Update on The Boyz!

[pinky]

Two weeks here, and Ping and I have become better friends. He is far less afraid of my hand, taking food from it when my whole hand is in the cage and sometimes maneuvering around it with his body touching it the whole time. I still have to be careful not to move fast, though. The biggest news, though, is that I moved him into Ethel's old aquarium. From everything I've read Robos are a lot like Chinese hamsters in loving to burrow and to run around, and so I thought that a move would give him more open space and make him a happier boy. Already he has turned the landscape upside down with his digging into the Carefresh bedding, which is really good for tunneling. I have no idea where he is right now! I was worried about how I would get him out of the Ovo, but I remembered what Jody had said about a ball and so I bought a new one, put it in the Ovo with some seeds in it, and he went right in. I covered the opening with my hand, put the ball in the tank, and the deed was done!

I may eventually let him out in the ball, since she said he liked it, but for now I want him to get comfy in his new digs. I will be watching to see if he uses the water bottle, or if I need to keep putting out a dish of water.

One motivation for moving him is related to maintenance. I hadn't even attempted to clean the Ovo yet in the two weeks. The tank will be so much easier to maintain. So it's a win-win for him and for me.

He is just so darling, and he really does like to watch what's going on. I like it when hamsters respond to certain sounds and/or my voice, and he certainly responded to the opening of the Ovo. I think he's got a sense of my voice, too. The true test is whether he'll unbury himself when it's food time!

Speaking of food, he is eating well. He doesn't seem to be too thrilled with apple, but ohhhh, broccoli is great stuff! And if I give him a tiny bit of cooked oatmeal too it disappears fast! I should give him the parts of Frasier's Hazel Hamster food that he can't eat because of dietary restrictions/his teeth issues, which is unfortunately more than half of it! He can't eat seeds, for instance. Frasier gets a lot of fresh food to compensate for that. I weigh him regularly to make sure he's getting what he needs. When his teeth went bad he initially lost a lot of weight.

My dear scruffy boy had another tooth trim Friday. The vet and I agreed that every 2.5 weeks is optimal, because the tooth curves so much as it grows. But with the vet around the corner and the procedure done without anesthesia it's manageable.

So all is well with The Boyz! ;D

[Die Fledermaus]

I think they have reached Hamster Heaven here on Earth!

Hard to type right now--Aurora is sleeping on my lap as we watch the Super Bowl.

I know what you mean about sounds and such. I have a spiny mouse in a tank near my bed, and he reacts more to me, that after I moved him out of a Habitrail, as I posted about around a week ago.

The personality differences in the cats (even the siblings) is extraordinary. of course, I knew hamsters had different personalities after Rainy's litter early in 2003--they were all a little (or a lot) different. Those stories are among the earliest on RR.

The Ovo will be sued for something? A play area? I did that with Syrians; no Ovo then, but I would put them somewhere to search and forage. They do NOT want to "escape"; they want to forage and return home with their goodies. Not sure to what extent dwarfs do that.

Best to them.

[pinky]

I would need to find time to clean the Ovo before I could use it for something. The problem with it is that it's hard to get a ham out of it on short notice. I will eventually set up Ethel's old play bin for Ping, I think.

I am getting Ping used to being on my hand in an interesting way. He likes to hang out in his paper towel tube; I pick it up with both hands, holding them so that if he wants to leave the tube he has to crawl onto my hand and then down onto the bedding. He will do that without freaking out.

I put him into a ball while I cleaned his cage. When I saw how fast he could get that thing going I realized that I had to put him somewhere where he wouldn't be able to get to cruising speed, because the force of him smacking into something then just seemed too great for that little body. So he rolled around in a room with many obstacles--lots to hit, but never at high speed.

Frasier went in for another trim, and I told the vet that I now had a Robo. He said he seldom saw Robos and that he looked forward to meeting him. I laughed and said, "Despite the recent past, I HAVE had hamsters that haven't needed a vet!" Actually, there has been only one, Critter. She lived to 3.5.

So things are good in HamsterLand.

[lyn]

Those Ovo cages are a true pain in the bum. A small aquarium would be ideal for both of you. My two Robo girls share a 10 gallon fish tank with a mesh top and they love it. Half the time I can't find them because of their little burrowing system they have. They tunnel in the Carefresh bedding. The lazy bums even have a tunnel going from their hut to the water bottle spout. I continuously move the bedding around so it doesn't touch the spout or it will drain the water out. Please give Frasier and Ping my love. Glad everyone is doing good.

[Die Fledermaus]

I mentioned my main issue with the Habitrail tubes were the locks--they were not secure enough, and they leaked (dwarf poo!).

>>Frasier went in for another trim<<

Why so many? Maybe if he had something hard to gnaw on? I give rats hazelnuts now and then and they get the nut. BTW, squirrels can go through a walnut in several seconds if so inclined!

[pinky]

Why so many:

When I got my scruffy boy he had normal teeth and could eat anything. At some point it appeared that his top incisors had broken off because the bottom ones became overgrown. Since then it has become apparent that the top incisors now barely grow, the one incisor on the bottom barely grows, and the other incisor grows indiscriminately with a sharp curve. His teeth never come together properly to wear down OR to open seeds or bite off pieces of a larger food item. Therefore, he has to have frequent trims so that the one tooth doesn't end up in his upper gum. His food needs to be small enough that his molars can grind it since he can't make anything smaller than it already is. He can't really bite me because he can't get a grip (but he tries with a vengeance when he defends his cage against the Big Bad Mommy Hand--this is when he also boxes with me, which is sooo cute).

Sooooo. . . it's complicated! ;D

[pinky]

I am really happy with Ping's level of acclimatization--he still moves like lightning when startled, but it takes more to startle him these days. I can move my hand around in the cage some and he is usually ok with it. He will smell and explore it, and has only nibbled once when I had some food odor on a finger. His tank and Frasier's are only a few feet apart now, in a room with better temperature control; I would figure that they know each other is there. As one is a wheel pee-er and one is potty-trained there is almost always one tank that can be smelled from a distance! But what's a little hamster pee? ;D

[Die Fledermaus]

I see why all the tooth trimming.

Glad he has settled in so well. It helps when you only have a few.