My Experience Of Reintroducing

[lucyeleanor]

Hello!

As some of you might know, two weeks ago I rehomed a pair of 4 month old roborovski brothers, Nutmeg and Pumpkin. They were living in a 3 level fantazia cage, which was causing quite a few territorial issues by itself. Disaster struck on their first night, probably due to the stress of moving, and in the morning I found Nutmeg with some bad injuries to his bum. They were separated immediately and I have given them plenty of time to cool off and heal. Saturday, I started the process of reintroduction, as suggested here. I just wanted to keep you updated with the process, as I may need a little guidance at times, and this might even be useful for other people thinking of reintroducing their own fluffballs!

Day 1 (Saturday)
I thoroughly disinfected and soaked a bincage and all of their toys, wheels, bowls, water bottles, etc. Any toilet tubes which I added were fresh. This was to stop any territorial issues due to left over scent marking.

I tied together several barred sides of the fantazia cage to create a barrier. This had to be as tall as the bincage, so that the hamsters could not climb up and over, and as wide as the bincage, so that the hamsters could not squeeze past the sides. I secured this to the base with several strips of sellotape across the bottom, which would be safely buried under substrate, and several strips of sellotape between the bars to the sides, high enough to be chew proof. I continued this until the bars would no longer move side-to-side, to make sure the hamsters could not push their way out. I had to make sure that the lid would close securely over the bincage, resting snugly on the top of the bars so there was no wiggle room over the top.

I then set each side up with substrate, a bed with bedding, a water bottle, a food bowl, a chew bar, a wood chew, a wheel, toilet tubes, and some toys. I placed these items relatively close to or up to the bars, giving the hamsters no choice but to get used to each other.

I then placed one hamster on each side. They mostly ignored each other for the night, only coming towards the bars one at a time, avoiding each other.

Day 2 (Sunday)
This was the first night of the stage of continually swapping the hamsters side to side. This is done to prevent territorial behavior and eventually the hamsters begin to recognize the other's scent as their own, making the full reintroduction a much smoother progress.

I took both hamsters out at the same time and swapped them over. Pumpkin seemed to care less, acting as if nothing had changed. Nutmeg went crazy. He raced around the cage, leaped up the bars, tried to squeeze through the sides, digged for glory to try and get under the bottom, began bar chewing, and generally seemed very unsettled. Soon, the two began to squabble through the bars, lying sideways and fighting along the bottom of the cage. This continued throughout the night, taking breaks for runs/food/water, however they eventually settled down and went to bed in the morning. There are a few nibbled paws, but nothing more serious.

Day 3 (Monday)
As I was getting ready to leave in the morning, the two boys both came out of bed to see what was going on. Instead of continuing to fight, the two sat next to each other, watching each other calmly and grooming themselves. They continued this for a good 30 minutes, and probably for a while after I had left.

I am seeing this as good progress! I will keep updating the process every day to let you all know how it goes!

Nutmeg


Pumpkin

[Pompompoms]

Good to see, hopefully there will be a peaceful reintroduction. I have had boys that will practically live next to the fence in harmony the whole time only to fight as soon as they are allowed the barrier up, so be wary when the time comes!

Fingers crossed for good news for your lovely two little ones

[kyrilliondaemon]

Good luck with them, like Pompompoms we've seen great signs through a barrier and then watched open warfare start as soon as the hams got near each other, but you never know what you'll see until you reach that stage.
I hope it works out well for your two (In the end our failed robo reintroduction was for the best anyway - one of the two had been pretending to be female when he wasn't lol)

[lucyeleanor]

Thank you both for your insight It is definitely something I will be monitoring very closely when the time comes. It isn't an issue if they want to live separately, that's just how it goes sometimes

Day 3 (Monday Continued)
I let them play in their current sides for the first half of the evening with no issues, seeming quite comfortable to be in each others presence. I later swapped them over, with a little digging, bar chewing and racing around from Nutmeg, but nowhere near as much as their first swap. Pumpkin again didn't seem to mind. There was some battle through the bars for a while, but again nowhere near as bad as the first swap, and after a short while it stopped and they resumed being happy to be around each other.

[lucyeleanor]

Day 4 (Tuesday)
Third swap tonight! Again, Pumpkin was unfazed. Nutmeg continued to dig, bar chew, run around anxiously. There was a little bar battling, but there were also several moments of simply smelling each other, no attacking or biting.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Sounds like its going quite well so far then

[lucyeleanor]

Day 5 (Wednesday)
I won't be swapping them over again until this evening, but I just wanted to update you on how they are doing. Today, both boys are up, and have taken to following each other along the bars. However, instead of fighting, they are just smelling each other and touching. They have both taken to trying to dig and chew their way to the other side, at the same spot, something which would have previously caused warfare to break out!

Here is a quick (bad) snap of their setup


A (very bad) snap of how well they are doing with each other - showing Nutmeg doing his classic biting-dig


Pumpkin having a little treat


Nutmeg having a treat too

[lucyeleanor]

Day 5 (Wednesday Continued)
The evening swap went very well, with no fighting! They continued to follow each other along the bars happily & were still trying to dig and chew their way through to each other.

Day 6 (Thursday)
I caught the two boys cuddling through the bars in the morning! Every time they were both out in the cage during the day, they would be sat next to each other. The swap was very smooth, with no fighting or distress whatsoever!

[Flamestriker]

Fingers crossed this continues to go well. I love robos and I can't get enough pics of them. Just too cute

[amie]

What patience and care you have. Best wishes for a successful reintroduction.