Options
Those that have/have had Roborovski and/or Campbells hamsters
EbonyHamster
Posts: 8,175 Forum Member
✭
I'm writing a caring for your hamster ebook, I've had experience of caring for Syrians, Chinese and winter white hamsters but not of caring for Roborovski or campbells dwarf hamsters
Anyone who's had or who has those two I would appreciate you help if you wouldn't mind
Note to mods: I've put this in general as more chance of a reply, please don't move it
Anyone who's had or who has those two I would appreciate you help if you wouldn't mind
Note to mods: I've put this in general as more chance of a reply, please don't move it
0
Comments
I should be a money spinner. I hope it goes well...,
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=198
That's not really how it works. We have separate forums for a reason and posting in another sub-forum just because it's more popular really isn't something you should do. Please don't do this again. Thank you.
What do you want help with, I've been keeping hamsters for 23 years, all types, had almost 60 of them so far so I've learn a LOT about them and there's not much I haven't covered with them all!:)
Just things like their care needs (if they are different to hams like Syrians) what they can/can't eat, any health problems that affects those two species etc
Any help is greatly appreciated
Both are extremely different to Syrians.
Roborovski's are the smallest and fastest of all the hamster species, they are strictly for adults and do not make good children's pets, due to their speed of movement. Even for adults, they are generally more a watching pet than a hands on one, as they require careful handling, they are lightening fast and can zip out of your hands in seconds and their very fragile, so if you try to really keep hold of them you can cause serious damage.
They need a tank type cage, as large as possible, at least the RSPCA minimum of 70 x 40cm for a dwarf hamster, they might be tiny but their super active! Any bars on the cage need to be 6mm or less, Robos are very 'flat' and will easily squeeze out of bars on a standard hamster cage. They need deep bedding as they love to dig, made of either wood shavings, Carefresh (Tumblefresh), Fitch bedding or shredded paper, and they also love a dish of chinchilla sand to roll about in. Robos not given sand tend to get greasy fur. Being so tiny and quick, clipping their teeth and nails is near impossible, so plenty of hard things to chew is a must, chew blocks, wooden toys and bonios are really good to keep their nails down, placing a clean house brick or terracotta tile under the water bottle is effective, as is putting a strip of WELL WORN, NEVER NEW sandpaper on top of shelves/ledges/houses/any flat surface. As the hamster dashes about it will wear the nails down and stop them becoming overgrown, but if the surface is too rough it will cause painful friction on the feet, which is why any sand sheets need to be worn to almost nothing before using them. They love hidey holes, so tubes, tunnels and houses are needed and a wheel of up to about 6.5".
Robos do well on any good quality hamster mix, but dwarf hamster mix, like Burgess's, is particularly preferred because of the smaller pieces, which is easier to eat (and pouch). This mix also contains dried mealworms, which most dwarf hamsters seem to love unlike the Syrians. Robos are generally fit and healthy, so can eat just the same things Syrians can in the way of fruit and veg.
Robos are the most sociable of the hamster species and the only ones that are likely to be successfully kept in pairs or small groups. To keep more than one in the same cage requires a bit more thought, the cage needs to be big enough that each hamster can get away from the other, that they can't corner each other in any part, toys and houses need multiple exit points, no levels as these cause territorial problems when one claims the level for itself and won't let the other on it, and you need as many accessories as you have hamsters, so if you have two you need two beds, two wheels, two bowls, if you have three you needs three beds, wheels, bowls etc. And it goes without saying, don't keep more than one in a cage if you don't know the sexes 110%!! Robos are not easy to sex like Syrians and Chinese, and the fact their so fast makes turning them upside down extremely difficult. The best way I know of is to put them in a large glass or high clear container, then pick it up and look underneath it.
Robos are generally very good natured, it is rare to get a bite from one, I have never been bitten by any of mine, they are extremly docile in that respect, and if you get one off a good breeder, you can get them very tame and even handleable. My pet shop Robos were near impossible to catch, the ones I had off a breeder would walk into my hands and were quite happy to be held, so there's an advantage to tracking down a decent breeder.
Campbells are dwarf hamsters, but not like what you typically see in pet shops when you see 'Russian dwarfs'. Campbells are a pure breed, the ones in pet shops are not, they are a hybrid, a cross between a Campbell and a Winter White. This is not a good cross and is highly frowned on by genuine dwarf breeders because it is damaging in every aspect, not to mention wiping out the pure lines. These two species would never meet up in the wild, they are bred simply because they happen to be compatible to pair up as unlike other hamster species, both have 28 chromosomes, and unlike most other hybrids, their not sterile. However, genetically, their not really compatable, their different shapes for starters, the Campbell is quite slender with a slightly pointy face, whereas the Winter White is more rounded and egg shaped with a blunt rounded face, so interbreeding them causes problems for the mother when giving birth as the pups are typically the wrong shape. They also tend to suffer from genetic conditions such as 'spinning', 'back flipping', head tilt, self mutilation, pulling their fur out, sudden aggression and unsurprisingly they tend to be quite short lived too. On top of that, Cambells have a tendency to suffer from diabetes, a good breeder will monitor their stock and not breed from any carriers or sufferers, but pet shops don't, so nearly all hybrid dwarves go diabetic, and because most owners don't have a clue about it, they don't know how to manage it or what to avoid to stop it going worse. Winter Whites don't have a tendency to get it so if you get a hybrid with more WW in it you might be lucky, but it's sheer pot luck if you are or not.
Cambells are not as placid natured as Winter Whites (often referred to as dwarf Syrians due to their laid back demeanour) and can be nippy. If their from a good breeder they can be sweet natured, but in my experience even the well bred ones nipped a little, and for this reason out of the two, WW's make better children's pets. They also tend to be slower moving so easier to catch and hold.
