New Robo owner with lots of questions :D

[Sam_Spice]

Hi, I'm Sam and I've finally gone and got a hamster This is after my group of 4 rescue buns, 4 rescue guinea pigs and my chipmunk

I have a few questions on housing, bedding and food, and sorry if I sound daft as I have read through most of the forum but still don't know the best answers I also may have the rabbits/pigs experience in mind when asking about housing and chipmunk in mind when asking about feeding so do correct me if I am wrong because I know different animals need different things so please say

1) Are many people housing their hamsters in anything other than plastic/barred cages or bins? Both seem not 100% as they can be very small (unless many linked together) or offer surely not enough ventilation, or just might seem claustrophobic if enclosed in for long periods. Does anyone have any other ideas, I will post my current housing (only make-shift for tonight possibly) in the morning when it's light. Working nights means me and Amber (my robo!) share the same sleeping pattern

2) Do hamsters like to dig and bury, say as my chipmunk does ? What would be the best material for this and how deep? (Chipmunk has a 60l plastic storage container in his aviary full of soil)

3) Are shavings really suitable for hamsters? As I would never use them for my other animals due to dust and small particles (even found in dust-extracted shavings) and being a smaller animal it seems even more important? I personally use megazorb and the rabbits, pigs and chipmunk are all litter trained too so only have bedding in their litter trays. Would litter training a hamster and keeping a bare floor be suitable/possible? (Obviously she has nesting material, just as my chipmunk does I am noticing alot of similarities between these two pets lol).

4) Can hamsters drink from water dishes as well as bottles? I find most of my animals prefer bowls (except for the guinea pigs randomly who seem to prefer to dehydrate than drink from a bowl ).

5) How big should a robo have (obviously as big as possible but you know what I mean ) as all hamster cages seem to small even for my robo never mind a 'big' hamster

6) My chipmunk has a very similar diet to a hamster by the looks of it so I have most nuts and seeds, mealworms etc, to hand as well as the basic mix in the form of chipmunk mixes, could any of these foods be used for both animals or am I best buying a hamster mix as well just to be sure, and which one is the best if I do? (Harry hamster is what I'm guessing from reading through the forum?)

I thought I'd make a big welcome with all my questions save messing up the boards Also hope to be a very active member of the forum and contribute what I can (even though it probably won't be much hamster experience at first )

Thanks everyone xxxx

[Tammy22]

Hiya Sam Welcome to the forum

Dont worry about sounding daft - you definately dont! everyone needs to ask to learn, and its great to hear people asking waht is best for their new pet

Robos can be kept in normal barred cages as long as the bars are close enough together to stop them from escaping, but cages like the rody, rex and lux are really good becasue the bars are only on the roof of the cage. Glass tanks are also great as they cannot escape from them, and the bigger ones can give them plenty of room too. It is really down to personal choice as to which cage you use - they all different pros and cons - take a look at the cage review section of this site.

The only cages i wouldnt recommend are the rotastak / crittertrail type ones with lost of compartments - these are not really suitable as they dont have enough ventilation, dont really have enough room and robos can have trouble climbing verticle tubes too. You only have one robo, so you wouldnt have the problems of them being territorial, although this another problem with these cages.

I use shavings for most of my hamsters, the only exception being very long haired hammies who get cardboard squares - but all of the others, especially the robos get shavings with no problems at all. I am sure megazorb would work just as well too though, so again, personal choice - and yes, they love to burrow and dig so whatever you use you can pile it very high for them

Roborovskis love sand baths and will use them to bath (roll) in but as time goes on you will notice it getting dirty as they will also use it as their toilet!! but this can be a good thing as it does mean they can be litter trained to go only in the box - but, i have never tried a bare floored cage, so not sure how that would be for them, but i dont think i would try it it myself - they love to burro and dig, so i think this would prevent them doing something they enjoy.
Roborovskis dont really get thier cages very messy anyway - not like a syrian! so there isnt really much mess to clean up, they are very easy to clean out, especially with high shavings to absorb everything.

I think i am one of the few people that only uses bowl for my hamsters to drink from. I occasionally use water bottles when i have very young litters but apart from then i always use bowls, so yes, hamsters can use bowl perfectly

With a cage or tank the bigger the better, so whatever you can get try to get the biggest possible!! but of coures this isnt always possible, but the rody is fine for a sinlge robo, so anything bigger is great

With food it is best to get a complete hamter mix like harry or burgess and then supplement it with extras such as seeds, mealworms, chicken, egg etc.

I hope i have helped but please feel free to visit my website to see more info on all of the above

Tammy x

[souffle]

Hello and welcome to the forum Sam. You sound to have some great furry friends and I look forward to hearing more about them.
I agree with all Tammy's comments. You are right about the size of cages sold for hamsters. Cages of an adequate size are few and far between! We have the tank type duna style cages for all our hamsters and find vertilation fine with the roof bars. Never used bin cages ourselves but the are popular and the large 85l + sizes can provide lots of space - much bigger than they'd get in a commercial cage. You can make mesh windows in them.
We personally prefer cages hams can see out of though and we can see them!
I would stick with a proper hamster mix. particularly for a robo and supplement it with small seeds. They love millet sprays and budgie mix.

