Originally Posted by EbonyHamster:
“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