question about my robos

[Estelle]

Hi there, I have 12 robo's. I've had some problems with them fighting. I have four females that were living in pairs but had to separate one pair when they started fighting and drew blood.

The other 8 males were in a pair and a 2 threes. Both the threes started fighting so had to take one out. I now have 3 pairs and 2 singles!

As the single males have never met I was wondering if I could put them together? They have both been attacked previously and would prefer them to live together rather than alone. Is this possible?

I now have 8 cages to clean out and I'm worried I'm going to end up with 12!

[babyboos]

You can try, and if it were me, I probably would. I like all my dwarf hamsters to have company of their own kind. Make sure they are both fully healed and have plenty of sand for baths. Swap the sand baths around daily so their scents get intermingled, and after a week see how they react on neutral territory. You may need to keep up the bath switching or even swapping them into each other's enclosures for another week or two, trying every few days to see how they react. I have always been very lucky with Roborovski and have never had a solo for long.

[Estelle]

Thanks, I will try that when his bottom has healed. Its a shame when they start fighting. I'm begining to think they prefer to live alone.

[babyboos]

I think it is about finding them the right room mate - the only solo hamsters I have are Syrian EVERY dwarf has a room mate or two. Using the biggest possible enclosures and giving multiples of all items (house, water bottle, food dish, etc.) helps too.

[Estelle]

I've been swapping the sand baths for a week. Put them both in the bath together. One of them sat looking terrified, the other one gave him a good sniff all round. About two minutes later i saw blood on the bath and the scared one had blood all round his nose. I separated them again.



Also i saw babies in one of the robo's cages earlier. I must have sexed one of them wrongly. I thought they were both males. I've got even more hamsters now! Goodness me

[souffle]

Robos can get a little out of hand particularly if you get the sexing wrong. Seems like you will have to separate and keep them separate. Try to get homes for these babies as you do not want even more cages. You'll probably need to stack cages and manage till your numbers start to fall then choose how many you want to keep and stick to that. If you choose say four and they all get on you'll have one cage but at the worst you may have four acges. We gave up Robos because of all the fighting and endless babies!

[babyboos]

I am letting my guys live out their lives and then wont be having any more Roborovski - it isn't their fault as such but too many people have stories like yours Estelle and it just isn't fair. They are awful for a novice to sex please don't feel bad you have had more babies, it has happened to me. Make sure they have protein rich diets it helps to reduce fighting I find, and good luck finding new homes for the young adults and babies. I hope it hasn't put you off Roborovbski too much.

[Estelle]

I still love them but finding the amount over whelming It is hard because I only wanted to have two and I have so many now. Friends think its funny when i tell them how many I have but i'm upset that they can get out of hand so quickly.

I feed them Harry hamster food at the moment, what do i give them for more protein?

[Emma]

Protein-rich extras like cooked ham, chicken, low fat cheese, egg, cooked beans if they'll eat them (none of mine will). Mealworms go down a treat too. Other ways to attempt to reduce fighting are having large cages with many hiding places, multiple wheels, water bottles & scattering feed or having multiple food bowls.

[Estelle]

Thanks, I will try some of those foods in the hope they will be nice to each other!