[helenf]

Hi Sam,

I didn't like sawdust with my robos for a couple of reasons. 1) one of them had a bit of a red nose when I had sawdust - not necessarily linked, but I switched and she doesn't now. 2) Mine didn't burrow much in sawdust but they love to do so in carefresh (and I would assume megazorb is the same) - the great thing is that it helps absorb the grease from their fur. I use carefresh as I don't have much storage space but intend to try out megazorb when we move house. Carefresh is more expensive than sawdust but you don't have to clean them out so often.

I use bowls and bottles for my hamsters - they seem to like both equally

[Sam_Spice]

Thanks for the quick and fab answers Yes megazorb is similar to carefresh just smaller pieces and a whole lot cheaper (£6 a sack I think) and works well for us as it does the whole 'zoo' and still lasts months I was in the vets today for my buns myxo jabs and picked up a small food bowl (better than my oxo box one ), a small water bottle (so my chipmunk can have his back) and Science Select Hamster food (all they had on sale there). I will try buy some harry hamster when I go out this afternoon to the pet shops to eye-up some cages and accessories available as the SS is the oddest food I've ever seen hehe but I've put a bit in their alongside the bit of chipmunk mix she has at the minute. She spent all night tearing up toilet paper and building a nest so no doubt she won't venture out for a while yet anyway

Thanks for the cage advice, I have been reading reviews on here and will let you know how I get on at the petshops

[souffle]

Our guys don't really like the Science select except as a very occassional treat. Is it the heart shaped biscuits?
I'd go for a seed mix type as the SS does little to challange their natural instinct to forage and choose what they fancy as well as shelling the seeds and pouching. I would hate the same dinner every day and though I'm sure it is nutrionally sound it does have limited ingredients. Sounds like she is going to be a very spoilt hammy

[Fluffy]

First, let me welcome you to the forum, now I will give you my view on your questions.

1) While there is no way to know for sure, I do not think they get claustrophobic as they seem to try to squeeze into any space they can even if they have to back out to escape. As to the cages, while most people use the plastic cages as they are cheap and easy to clean. I have also used fish tanks in the past, but you have to watch out as your hamster can eat the silicon.

2) My hamster have always like having an area that was deeper to search through as I would hide treats sometime, but I think it had more to do with the treat. With my last hamster I used a product called carefree I think. It was made from paper as far as I knew.

3) I would not use shaving, but that is a personal preference.

4) They can drink from a dish or spout. In the wild, they would find water where ever they can, so in reality, the spout is not really natural, where the dish would be.

5)The larger the better. One problem that i have seen is that they are producing cages that are really to small. The more area he has to explore, the better.

6) while I would suspect that the foods would be close, I can not say as I am not sure what is in chipmunk food. Best to compare the ingredient list to make sure they are the same.

Thanks again for joining our community,
Jason

[Sam_Spice]

Hi Guys, thanks for the other responses, I have gone to another pet shop today and come back with some Harry Hamster which has gone down a lot better than the SS which she didn't really touch (the pieces are nearly the size of her lol). Also brought some bathing sand but not seen her in it yet so I'll see what I find when I come back from work at 6am

Still had no luck with a cage, both Jolleys, pets at home and a local shop havn't offered anything decent really. P@h have the best selection so may end up there again if my other small pet shop doesn't have any when I go look tomorrow Will keep you informed

Thanks, Sam x

[babyboos]

hello and welcome to hamster central

a duna type cage is best but you wont find many out there and one at most in P@H so best to have a look online eBay etc or build your own from a large underbed storage container you find those everywhere Asda etc - some people I know have zoozones which i believe were originally designed for guinea pigs and are lovely and roomy and deep enough for a good litter layer as yes they do love to dig and forage - if you feel creative you can get a tall storage container and build shelves or you can buy some great wooden bridges and houses etc in stores and online

my robos like coconut shells loads of cardboard boxes and egg boxes plus have a substrate of sand and megazorb with some shredded brown paper and cardboard squares in for good measure and I find they only need deep cleaned once per month as they are very clean and use a coffee jar on its flat side with chinchilla sand in for peeing pooing and bathing (I give them a couple in the hope they will do things seperately but doesn't always look that way...)

I have hanging water bottles but don't see them being used much as for food I crush normal Harry Hamster a bit and add various bird seeds, linseed, sesame and poppy seeds and always have a millet spray available for climbing and eating and they do like mealworms too

[internet_nobody]

I use zoo zones, which have a good footprint and you can put in plenty of bedding to dig. A better alternative now available is the ferplast duna multy - it already has narrow hamster-sized bars on top. The only downside to the multy is that you have to use a bottle with suckers (stay clear of Ferplast's sippy - they nearly always leak and i've not found a hammy yet who likes the way they work). When you do go for a "larger than designed for hamsters" cage for a robo, its important to put in lots of toys so they can navigate around the cage without being out in the open for too long.