When will my Cambell's dwarf stop growing?

Babushka · 10-30-2014, 03:00 PM

Hi! I was wondering when a Cambell's Russian dwarf hamster will stop growing? 4-5 weeks ago I took home a male Cambell's dwarf and was told he was about 6 weeks old (though this was a pet shop so maybe not too accurate). Assuming that's right, he's 10-11 weeks old.

I've recently read about people weighing their hamsters each week to monitor health. I thought I'd start doing this, especially since Nikolay seems so small and thin, and when I weighed him he was only 15 grams! Much lower than the average weight ranges I've found for his species.

Does he still have lots more growing to do, or should I be worried?

He does seem thin not just small, if that makes sense. My partner also has a hamster, Boris, from the same litter (at least, they were together in the pet shop- we got them as a pair, but had to separate because of fighting). Boris seems like a much healthier weight and pudginess! I'll ask my partner to weigh him and see what the difference is.

cypher · 10-31-2014, 01:36 AM

I'm not entirely sure but i think they grow fairly quickly up to 3 or 4 months but can continue to grow up to 6 months. If I'm wrong hopefully someone will correct me!
15g is very small,some are naturally much smaller than others, I would keep a close eye on him to make sure he's eating ok & keep checking his weight.
What are you feeding him? You could give him a little chicken, cheese, kitten kibble & hemp seeds for a bit of a protein boost.

Babushka · 10-31-2014, 08:00 AM

Thanks very much for your advice, Cypher. I got some meal worms yesterday for a protein boost, and figured I'd try egg or something like you suggested to help if he doesn't touch those. I was scatter feeding last week and have switched to bowl again now so I can monitor how much he's eating more easily.

Think I'll take him to the vet next week to check everything's ok and monitor his weight closely in the meantime. I wouldn't say he's gone down in weight just that he's always been small, so hopefully he's just naturally on the smallside.

cypher · 10-31-2014, 08:36 AM

It's always worth a vet check if you're unsure about anything but I hope he's ok & just taking his time growing, my youngest is a fair bit bigger than yours but she had me worried for a while as she's really active & not very interested in food so she took a while to gain any weight, hopefully it's something similar with yours. Good luck with him.