Roborovsky's hamster: character, cost, care and maintenance

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19.03.2018

Among pets, you don’t often see such an animal as the Roborovsky hamster. However, this rodent is notable for the fact that it has the smallest size among similar species. In this regard, such a “fluffy” requires unique maintenance and care.

Roborovsky's hamster

Roborovsky hamsters are very small compared to other hamsters. They are named in honor of the traveler scientist V.I. Roborovsky, who first discovered them in Tibet at the beginning of the last century. However, for the first time in the discoverer’s homeland they appeared only in the second half of the 20th century. It is noteworthy that the species practically did not manage to take root in European countries.

Differences between the Roborov hamster and the Djungarian hamster:

Description of the animal

These miniature rodents are native to the desert and semi-desert regions of Asia. A zoological description of the animals was made back in the 19th century, but they began to be bred as ornamental pets only in the 1970s.

They found their way into the homes of livestock breeders thanks to the Russian scientist V. Roborovsky. Later, the hamster was brought to America and Europe, but, unfortunately, the animal did not take root there.

Appearance

Roborovsky's hamsters are tiny rodents whose body length does not exceed 5 cm and weighs about 24 g.

The appearance of miniature animals corresponds to the following description:

1. The head is quite large, with a flattened muzzle and large black eyes.
2. The ears are rounded and set vertically.
3. The tail is short, almost invisible.
4. The paws are small, completely covered with hair. The front ones have 4 fingers, the back ones have 5.
5. The fur is fluffy and soft.
6. The main part of the hamster's body is most often colored pinkish-fawn. The outer side of the ears is dark, the belly and paws are white. There are light markings above the hamster's eyes. The pygmy rodent can come in other colors, including platinum, agouti, pied, husky, white, cinnamon husky and cinnamon pied.

On a note. Unlike most of their counterparts, Roborovsky's hamsters do not have a dark longitudinal stripe on their back.

Character and habits

Roborovsky's hamsters are energetic and temperamental rodents that are unable to remain motionless for a long time. Active and sociable animals are very social and need to communicate with their own kind. Rodents easily get along with their relatives and create large, friendly families.

Although the peak activity of Roborovsky hamsters occurs in the dark, during the day the dwarf animals also do not miss the opportunity to frolic. Like many other rodents, these animals stock up on provisions for the winter, but they do not hibernate when cold weather sets in.

Health and life expectancy

Roborovsky's hamsters have good immunity and rarely get sick. The breed belongs to the category of long-livers. The average lifespan of these animals is 3.5-4 years.

What does a hamster look like?

The smallest hamsters are sand-colored, with no additional stripes or markings on their fur. At the very roots, the color of the fur is darker than grayish. This color is considered natural, which occurs in nature. In addition to their natural color, there are hamsters with cream-colored fur.

The color is not uniform; on the belly and near the antennae it is very light, almost white. Sometimes you can see a rare color in the form of white fur on the entire face. The ears are gray.

Nutrition

How long hamsters live depends on what they eat. Their diet should consist of store-bought food. Do not skimp when choosing a feed mixture; often a cheap mixture contains poorly processed, dusty grains and seeds.

The following products are also allowed:

• Fruits and berries: pears, apples, apricots, raspberries, currants, dried fruits. This is given as a treat and not often, once or twice a week is enough.
• Vegetables: carrots, pumpkin, zucchini.
• Greenery. Both homemade (parsley, dill) and forest (dandelion, nettle) are suitable.
• Seeds and nuts.
• Protein food. Chicken, fish, cottage cheese.
• "Live" meat. You can buy grasshoppers and worms at the pet store.

List of prohibited products:

• Sausages.
• Bakery products.
• Watermelons and melons.
• Citrus.

You need to feed the animal twice a day, or four times, but in small portions. Products should always be fresh. Check your hamster's supplies regularly and throw away anything that spoils. Poisoning from spoiled food can be fatal.

Behavior

Roborov hamsters are very pugnacious. Same-sex individuals can still somehow get along and live in peace. Animals of different sexes, even though they give birth to offspring, will fight constantly. They are very active both at night and during the day, it is interesting to watch them, the main thing is not to scare them.

