I aquired two Roborovski. I named the Robban & Robelina, and I kept them together since I wanted them to have a litter. They had a litter of seven so then I had no less than nine pretty little Roborovski Dwarf Hamsters!
I aquired two Roborovski. I named the Robban & Robelina, and I kept them together since I wanted them to have a litter. They had a litter of seven so then I had no less than nine pretty little Roborovski Dwarf Hamsters!
The photo to the left shows Robban, ain't he cute? And the photo to the right shows Robelina, just as pretty!
The reason I wanted them to have a litter was that I had been told that they wanted to live in groups and thus I wanted to keep at least one of the female babies and let her live with her mother, Robelina, and I wanted to keep at least one male baby and let him live with his father, Robban.
At least that was the idea, but as soon it was obvious that Robelina was pregnant she started to harass Robban, and soon she almost killed him by biting him in the neck. I rehoused him in a cage of his own, and he was much happier after that. His wounds healed rather quickly. I did not think this was a good start since I had housed them together in a rather large cage.
If they do like to live in groups - what made Robelina almost kill Robban? If I hadn't come home right in time he probably hadn't made it. Mice, rats, cavies, gerbils, and other small animals are known to live in groups and it is never heard of a female mouse, rat, cavy or gerbil killing her mate. It's mainly hamsters that are known for such things, and they are strictly known as solitary animals.
I quickly decided not to keep any of the babies, not to be housed with any of the parents anyway. Here are two photos of Robelina.
The next thing that happened was that the babies started quarreling among themselves, and Robelina didn't make things better. As soon as they had stopped suckling and Robelina seemed annoyed with them I removed her into a cage of her own.
Even though the babies quarreled a lot between themselves they never managed to hurt eachother, but then I managed to sell them all as young babies, and I didn't sell any of them with a brother or sister. I told all the buyers about what had happened between their parents.
Soon I only had Robban and Robelina left, and they seemed to enjoy very much the fact that they each lived alone in a big cage. They were actually very lovely animals, and extremely pretty. Now that they lived alone they seemed less stressed and much easier to handle.
To the left is a photo of the babies just before I started seling them. I think they are very cute, and that it was sad that they didn't agree with eachother.
To the right is another photo of Robelina.
I have heard that Roborovski like to run around more and therefore are less easy to tame than the winter white dwarf hamster. This does not mean that you cannot tame them, just that it is a bit harder. At the same time I have heard that Roborovski is commonly considered to be the most pretty, and it is also the smallest of the hamster species commonly kept as pets. They are actually much smaller than both the winter white and Campbell's.
The latin name of Roborovski's Dwarf Hamster is Phodopus raborovski. This species is also known under the name Raborovski's Hamster, but it is a true dwarf hamster. It originates from the western and southern Mongolia and the close-by parts of Manchuria and northern China.
I have heard that is a new mutation giving a white spot on the head of the Roborovski, I have not seen it though.
Copyright Eva Johansson.
Last update: 2nd of April 2007.