Class spotlight: Russian Dwarf Hamsters

This is a Roborovski hamster, more commonly called a Robo or simply Russian dwarf hamster. The critter in the image is Jelly. He was born in November 2018, making them over a year old at the time of this post being written. You may recognise him from my instagram post.

They are the smallest of the dwarf hamsters, growing only up to 5cm in adulthood. They are a animal commonly found in the pet trade, being popular in houses with children as they are friendly starter pets. The average lifespan is 3 years, with there being extremes of 4 in the wild. Domestic ones in captivity live to be around 2 in most cases.

At college we have two males. They are called Jelly and Bean. The boys were housed together until they reached sexual maturity and they started fighting, although it is possible for same sex pairs to live in harmony. Jelly is kept in a barred cage while Bean is in a glass cage with levels. They have a shredded paper bedding, and on occasion we give them sand baths. They drink from bowls as it provides a better position for the backs to be in.

Diet wise, they are fed a mix of seeds and hamster kibble in a bowl. You can give treats to your robo in the form of dried insects as they provide protein to them.

That is all for today's class spotlight! I know it's a smaller post, but they are smaller animals. Tomorrow I will be clearing out Saturn and making a video on it, so keep your eyes open in March!
See you next time,
Dari