Blind Robo?

[LokiWolf]

How do I tell if a hamster, a Roborovski hamster at that, is blind?

I have a feeling Charlotte might be blind, or at least can't see as well as Scarlett. I've had this feeling for awhile and was told on another forum when I first got her that any form of white Robos coming from pet shops often go blind. Charlotte is a head spot Robo, all white with just a tiny grey spot on her head. Is this true?

Now I haven't performed any type of sight test on her, I know how to perform one on cats just not hamsters. I have witness her on many occasions having trouble finding things like the water bottle or just walking around looking lost. She likes to take some treats by hand and I was just holding a yogurt drop, one of their favorite treats, in front of her and she didn't seem to notice it until I brushed her whiskers.

Is this signs of blindness? Or is she having trouble smelling and the Robo's poor eyesight doesn't help? Or could it be worse, both?

[Erin Loves Dwarf Hamsters]

I've never heard anything about white robos being any more prone to blindness than any other robos, I know plenty of people on HC have white and headspot robos that have perfectly good sight (for a hamster) so I do wonder where the folk on that forum are getting their information...

Hamsters are fairly short sighted anyway and some will go blind from any number of causes be it age, illness or genetics but as long as she isn't running into things or getting hurt then it shouldn't matter too much whether or not she is blind. I have a nearly 2 year old robo who I am pretty sure is 90% blind, she won't react to any sudden movements or being close to her but if you touch her or get in front of her nose she becomes very aware of you, she hasn't always been like this so I have assumed she has lost most of her sight. The only way you can really test it is to just watch her behaviour, it's hard to test if they are blind or not as if you put your hand near them they may smell or hear you which will cause them to react.

Like I say though so long as she is eating, drinking and behaving fairly normally there is no reason why blindness will be a problem for her. You will just need to make sure her cage layout doesn't change and she only has a single level cage for safety, probably the best person to talk to about blind robo care is kyrilliondaemon as she has a blind robo named Skip who lives a perfectly happy and normal life

[LokiWolf]

Thanks.

I have no idea where those people got their info from, but I now know most of what they said weren't true since coming to HC. And yes, they live in a single level 29 gallon tank, so all is well on that end. I don't change the layout that much so I can fit everything in. Charlotte likes to climb though and is always climbing on top of their houses and log, I think she enjoys falling and jumping off. She is eating and drinking fine, she loves to stuff her pouches and shove the larger Scarlett out of the way of something tasty.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Yeah our Skip is blind but he lives a normal life

We realised because of changes in behaviour really. He started being really uncomfortable in a playpen when he used to adore them, stopped noticing movements or things we were putting nearby/holding out for him e.t.c. Just doesn't notice anything until it actually touches him. We got suspicious he was losing his sight a few months ago and now we're as sure as we can be that he's completely blind and has been for a while.

He's still really happy though, and is so confident of his cage layout that we've let him keep his Alexander shelves. He knows them perfectly and if anything falls off less now than before he lost his sight lol. He even moved his bed to his rat hammock a while ago, so yeah, in the cage you'd really not know there was anything wrong.

He's a great little lad and I'm really proud of him. By now he's blind, mostly deaf, mostly bald, has a big cyst and is really old... And he doesn't care He's still probably the happiest ham we own and as far as he's concerned he's completely normal

[Flamestriker]

Originally Posted by kyrilliondaemon

Yeah our Skip is blind but he lives a normal life

We realised because of changes in behaviour really. He started being really uncomfortable in a playpen when he used to adore them, stopped noticing movements or things we were putting nearby/holding out for him e.t.c. Just doesn't notice anything until it actually touches him. We got suspicious he was losing his sight a few months ago and now we're as sure as we can be that he's completely blind and has been for a while.

He's still really happy though, and is so confident of his cage layout that we've let him keep his Alexander shelves. He knows them perfectly and if anything falls off less now than before he lost his sight lol. He even moved his bed to his rat hammock a while ago, so yeah, in the cage you'd really not know there was anything wrong.

He's a great little lad and I'm really proud of him. By now he's blind, mostly deaf, mostly bald, has a big cyst and is really old... And he doesn't care He's still probably the happiest ham we own and as far as he's concerned he's completely normal

Awww lovely lil Skip! Gentle hugs to the lil old man.

[HorseyMandz]

Bless you little Skip!