Robo Hamsters?

[BrianaK]

Does anyone have one? I'm thinking about getting a pair for my sister and I. Are they really as friendly as advertised? And is true they don't urinate as much as a normal hamster?

[LP.]

I had a few a year ago. They are really friendly, unless I just got lucky. They are very quick though. Mine always liked to jump out of my hand or whatever they were on and see what would happen. Very energetic and dare-devilish. I never heard about them urinating less then any other hamster though.

Edit; Adding to the friendly thing, I only got bit once by one of the 3 I had because I decided to let him eat out of my hand. No blood though. Just a little scrape.

[Rhasputin]

Out of all the hamsters I've ever had or handled, these are the most hyper, and the most nippy and hard to predict.

They ARE however. . . The cutest damn hamsters ever.
If you get a pair, they won't be able to live together without fighting either.

[Rehannon]

I have two at the moment. ^_^

They actually aren't that friendly, really. They're not mean, but more often than not they're too hyper to be held. I don't really handle either of mine. My male is a rescue and too terrified of people, and my female just doesn't like to have to be still in my hand! If you want to be able to hold them, you'll have to put in a lot of work to socialize them and still hope you get lucky. Most hamster people consider Robos to be more of a "fun to watch but not to be handled" kind of pet, like tarantulas and scorpions. I will also say that if you hold one and drop it onto the floor, you will probably never catch it.

Robos are the most likely hamster species to successfully be kept together, but even still the odds are not great. If you want to try a pair, do same-sex siblings. Always have a spare cage on standby for if/when they need to be separated. They will squabble from time to time (which will wake you up if they're in your bedroom!), but if it results in blood they need to be separated or one or both will end up dead. Some pairs will go six months or even a year before they need to be separated, so always be prepared.

Also keep in mind that Robos are super active runners and they need plenty of space and a good quality wheel. A 20 gallon tank or similar sized cage is the minimum for one, and a pair would need even more room. Barred cages are also not such a god idea unless you cover the cage with wire mesh, because they can get through the bars of almost all cages. Most Robo owners do bin cages, which are clear plastic storage tubs converted into a cage. (I use bin cages.)

I've never heard that about urination, and I can tell you from experience that if they urinate less than my other hamsters, it sure doesn't smell like it. @_@

Robos are the cutest things on the planet, though. Here are mine:

Maksim, lounging in his sand box. <3


Dasha, a marbled-pattern mutation that's new to the trade.

[anatess]

Never again...

We got robo hamsters before. I will never again own one even if my kids beg and plead and clean the entire house for a year...

The ones we had were nippy and impossible to handle. They stay on your hand for 2 seconds and then they're OFF! Unless you squeeze them tight in your fists, they're gone. I got lucky I was able to trap them before they figured out a way inside the motor housing of the refrigerator.

They're very tiny, so 2 robos wouldn't soil as much as 2 regular hamsters. But, I found it difficult to clean their habitrail because I have a hard time transferring them to another container while I clean their house without them running off and disappearing on me. I took them back to the store and exchanged them for Russian dwarfs. The Russians were mean (I had russians before and they weren't mean at all, so it must be just this line of it) and would bite any finger closeby but I was okay with it because at least I can keep them from running lose in the house.

[Rehannon]

Yeah, Robos take a fair deal of taming and shouldn't be kept in a habitrail as the round design can actually make rodents insane. I'm sorry you had a bad experience.

As a rule, you should allow a new pet of any kind to settle in and not handle for the first week or better. Hamsters will be extremely flighty and nippy when you first bring them home, even when they are really sweet in the pet shop. They will calm down a little every day, but it does take baby steps to get them used to you. My new hybrid, who I've had for a week now, totally freaked out when I first tried to handle her a few days ago and dove out of my hand and landed head first on top of her wheel. I was really worried that she was hurt. Thankfully, she's fine, and we've had to slow things down even more. I know she'll be a sweet girl as soon as she chills out.

"Russians", AKA Campbell's dwarf hamsters, do need to be bred for temperament or you will get little bastards who just like to bite. I've had two like that. It's also a little-known fact that the damn pet stores should put in every cage... Campbell's tend to be territorial and cage-aggressive, so if you stick your hand into their space it's more common for them to bite than to not. Territorial Campbell's can be taken out of their cage with a cup, ladle, or even a gloved hand, and they are usually very sweet once out of their cage.

And another good factoid: My Robos eat, drink, pee, and poop just as much as any of my Campbell's, and they eat, drink and poop just as much as my Syrian (though the poo pellets are smaller, of course). The two I have also seem to get their cage smelly faster than my Campbell's, I guess because their urine is even more concentrated. Robos have a faster metabolic rate than Campbell's, and they both have a faster metabolic rate than Syrians.