It is not recommended to add a new pet to hamsters that have lived together for a long time. They will begin to offend the newcomer, will not accept him and are unlikely to become friends in the future.

Roborovian hamsters are very shy, which makes them almost impossible to tame. Any loud noise can frighten them greatly. You should not laugh or shout loudly near them.

Breed Features

The animal can boast (although, do people boast in such cases?) not only with a very small tail. This is not their only feature. They are very peaceful and practically do not bite. Even if you miraculously provoke his wrath, he will not harm you. Their teeth are completely incapable of biting through human skin. Their eyebrows also stand out. Well, like eyebrows... eyebrows. They are also tiny. They are usually lighter in color and are clearly visible on the face.

Ladies and gentlemen, attention to the screen! Here they are, those same famous Roborovsky eyebrows!

In addition, hamsters are very timid. They are very difficult to tame. Perhaps that is why they are so poorly distributed and known.

IMPORTANT: the bars of a regular cage will not hold them. Most of them will pass through it as if through a door. We will tell you below how to properly arrange housing for such a baby.

Roborovsky hamster cage

Due to the fact that Roborovian hamsters are small, it is not recommended to keep them in a cage with large holes. They will escape through the bars of standard cages. To keep them, you need cages with closely spaced bars or special glass or plastic cages.

The cage should have an area of ​​80 by 60 cm. The pet must have a running wheel with a diameter of about 20 cm. Since the animals are very active, they must spend their energy somewhere, otherwise they will quarrel with all their neighbors if they do not live alone. Roborovsky hamsters love to hide, so it is necessary to provide them with different types of shelter in the cage in the form of houses, holes and tunnels.

You need to pour sand or sawdust in a layer of about 3 cm on the floor of the cage. If you have baby hamsters, you definitely need to make a separate shelter for them. Small branches, grass, hay or moss are suitable for this. The main thing is to create comfortable conditions. Place a container for food on the floor, a separate container for water and a mineral stone. Place a tray in the corner of the cage. Hamsters can be trained to go to the toilet if desired, but this must be done while they are still babies.

Socialization

This type of hamster is perhaps the only one that can be kept in same-sex groups, although professionals recommend having no more than two pets.

Keeping rodents of different sexes together often leads to fights or constant mating, which is harmful for females. By the way, aggression can also arise in an already formed group; the phenomenon is especially often observed in women's society.

Keeping babies in large groups for a long time contributes to constant stress, as a result of which hamsters often get sick and die prematurely.

Large communities are possible only if animals are combined at a very young, almost infant age, and the size of the container must be appropriate.

What to feed a Roborovsky hamster

Roborov hamsters are not picky eaters. Their diet is practically no different from that of other breeds. Pets are fed special prepared food consisting of grain crops, various types of seeds, and corn. In addition, they love to feast on vegetables and fruits.

It is necessary to try to diversify the diet of hamsters. It's good for their health. In addition to fruits and vegetables, it is necessary to give more greens, they love them very much. Some owners advise feeding their pets bread soaked in milk.

Foods that hamsters are recommended to eat:

• millet;
• grain feed;
• vegetables and fruits;
• wheat (must be sprouted);
• fresh chicken (necessarily without salt);
• fish (not salted);
• white bread, pre-soaked in milk;
• porridge from buckwheat, rice, millet and oatmeal;
• light low-fat cottage cheese;
• low-fat sour cream;
• eggs (it is recommended to give quail and chicken);
• not hot or spicy greens (lettuce, dandelion).

Foods that should never be fed to hamsters:

• products containing cocoa powder;
• salty and sweet foods;
• seasonings, herbs and spices;
• any canned food and pickled vegetables;
• Fruit seeds and seeds are strictly contraindicated;
• semi-finished products;
• pine nuts and almonds;
• cabbage and tomatoes;
• semi-finished products;
• sour (citrus) and astringent (persimmon) fruits;
• food from a person's table;
• garlic and onion;
• dirty, stale, cold and hot food.

