I don't like to judge a book by its cover...

... but when the book in question is entitled "How To Care For Your Roborovski Pet Dwarf Hamster" and has a picture of a cream banded Syrian on the front, it doesn't bode well!

I have been browsing Amazon looking at the various hamster books. I have two that I think are really good -- Hamsterlopaedia and the Dwarf Hamsters Pet Owner's Manual -- but I am definitely a bibliophile! I would love all good hamster books, but even reading through reviews on Amazon isn't enough. How do I know that all the good reviews on a book are by hamster-savvy people? I keep meaning to do reviews on the two I have, maybe this will give me the kick up the backside I need.

And so this post isn't all text, here's a video of Winter and Rocco. Rocco has now outgrown his dad and there have been a few scuffles for dominance, but Rocco is now four months old so in Robo adolescence (3-6 months), and I wasn't expecting complete peace from them!


(And apologies for the lack of blogging recently. Lets just leave it as Real Life Sucks.)

All change! Winter and Rocco's new cage

So, a while ago I changed Annie's cage, meaning that her old cage, the Ferplast Mary, ended up being put in the bottom of the wardrobe. I thought about selling it, but to be honest wasn't keen on the hassle. It just sat there, taking up space, forgotten about.

Recently, I had a thought. The Mary, at 80 by 50 centimetres, is larger than the zoozone the boys are in (72 by 46 centimetres). While it's not much difference in size, I figured it was a big difference when you're only a couple of centimetres long!

I had two worries. One was access -- while the zoozone has a large top door, the Mary has one small side door and one larger top door. The other was the bar spacing. However, I know many people who have successfully kept Roborovskis in cages with one centimetre bar spacing before, and tested it out with Rocco. He could not fit through the bars, and I decided more space for the hams beat any access concerns I had, so today I swapped them over.

Whole cage

I've tried to leave the layout as similar as possible to the one from the zoozone, although I did swap their wheels to eight inch wooden wheels rather than the flying saucers they had. Winter had started doing impressions of the Amazing Flying Robo off the saucers, which was concerning me. The eight inch wheels are larger than necessary, but there's more space for them to run together in an eight inch wheel than there is in a six inch one, the smaller size down in this particular wheel. (I coated them in plastikote, a waterproof child safe paint, so that they're easier to clean.)

Left side

Wheels on the right side

The rest of the right side

Usually I scatter feed, but because of the new JR Farm food I've received recently (eventually -- parcelforce were a pain in the backside about it, but that's another story), the boys have two bowls, one with their old mix and one with the JR Farm, to see which they prefer. The jury's out with these two, although Darla prefers the JR Farm.

As for the zoozone, well... Darla got it, so the last cage tour for him is out of date already, although I did try to keep the layout as similar as possible.

Darla's cage

Breakfast time!

D'awww

I know I promised cage tours, but this is much cuter!

Winter apparently doesn't mind being a pillow!

My gorgeous Robo boys

I took a couple of pictures and videos of the Robos this morning!

Darla was not co-operating!

I think this is Winter on the wheel and Rocco behind

Rocco in front and Winter under the cork

      

I need to do a cage tour for Darla too, as you can see he has a new platform in there! Today is clean-out day, so we shall see.

Winter and Rocco

So, I picked up these little guys today! I suppose that means it's intro time.

Roborovski squish!

Who?

Winter and Rocco

What?

They are both husky Roborovskis, and are a father-son pair. They are also technically brothers, as Winter's mother is also Rocco's. They are the result of an unexpected, unintended litter.

When?

I picked them up today 13th April 2013!

Why?

After commenting on the thread about the unexpected litter on a hamster forum I frequent, I ended up talking via PM to their owner. She offered to let me rehome a pup or two when they were older and I leapt at the chance. Since there was only one male pup and Winter did badly without company, I ended up taking the father-son pair.

Favourites?

• Toy: I have it on good authority that they love their flying saucers!
• Treat: Millet, apparently! Imaginative of them!
• Activity: Digging. Dear lord, these two know how to dig!

Rocco

Winter

My new boys!

I've been sitting on a little secret for a while!

Hamster squish!

This is Rocco (on top) and Winter, a son and father pair. A member of a certain hamster forum rescued a pair she thought was a mother and daughter, who she called Autumn and Winter, a gorgeous agouti and husky pair. However, they turned out to be mother and son! We ended up talking while their unexpected, unintended, pups were still young, and she agreed to let me have one or two, which I was so pleased about! I love husky Robos, they are gorgeous, and the litter was highly likely to contain a husky or two.

Little Rocco

The pups were the most awkward babies to sex, even an experienced Robo breeder was stumped! When pictures didn't help, the pups were actually taken to visit her, and she still wasn't sure. One was definitely male, and paired off with Winter at four weeks old. The other two were an awkward pair and stayed with mum for a bit longer.

Handsome Winter

Winter loved having a friend again, he did really badly alone, so when the other two pups turned out to be female, it was decided that I would take Winter and Rocco. I'm picking them up on 13th April, when Rocco will be seven weeks old, and I am really looking forward to finally meeting my two husky boys!