Albert is so lucky to have you! Very sad he had wounds. He looks happy and healthy now on your photo. I have a Robo and a Syrian at the moment. Robos are definitely not for cuddling. They are wonderful to watch and I find you can have quite a special verbal interaction with them - they are quite communicative in terms of looks and body language and will sit and listen and demonstrate things they want sorting out! This is our second robo and the first was very much the same that way. However they are very hard to tame. It is possible to tame a robo to the point they will sit on you, but not many people achieve that.
I read an article by a robo breeder who reckons that if you DO get a robo hand tamed, they are actually more sociable and comfortable with you than any other species of hamster. But I think that must take a lot of dedicated work to achieve.
As a species they are the most frightened of all the species - being so tiny. Which is also why they are so incredibly fast! It's their speed that puts a lot of people off.
Syrians are generally known as more cuddly and easy to handle, but it depends on their personality - some are - some don't like being handled - but I do find them generally easy to hand tame and handle. I've had a lazy one who was very bonded with me and would go to sleep on my knee and sit for long cuddles and strokes. I've had a shy one who didn't like being handled. And I've had a couple of maverick ones who are highly active - but will tolerate being handled for short times.
Our current syrian was also a child's pet before going to a rescue and he hated hands - he was a biter. I suspected he'd had some traumas with rough handling. It took months to hand tame him, wearing gloves initially.
I have never had a Russian dwarf - some people find them difficult to tame, but most dwarf owners on here sing their praises. So maybe it's just getting to known them. And their personalities and background experiences can shape their behaviour too.
It sounds like Albert recognises he is now in a caring place.
So many people on here have Russian dwarf hamsters it is making me want one! I was always a little bit nervous at their small size for handling, being used to Syrians.