Particular attention is paid to the diet of pregnant and lactating hamster mothers. At this time, her body is in great need of protein, so she is fed fresh white chicken meat, fish without salt and mealworms.

Babies, like mothers, also need protein while growing. Therefore, they are fed chicken or quail eggs, fish, mealworms, cottage cheese and porridge.

Hamsters recover quickly, so it is necessary to monitor how much fat, protein and carbohydrates they consume. You need to make sure your pet moves more often. A running wheel and dietary restrictions will help him get back to normal.

Variety of species

In total, there are about 250 varieties of hamsters in the world; in our country, no more than one and a half dozen species of these funny animals are widespread. Here are just a few of them:

• Domestic or ornamental: common hamster;
• angora;
• Djungarian hamster;
• Sungursky;
• Taylor's dwarf;
• Roborovsky's hamster;
• Siberian, white hamster;
• Campbell;
• golden or Syrian hamster.

Among this fluffy splendor, there are also bald hamsters - the inquisitive minds of experimental geneticists have reached these cute pets.

How to care

Roborov hamsters are very freedom-loving and capricious. Therefore, their survivability in the wild is very high. It is at home that hamsters more often prevail in stressful conditions. They get scared by strong sounds and even faint. It is worth taking care of their health and not making noise near their cage. They avoid human hands and do not like to be touched or petted.

It is not recommended to take them out of their cages. If the hamster managed to escape from the cage or from the hands of the owner, it is worth catching it with the help of harmless traps, luring it with its favorite food.

Due to their small stature, the animals practically do not climb the walls of the cages, so keeping them in glass and plastic cages will not be stressful for them. In this case, it is very important to create well-ventilated conditions. It is better to purchase plastic containers for keeping hamsters. In glass containers, the walls fog up and an unfavorable atmosphere is created for the life of pets, but favorable for the growth of microbes and bacteria.

You cannot smoke near your pet’s cage or place its cage in drafts. It is necessary to protect hamsters from living near areas of mold and dampness.

You need to clean the cage several times 2-3 times a week, change the sand and sawdust when they become dirty. Every day, be sure to clean the feeder and change the water to clean water.

For the toilet, you need to purchase a special tray and filler for it. It also needs to be cleaned so as not to spread germs and the pet does not get sick.

Natural habitat

The hamster is distributed almost everywhere on the Eurasian continent: it can be found in European countries and in some regions of Russia. Mainly prefers to settle in steppes, forest-steppes, meadows, and floodplains. It does not go high into the mountains - the maximum height above sea level where the animal can be found is 1.5 km.

Under some circumstances, it can settle even next to a person: in gardens and vegetable gardens. Particularly large numbers of rodents live in areas of active farming. They say that the animals were even found on the territory of new buildings, which were once fields or vegetable gardens, where the animals adapted to existence.

Reproduction

Hamsters are known for their fertility, but this does not apply to the Roborov breed. A litter of this breed can produce a maximum of 5 babies, but usually the number is much less.

Before breeding a pair, it is imperative to introduce the hamsters and let them become friends, or better yet, form a pair from a very early age. A lattice partition is placed in the cage with pets and the hamsters are protected from each other. This will give you the opportunity to get used to each other and not fight.

To properly breed Roborov hamsters you need to know the following:

• You need to form a pair at 4 months of age;
• females become pregnant on the day of mating, pregnancy lasts about 23 days;
• a pregnant female should not be touched or disturbed; it is better to isolate her from other relatives;
• labor can last up to 2 hours;
• babies are born deaf, blind and without hair, weighing 1 gram and height 1 cm;
• a woman in labor after childbirth is very angry and pugnacious;
• In no case should you touch newborns with your hands unless you can do without it; it is better to use a foreign object for this;
• after 25 days you can separate mother and babies.

Babies may need complementary feeding. It is necessary to feed them protein foods during growth. Usually they are given fish, eggs, cottage cheese.

Breeding at home

Pairs need to be formed in infancy. If this was not possible, then the adults should be given time to get used to each other. At the pet store you can purchase a special grid for the cage, which will allow the animals to sniff, but not make contact, this will eliminate conflicts. The grate is removed after eight to ten days.

