My next little girl?

[lyn]

Sooo....How is Frasier doing after his tooth trimming experience, and how is your progress with Ping? Just being nebby.

[Hamsters82]

I bet he didn't like it when the vet did his tooth trimming, but I bet it felt good afterwards! I remember that's how Chewie was.

That's great that you may get Ping! And I like his name.

[pinky]

Frasier was able to have his ONE long tooth clipped without anesthesia again (seriously, only one of them grows!), saving me big $$!

And as for Ping, here's what she looks like (not her--just a representative photo):



She's a Robo dwarf, not a Campbell's! Now the info Jody sent me about her all makes sense. So this will be a new chapter for the Crazy Hamster Lady: having a fast little ham that may or may not ever be able to be held and petted. But that's ok.

She is in a Habitrail Ovo, which looks to be the cage cleaning nightmare:



But it's well-suited to robo activity with its tubes, "floor space", and places to hide.

I am letting her settle in for the time being--no interaction till tomorrow AM when she will be looking for food. It took Jody a month to get her to take food from her hand; I am not going to rush anything here, though if she appears curious I will offer her something. It will be strange to have a ham that I can feed fruit and carrots to after all this time having Campbell's dwarfs on a diabetic diet.

So welcome, Ping!

[lyn]

Congratulations on your new little girl. Those Ovo cages are horrible to clean. I have my Robo girls in a ten gallon tank with a side hanging water bottle, bowl, little wicker hut, little plastic hut and a removable wheel. Also a heavy metal screen on top so the birds can't get in there.
I pick up the girls every blue moon, but they are very squirmy and I have got bitten on the lip while trying to kiss their noses. So now I just reach in and pet them a little. The chance of dropping them is great when you hold them too. She will bring you great joy.

[Hamsters82]

Ping is soo cute! I mean I know you said that wasn't her, but still that is a cute photo. And after you bring her home, can't you change the cage she's in? You and Lyn are right, it looks horrible to clean and reassemble.

So when will she be coming home?

[Die Fledermaus]

I once got some Habitrails from some very nice people when Rainy the Syrian had babies (from the pet store--why gender separation is so important). I kept all the babies, and their story goes all the way back to the earliest posts in Hamsters here on RR.

My point is that I eventually tried the Habitrails with dwarfs. They love to pee and poop IN TUBES, unlike Syrians who do it in one place, such as a corner. it became quite a mess, with brown ooze coming out of the joints. But, as I recall, I had three or four dwarfs, so maybe it won't be too messy for you. But it looks like great fun for her.

I have pretty much retired the Habitrails as they are too fragile with cats around; I have no dwarfs at the moment, and only one Syrian (in a tank). Spiny mice were in the Habitrails but, again, they are being moved out, also it can be a little messy. I will always keep the Habitrails as some very nice people gave them to me free.

It is kind of melancholy to think of all the now deceased hamsters who lived in the Habitrails and
also retired Crittertrails.

Best wishes for Ping. We look forward to photos of her in that Ovo thing. I assume you sexed her, to be sure??

[pinky]

>>I assume you sexed her, to be sure?<<

More on this later when I have time. . . ;D

[pinky]

Well, I read up a little on Robos. One thing I read that caught my interest (because Frasier had issues with his) is that males can have a yellowish stain on their bellies from the scent gland. I started thinking. . . . hey, didn't I see a yellowish area on Ping as she made her way up the tube? I thought it might be a pee stain, but. . . . so I looked again when she shimmied up a tube and noted the swellings at the hind end. . . and later the penile opening. So. . . let me introduce MR. Ping!






In this one I think he got water on his head, and he is eating a shelled pumpkin seed.

He is taking seeds from me when I open the cage lid a crack and hold one there, so he is not a fraidy cat, but he IS easily spooked and moves SO fast. The only experience I've had that is similar was with Fuzz Anthony as a prepubescent youngster: small and very quick at that age!

He is eating well and seems to be becoming accustomed to the drill. He tends to appear when he hears the cage door being unlatched. . . . could that be because food appears then?

I will eventually move him to an aquarium or bin--the Ovo is kinda cool for him to navigate but he really needs more space and I need something that I can clean more easily than that thing! I dread having to get him out of it to change bedding. Jody said that she had a ball that he would climb into if a treat was put in. It must have been a really tiny ball to fit in the main OVO compartment! The one I have is really too large. I will have to use something else and try not to traumatize him too badly. I hate chasing hams around to catch them.

lyn: any advice on how best to catch him in the Ovo?

[Hamsters82]

Mr. Ping is very cute! And that's neat that he'll be getting a new home (cage) soon. I bet he'll like it much better. I have a feeling he'll get used to you pretty quickly.

[Die Fledermaus]

I figured he might be sexed wrong. Took me quite a while (and a few nips) to get the knack. I also used a Q-Tip to push back fur.

Thought the Ovo had lots of room. The bedding, as I suggested, should not be that bad as they will usually do their business in tubes--which might be more problematic than bedding. After awhile I put in TP rolls in a dwarf tank. . . and they happily did their stuff in the tube, which soon started to get wet, and was easily disposed of, and replaced!

Why is it hard to catch him? Let him run into a small section or tube and then disconnect it. Dump him out when ready. Any kind of tube (such as a Chube) or bottle they can run into works for captures. I always did that.

Just realized, there is no scale in the OVO photo, although a dwarf on the box, so I don't really know how big it is relevant to a real dwarf. Although I get the idea. Don't know what a dwarf would like most--that, or a 15 gallon tank with a mesh wheel, wooden house, and some tubes of some kind on the bedding.

The problem I had with the Habitrail tubes was the connectors which never seemed to seal tight enough or secure enough. This seems to be a better design. But you please tell us, as I would especially like to know that.

As I said above in this thread, I have pretty much phased out my cages and other such in favor of cages, but that is primarily due to the cats; plus spiny mice like to have more height to climb on.

Mr Ping looks good, and he is one lucky critter!