemed to be trying to move his way back into the igloo and there was little bit of tussling and jumping about but nothing that seemed very violent.



Well I walked into my room and saw my poor reject Roborovski sitting under the water bottle with a little scab on the end of his nose! I picked both hamsters up and checked them out. There is no other damage and the little wound on his nose does look like it’s scabbed up and looks to be healing normally so I’m not worried about that and the Roborovski seems perfectly fine.



So what am I to do with these two...? I don’t want to separate them and make them live alone Should I just leave them and see if they sort out who gets to sleep where? Or do you think I should get a tank divider and keep them together but separate?



Anyway here are some pictures I took..They are so cute!! And so photogenic, you can see a picture of reject Roborovski with the scab and the mean culprit here:





I gave them a bit of millet each after hearding them into their proper sleeping home and put more millet at the door to sort things out, and because I scruffed them, and they hate that

[Emma]

Are they pretty much living alone now, just happen to be in the same tank (if you see what I mean?)



It sounds like you actually had to physically seperate them to stop fighting? I might be reading your post wrong. Once they've decided to fight like that it's usually not good news I don't think, luckily I've not had to deal with this myself.

[SnuggleHam]

Yeah I worded the post a bit wrong I suppose, I didn’t separate them in the middle of fighting, I found one of them under the water bottle on his own. The other was sleeping. But I noticed the scab on his nose today and I think it might have happened the other night when he was trying to sneak into the igloo.



What I did was woke them both up to scruff them, to make sure the one with the scab didn’t have more damage, and to make sure the other was fine to. Then after I kind of lead them towards the proper sleeping areas just to make sure they both didn’t run in the igloo at the same time. The strange thing is that when they are both awake they seem fine; I've even caught them on the wheel at the same time. Sometimes the one seems intolerant of the other but they always seem to have respect of each others space while away from the nest.



They wont eat out of the food bowl at the same time either, But I’ve seen them side by side munching on millet. It’s strange. The larger one is the one with the scab. The other to me looks a tad smaller and that’s the bully here It seems strange they can live together while awake, but the one wont usually tolerate sharing the same sleeping space.



Both their "parts" look the same to me, I wonder if I’m dealing with a picky female and a reject male ha ha. I notice the larger one with the scab always seems to approach the other with caution, as if trying to sniff and get close, but then the other one chases him off



So it’s strange, it's like they live in separate homes, but they can still roam around the cage just fine. I've only ever seen them tussle a bit over the igloo.

[SnuggleHam]

Ok.. I finally decided to take pictures of their bottoms to see what people thought about what sex they are. When I first looked a while ago I wasn’t sure as they looked the same to me...



First I took out the larger one with the scab on his nose. At first to me I couldn’t really tell, but as I tried to get good shots and he ran around getting more excited I noticed he started to look more blushed down there, and in the picture below you can clearly see what looks like testicles. I’m not sure but I thought I read somewhere that you could identify dwarf males once they got excited, or over active, as this kind of thing might happen?



I took the smaller one out and I didn’t notice any of the blushed looking flesh so I think I know what's going on here... Looks like a male and a female.. The male is probably always bothering her, which would explain his careful and submissive nature. It might also explain why he looks fuller and larger in size then the other.



Strangely when I went to take the pictures both were in the igloo sleeping together... I wonder if because it's spring and he’s starting to check her out to see if she’s in the mood for mating yet?



Anyway look at the pictures and tell me what you think?

[babyboos]

Can you see scent glands in the middle of either or both tummies?

[SnuggleHam]

I’m pretty convinced that I’m dealing with a male and female here. When I was cleaning their tank out today I had them both in the plastic carrier and I noticed the larger one with the sore on is nose trying to sniff under the bum of the other.



I later scruffed them both again and the larger one clearly had a bit of a round shape to the end of his bum and its easy to see where his testicles are. He’s also has a small yellowish spot on his belly. I’m not sure how well you should see the scent glad but I believe this yellow patch of fur is where it is. On my gerbils they are larger and I can clearly see the scent glands when they stand up. Both Roborovskis are like an inch long though.



I scruffed the smaller one and there is no sign of what looks like testicles and I didn’t notice any gland either. I bought them both at the same time when they were both the same size so I’m assuming the same age, but now that I've had them a while I can really see a difference in their size.



Poop I guess I'll have to separate them if I don’t want inbreeding, they are most likely related. If I add a mesh partition will they still feel as though they are living in a colony despite the fact they can't physically interact?

[babyboos]

The scent gland will become more obvious with age - it will look similiar to the gerbil's although slightly smaller certainly and from the yellowing patch description it sounds like you probably do have at least one male.

[Coco1]

I'm not that knowledgeable regarding most dwarfs, I've only had one Campbell's Russian Dwarf in the past, but would the female not be larger than the male? I thought the male was the smaller of the sexes? I know it is in Syrians, is it not the same in other species too?

[SnuggleHam]

Well when I bought them they were all the same size and looked to all be the same age. And its the smaller one that is agressive towards the larger one.

[babyboos]

Roborovski Dwarf Hamsters are the smallest of the hamster species, measuring only about 2 inches (6 – 7 cm) in length when full grown, and vary in weight and size. Before sexual maturity, young female Roborovski might appear obese but quickly drop in mass after producing their first litter.