The duration of pregnancy is 25 days. At this time, you should not disturb the pregnant woman; she may show aggression and bite. Pay special attention to nutrition; your diet should be as varied as possible. Arrange her home properly. Give the opportunity for privacy; for this purpose, install an individual house, or better yet two. Pour some sawdust, and with their help the expectant mother will make a nest for her offspring.

Female Roborovskis are not as fertile as females of other species. The litter does not exceed six cubs. Hamsters are born hairless and blind. After a week of life, their bodies become covered with fluff. They become independent within two weeks. Baby purees and cereals are suitable as complementary foods. It is better to hold off on fruits and herbs so as not to cause loose stools in babies.

How to tame

To tame a Roborov hamster, you need to take the following steps:

1. The hamster must get used to its owner and trust him. To do this, the owner needs to give him food himself. Quiet, calm conversations will allow the animal to get used to the owner's voice.
2. Offer hand-held treats daily. When the animal begins to approach without fear, place the treat in your palm.
3. When the hamster gets used to treats served in this way and begins to eat them while sitting on your hand, you can slightly lift it and offer the treat in this position.
4. Then start stroking him a little each time. Repeat until the hamster stops being afraid and allows himself to be petted without the offered treat.

Do not shout at the animal or grab it by the fur from above. Such actions will only scare him away.

Which hamster is suitable for a child?

If a pet is bought for a very young child, parents need to be prepared for the fact that the parents will have to care for the rodent.

If the child is already quite conscious - over five years old - then he can choose the hamster himself, depending on his own preferences. Perhaps the child will want to teach the rodent small tricks (fetching a piece of paper, jumping through a ring, running along a given path). Djungarians are suitable for such purposes - they are very trainable, more temperamental and a little smarter than their larger counterparts.

If a child wants to constantly “squeeze” the baby, stroke him, and hand feed him, it is better to choose a Syrian. They are calmer, sit well on laps and hands, and allow themselves to be stroked.

Whatever breed the baby chooses, the main thing is that the hamster is healthy, otherwise the joy of acquiring a friend will quickly end in tragedy and grief. What are the main signs of a healthy animal?

• the coat is smooth, shiny, not tangled;
• there are no bald spots on the skin - if there are, then this indicates an infestation with mites;
• the eyes are shiny, beautiful, without discharge;
• the animal is active, eats well, runs around the cage;
• there are no tumor-like tubercles on the body;
• the ears are not torn, there are no wounds on the body - these signs indicate the aggressiveness of the animal and its tendency to bite.

To understand whether the animal is active, it is better to go to the store or breeder in the evening, since hamsters sleep in the morning or during the day. Closer to seven o'clock, their period of activity begins - it is at this time that it is best to understand which animal is “looking” at you.

Also, before purchasing, you should make sure that the child is not allergic to the animal - to fur or sexual secretions. To do this, you can ask the breeder to let the child interact with an adult animal of the species you are planning to buy. It is a very common situation that the child is not allergic to the baby, but as soon as the rodent is two or three months old, the little owner becomes intolerant.

What is the price

Roborovsky hamsters are more expensive than other types of hamsters. The price depends on the rarity of the species and the complexity of their breeding. The lowest price is 500 rubles. But it is better to buy from special nurseries with documents for the animal. They cost about 1000 - 1500 rubles.

Irina Ivanishchena

I am engaged in professional breeding of hamsters and rats on an ongoing basis. I know something about them that most people don’t know. Always open to constructive discussion

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Diseases

The Roborovsky hamster has enviable health. No predispositions to certain diseases have been established during their breeding. The main thing is that all conditions for a full life are created: proper maintenance and feeding. Like other hamsters, the Roborovsky may suffer from:

• Bites and injuries received in fights with other hamsters.
• Obesity.
• Damage and inflammation of the cheek pouches.
• Baldness (usually from a lack of vitamins).
• Eye diseases (conjunctivitis and keratitis, they are caused by microtraumas of the eyes and infections in them).
• Diseases of the digestive system (constipation, diarrhea, caused by poor diet).
• Dental diseases.
• Oncological tumors (in old age).