Dora’s thread

[hamster lover 123]

Hello,
Dora arrived yesterday afternoon and seems to be settling into her Savic Plaza 100 well and exploring sometimes. She is 8-10 weeks old and can be a bit shy however I did catch her climbing on the roof of the cage last night! This morning, I found her enjoying some cucumber and she has just gone to sleep in her pink house.

I’ve heard robo hamsters are harder to tame than syrians so any advice on taming them would be much appreciated

I can’t believe how small and speedy she is!

 

[Steve]

Welcome to the forum Dora! She is beautiful, looking forward to hearing more about her.

 

[Maz]

Oh goodness she is absolutely gorgeous!

 

[Hank]

Gorgeous little girl

 

[Maz]

For taming you need to be patient really. However Dusty's Mom did a great job with hand taming Dusty if you have a look at her thread Neither of my robos was every fully hand tamed, but over time they trusted me. And we would have lovely long chats were they would sit for ages listening to me! They are also great communicators and can really show you if something is wrong. A ladder had fallen down at the back of the cage once, which I hadn't noticed, and my robo kept looking at me then running over to the ladder and looking at me again - almost pointing at it!

As with all hamsters it's time and patience, but after a week or so you could see if she will take a treat from your fingers, and then move on to see if she will take food from the palm of your hand.

The taming aspect starts from this page on Dusty's thread I never got past a treat being taken then run away ha ha.

I'm so happy for you that you have another hamster and a gorgeous little Robo! I want one ha ha.

Dusty the Robo dwarf hamster.

what do they say these days ... Good Job !! :) thats one gorgeous lucky little baby ..and Im so happy for you both.. its as good as it gets.:love:

www.thehamsterforum.com

 

[Maz]

It might be just that first night she climbed to the roof - exploring in the first day - I've had hamsters do the same. But it does show she can do it! So it could be an idea to also put some cardboard round the top of the bars - maybe 2 to 3 inches - that way she can't get past it to get to the roof and can't drop too far There are other ways round it as well but that might be easiest. I had to do a lot of fiddling around with Pip's plaza to avoid that kind of thing However that might bother her a bit with something being done to the cage so soon, so you could maybe do it during the day when she's asleep.

 

[hamster lover 123]

Thanks for your suggestions, I will have a look at Dusty’s thread. I’m trying to let Dora settle in first Today, I have added another tunnel and replaced the teepee with a hide less sharp and added some more cardboard. Hopefully she will feel less exposed. I don’t think I will be taking the P@H carrier out any time soon.

 

[Maz]

Yes she will need some time to settle in But it's lovely she's been out and about already. She's lucky to have so much lovely space. I think robos need the space more than other species sometimes as they're so fast! And they love to tunnel across the cage. It really does make me want another robo ha ha.

 

[hamster lover 123]

Dora is a naughty little girl! I’ve caught her climbing on the cage roof a few times despite putting up some cardboard along the edges so she can’t get past, as you can see in the photo. I’m thinking I might have to extend it further! I have also added a sand bath, she woke up and started exploring as soon as I put it in.

She also loves playing in her tissue box and cardboard hide. Dora is still a bit shy but is coming out more to say hello and take a treat through the bars, especially early in the morning.

 

[Maz]

Goodness how is she getting past that cardboard?! Cheeky monkey. Robos aren't supposed to be good at climbing! She looks really sweet and curious on that photo. She clearly loves the sand bath. An ice cream tub sometimes makes a good sand bath as well Although if it's heavy it would need supporting underneath.

Is it just above the shelf she climbs up? I can't see a robo climbing the full height of the bars somehow. Sometimes it's just initially while they're checking the place out to see if there are any escape routes. She really does look adorable though and it sounds like she's settling in well

 

[hamster lover 123]

I’m really not sure! Sometimes I will walk in and switch on the light, and there she is hanging like an acrobat I think the last time she did it was a few days ago, I didn’t want her to fall and hurt herself so quickly caught her in the tissue box. Hopefully it is just an initial exploring thing and doesn’t do it again.

An ice cream tub is a great idea for a sand bath, perhaps she would like one of those so it is a bit deeper than the one that came with the hamster heaven cage. I have got some sprays in the freezer at the moment too.

 

[Maz]

I'm sure she'd like it but it can be a fiddle supporting them underneath. It usually needs some kind of platform but it doesn't need to be that high because the sand bath could be mostly submerged in the substrate. It could maybe just stand on some small wood blocks or similar. They are surprisingly energetic! I had a large hammock across the inside of the roof in my plaza for our robo. He wasn't supposed to get up there but I thought, on the chance that he did manage to get to the roof, at least if he dropped he would just land in the hammock. But it was very large and covered the full depth of the cage and the sides ended over a shelf at either end of the cage.

So he wasn't supposed to get up there - but he did! He used to jump from his shelf onto something else, and from there, reach up and pull the edge of the hammock down and climb in. He didn't chew it so I left it there. But when he got older I didn't want him trying to get there and maybe losing his balance so I just made the substrate a lot higher and took the shelves out.

The easier way is to block the top of the bars, as you have done, so she can't get to the roof. But from the shelf he can maybe get a foot grip on one of the cable ties on the cardboard to get to the roof. Cheeky monkey! I wonder if she's climbing up the front door?

 

[hamster lover 123]

Yes, she certainly is a cheeky monkey Thank you, I’ll see how it goes, it could be the cable ties that she is gripping onto. Sounds like your robo loved his hammock! I think they have furry feet unlike syrians which can make it difficult for them to climb.

 

[ilguy]

Maybe she goes so fast she can sort of parkour and jump over it. Hope she will settle in, she's adorable

 

[whortleberry]

Dora looks so bright and interested. And cheeky Good luck with the bars!!

 

[Tulsi]

Ohhh. I love roborovski hamsters. Have had a few in my time. How lovely to have sweet little Dora on the forum.

 

[hamster lover 123]

Dora seems to be enjoying her new sprays and she is definitely getting more confident! She certainly likes to burrow I don’t think she has been climbing as much, over the past few days, thankfully! I am starting to put my hand in the cage more, which she doesn’t mind and loves a bit of cucumber

 

[Socks' Mum]

She is beautiful and clearly likes people

 

[Maz]

Gorgeous! She's so sweet! That's really good news she's ok with your hand in the cage - that's a good start.

 

[Zara]

Dora’s very cute and sounds as though she’s going to be super active.

It’s lovely to hear she’s enjoying her burrowing and that she’s getting used to your hand in her enclosure