When do Roborovskis Breed ?

[Hamcrazie]

I have 4 roborovski hamsters living together. The 3 males are siblings and the female was added a month later. The four are all about 3 - 4 months old. It has been more than a month since the female came but the males dont seem to like her. They do not fight but the three simply do not join the female. The female usually hide in the corner to sleep alone. Is there a way to let the others accept her ?

I am hoping to breed them. How old do roborovskis start mating ? I heard that it is difficult to breed roborovskis. Is that true ? How many hamsters can I keep together ? If I plan to introduce other females, what is the best way to do it so that the rest will accept the newcomer ?

Also, I noticed that 2 of the hamsters have chipped ears recently. I dont see them fight that fiercely. But I dont know what they do in the middle of the night. Could they have hurt themselves scratching or more likely fighting ? I hope someone can help.
Tks.

[pEbBLePoO]

Dear Hamcrazie, Actually, i have a theory. I don't believe roborovskis can actually be kept as a mixed sex colony once they begin wanting to mate.

If you observe their behavior carefully, a male will start to gain interest in your female and the both of them will interact more often with each other than the other 2 males will. In this sense, i consider him the "alpha", or the dominant male. Why? because he is usually the biggest of the other males in the colony.

But very different from the hirachy some other animals have, the dominant male does not want to lead a pack of other robos. roborovskis will want to be alone when tehy are ready to mate.

It is through this that you will see the mating pair killing of the other hamsters in the lot on by one. I have noticed this many times in my roborovski set ups. Often, the female also takes part in the killing. I am presumming that in the wild, roborovskis are able to travel great distance away from the colony to make and start a new colony, but in the tank, they only way to "move away" from the others was to kill.

What i suggest here, presumming the two with bitten ears are both males, is that this shows a sign the couple wants to mate. Seperate the two from the rest, even if just for the sake of experimentation, and wait a month or so. The gestation period for robos is a month.

If you choose not to seperate the pair, i'm quite cetain in a few months, the two males would be dead.

I once kept many robos together and actually many months earlier, the pair had already seem to "court", spending time together. But the killing took a long time, sometimes a few would die at a time, other times the killing would cease on months end. This (systematic?) killing took place in a tank that had many many hiding places, and it was long (4 feet with 10robos) so i would not think the killing was due to overcrowding. I have not noticed a pattern to that.

This is probably not a popularly held theory as many like to believe roborovskis are gentle little shy animals. If anyone has similar expericense, do share it with us.

Hamcrazie, do tell us your progress with the robos.

regards.

[Hamcrazie]

Hi pEbBLePoO

Do you mean robos really kill each other ? They seem like really tame animals, even compared to other hamsters.

But my hamsters are only about 3 months old. Arent they still too early to begin mating ? It seems like the males are actually the ones not letting the female join in. They play together but when it comes to sleeping, the males and the females sleep at opposite corners of the cage. They seem to 'hate' the female more than each other.

If I do separate the hamsters now, will they accept each other again if I ever put them together later on ?

If I do get new mates for my other two males, must they be around the same age? Will they accept younger mates, say one month old babies ? Will the young ones be bullied?

Hope to hear from you soon. Tks.

[pEbBLePoO]

Yes, robos do indeed kill each other. I have lost enough to know tehy do fight. Robos attack one another much like other hamsters. tiny scruffles happen all the time, but when they fight, it's the bloody mess that you will notice around his hindlegs.

Do you know which are the two that are unjured at the ears? have you seen what sex they are?

About the alienation of the female during sleep, i guess it is alright. As you have mentioned, they welcome the female when playing so i wouldn't worry about that. Hamsters do like to find for themselves a personal spot where they will go to eat and sleep.

Whether or not they accept each other again in the future if you seperate them is arguable. It very much depends on the personality of your individual hamsters. But obviously, if you were to re-introduce the mating pair to the other two, they are still going to end up fighting since the mating pair wants to be alone.

You do not need to introduce mates who are the same age as your boys. The males will not mate with the female till after she reaches sexual maturity though. They will accept new friends more readily if the boys themselves are still not yet sexually mature. I doubt introducing any now will cause fights, but when your girls become sexually mature, and pair off, the pair would then want to be alone from your other pairs too.

[Hamcrazie]

Hi pEbBLePpO

I talked to the person at the pet store. She thinks the fighting could be due to the desire to mate or boredom or fighting for food. I rule out the last two reasons because they have lots of toys to play with. And they always have food left over.

I have separated the hamsters after I noticed that 2 of the males and the female have torned ears. I dont want any more injuries. Actually the female one is hurt the most. Her ear was bleeding. Now i have put the female with a male in one cage and the two other males in another. But I am not sure that is the male mate she wants, though.

Have you breed roborovskis before ? Can you give me some pointers ? If the female does not accept the male I put her with, should I chage another mate for her? How long should I wait before doing so ?

[pEbBLePoO]

Finally! Thanks for seperating the two. Yes, i have breed roborovskis before - breeding is very different from just happening to find a female pregnant rmember. Infact, robos are something i particularly enjoy. I never recommend anyone breed (allow their hamsters to get pregant) unless you intended it in the frist place. You should have choosen the pair from healthy broods, and feed them properly. They should have been kept together since young and not subjected to stresses like fights in your case - this could affect the health of the mother. This is a responsibility we have to take because unhealthy births will be small, weak, and the runts often deformed. But it looks like you're going ahead to let them breed anyway.

If you notice from diff websites, not just message boards, you will find people who complain about how their robos never mated, and who others rejoiced at their apparent ease at breeding them. If you pay attention, you will see that those who didn't have probs bought just a pair, and those who had probs, bought more than just a pair.

But what you mentioned here about the female also having bitten ears does pose an arguing point. Would you mind taking chances for a while more to see if this continues? If indeed it does stop now, then it should be ok. The ears do not really heal in the sense that it forms one smooth ear back, but you should notice that the bullying stops.

Lastly, if the fighting does stop, you should remove them - but i'm hoping it does. As for how long you should leave them, it's very much on your decernment, if anyone has a bloody bottom, it's a serious fight - should seperate them.

As for pointers, i noticed that being timid with humans ard, you could try putting in a low "perch" or curve she could rest her babies in. I noticed my mothers love to built her nest either under the small wooden "bridges", inside the habitrial outpost thing, or inside a wheel. if you use woodshaving or hay, it's not necessary to provide any extra nesting materials, but if you use things that crumble down like All Pet Pine, you might like to give her some un-inked and un-bleached paper. She may chew them up into smaller bits to built her nest, but she may just leave it alone too.