Cage wise they also need 6mm bars or they can squeeze out, and the cage preferably needs to be long and flat not tall and high as their not very good climbers. You can keep more than one together if you follow the 'two or more of everything' rule, but more often than not dwarf hamsters start fighting and need seperating before any major arguments break out. Very few remain together and those that do have owners who are constantly vigilant and put in a lot of effort to make it work.
Feeding Campbells is slightly trickier because of their being prone to developing diabetes (although not so bad as the hybrids). A diabetic hamster should have no fresh fruit (too sugary) and all of the corn pieces ( anything yellow basically) should be removed from the food. A diabetic hamster can't be cured but a careful diet can help the problem, and in some instances almost diminish it altogether, sometimes giving an extension on life expectancy. Otherwise Campbells tend to be as fit and healthy as the others.
Hope this helps you:)
Can you tell the difference (just by looking) between a pure winter white/Campbell and a hybrid?
Your welcome Ebony, hamsters are one of my pet projects so I'm more than happy to help you:) . In fact I'm glad the mods put this in here as I rarely, if ever venture into the general section so I'd have never seen your thread!
You can, if you know what your looking for. It is a much easier task if you have all three alongside each other to compare, as the differences become more obvious and noteable.
The easiest way of knowing is the colour of the hamster, this is the most obvious indication your looking at a hybrid if your unsure by shape/other characteristics, because Winter Whites don't come in the same colours as Campbells. Campbells come in a vast variety of colours and patterns such as mottled and argente as well as a satin coat type, whereas WW's only have three varieties, normal (the wild agouti colour a bit like a wild rabbit), sapphire (a slate blue with a white underside) and pearl (silvery white), though pearl is a pattern so you can get agouti pearls and sapphire pearls. Pure Winter Whites also have three 'arches' ( where the top fur meets the underside), a dorsal and two side ones, Campbells have only one line ( dorsal stripe), and many WW's have a noticeable 'diamond' shape on their heads which the Cambells don't have. So if you go to a shop and get sold a 'rare mandarin winter white' you are being sold a hybrid because the colour simply doesn't exist! 'Mandarin', 'mushroom', 'djungarian' are terms shops apply to give the 'cute factor' and make it seem like your getting a rare type, in the same way Syrians get labelled 'teddy bear' and 'panda' for various coat type/colour to make them sound different - the hamster world version of designer dogs basically:p.
This is a pure sapphire Winter White:
http://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/y393/DarkWillow1630/IMG_3154_zpsb670b054.jpg
http://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/y393/DarkWillow1630/new%20Dwarfs/IMG_3166_zps7770eab8.jpg
He's got a rounded 'egg shaped' podgy body, a rounded blunt face, little ears and three distinctive arches on his sides.
This is a pure Campbells Russian Dwarf:
http://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/y393/DarkWillow1630/new%20Dwarfs/4C970628-DBF8-41CC-B438-CDCF0173976D_zps106toeau.jpg
http://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/y393/DarkWillow1630/IMG_3170_zps74a37a1d.jpg
She's a different shape, smaller and finer, her face is more pointy with larger ears and she has a noticeable stripe running down her back.
This is a hybrid:
http://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/y393/DarkWillow1630/4B1A2DD7-0C13-4DE9-9715-582709A44691_zpshdgbxzwo.jpg
http://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/y393/DarkWillow1630/448F250B-D05A-4363-AD0C-0FE7068CE3A1_zpsvkbbfqzd.jpg
Both vaguely resemble a mix of both species, but they don't have the same body or face shape, their ears are slightly larger and the top one has no noticeable arches nor is he the colour of a winter white.hybrids also tend to be slightly bigger overall than Campbells and WW's though you can't tell from the pics. The two top hamsters came from a top breeder and pure lines, the bottom two were from two different pet stores.
To be kept pure the lines must be all Campbells or all Winter Whites, any genes from another species and the hamster is a hybrid, even if it has several generations of pure Cambell or WW genes, one WW in a Campbell line or vice versa and all future offspring will be hybrids. This is why dwarf breeders work so hard and strive for pure lines, to keep purebred dwarfs from being lost amongst the hybrids. It's basically the equivalent of dog breeders breeding for pure lines and pedigree to stop the breed from being lost in the sea of designer crossbreeds. It is much harder to get a purebred dwarf than it is a hybrid, you have to find a breeder whose got or will have a litter available, whereas with a hybrid you can walk into virtually any pet shop and get one there and then. No genuine breeder would be able to supply chains of petshops, nor would they ever give their baby animals to be sold in one, therefore the stores can't get pure dwarfs so get hybrids from their own sources instead, which of course, the majority of joe public has no idea about.The bottom line is no matter what it's advertised as, all pet shop 'Russian' dwarfs are hybrids, even if they say their not and state their 'genuine Campbells or WW's' unless the shop can give you the breeders details and/ or the pedigree papers they most certainly are hybrids and should be treated and kept on a diet as such. The diabetes the Campbells are prone to getting is far far higher in hybrids.
This is my little WW Alfie
http://i824.photobucket.com/albums/zz164/snowted/image.jpg1_zps64rmzzh3.jpg
Aww he's lovely! Who did you get him from? I love WW's their so nice natured, if you don't have space for a Syrian their a great alternative. I forgot to say, hybrids can change colour in the winter like WW's too, and some pure WW never change colour at all, it depends where you keep them. WW kept in good lighting generally won't change colour.
I got him from a pet shop
I forgot that they change colour so got a shock when one night he came out and he had changed, I was like what the hell, where's Alfie lol!
He's the nicest hamster I've had, wish I had of got dwarf hamsters years ago ^_^
That's so sad, I'm sorry for your losses