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How Hard is it to Own Roborovski Hamster?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hammie Heart
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Hammie Heart

I have been thinking about something that I don't need to think about- where and what kind to get the next hamster. Why? I don't know. Because I do that. So where would you recommend getting a robo? How hard is it to own them? Goodness me... why do I do this?
 
Robos are very fast and not easy to tame, and they also need large cages - they are probably more active than most species of hamster. People think because they are so small, they need less space, but it's the opposite. They are more "watch" pets. Some people do manage to hand tame them, but it can take a lot of time and patience and it won't be effective with all robos - it might depend on previous life experience etc.

As with most hamsters, it's better to get them from a bona fide breeder (ie one part of a recognised pedigree breeder association) or from a rescue - rather than supporting pet shop breeding.
 
My first hamster was a robo and he was amazing. I rescued him and he was very timid. In 8 months he felt able to come out when I was around. I was so honoured he finally felt comfortable with me. I had cameras in his cage and watched the footage every single morning to find out all he got up to. He was so active and like Maz says, needed a big cage.

In time he enjoyed going in a playpen once a week and it was wonderful to see how he flourished. I have found robos are very picky when it comes to likes and dislikes and I was in his bad books a lot. I am so happy I got to experience what it was like to adopt him as he was just amazing.

There are always robos in rescues because people give up on them just because they are shy and do not like to be handled.
 
I have had a robo and a Syrian at the same time, twice before (different cages obviously). I preferred this to having two Syrians at the same time, as robos have different needs and sometimes different wake times. Whereas Syrians tend to only want to be out later in the evening or late at night, my first robo used to be out during the afternoon regularly. While he never did get to be fully handtamed, he was quite a communicator and we would sit and have long chats through the open cage door. He would sit for ages listening to me! He did have some playpen time but it wasn't till he was quite old that he was happy to walk into a "taxi" in his cage to be lifted out.

They can be incredibly nervous - that is partly hardwiring because they are so tiny and fragile, and a prey species. All hamsters are prey species but perhaps Robos are more frightened easily than most.

I did find they are good communicators though - with looks and gestures. Eg to let you know if something is wrong. They are still intelligent. My first one once was giving me long hard stares and then running over to the back of the cage and turning his head towards his platform. Eventually I realised the ladder had fallen down and he couldn't get up there.

Cage-wise, they either need to be in a tank style, with solid sides, or, if it's a barred cage, one that isn't too tall and has fairly narrow bar spacing. A larger robo might be ok with 1cm bar spacing. Because if they climb too high and fall they are very easily injured.
 
So you'd be talking something like 40" x 20" or a 75 gallon tank. At the very minimum, a 40 gallon breeder tank, which is about 3 foot by 20 inches. I think some people use 160 litre bin cages.

Robos are also big tunnelers so need at least 8" deep bedding. 10" ideally.
 
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