Ander, robos are not easy to tame. And you just got him right? He's probably still under stress from moving, changing diets, etc etc. So give him a little time.

The companion can be male. Most males do well with other males.

You are taming a wild robo. There's going to be exasperation as well as a little hurt. The robo is just doing what robos do, and they're a terribly cautious lot.

About his fur, just give him some bathing sand. Should solve the problem. Once he settles in and is comfortable with his surroundings, you may start taming him.

For sand bath, it depends on the individual ham. My fat fat used to "pretend" to sand bath in her empty food dish (I used to use the exo terra flat dish cuz there were about 5 in a tank and all wanna get in the bowl at the same time). So she had an instant liking to sand bathing. Yuki, did not sand bath. In fact, she hardly went to the sand bath area.

But when I introduced them both together, after a while, Yuki picked up sand bathing as well as self grooming only in the sand bath area. So my guess is, they can learn how to sand bath from their companions.

Well.... At least they don't bath with the same sand they pee in right? You have that to be thankful about.

Lol, then maybe that's why they are confused. I think the bowl you're using will smell like pee no matter how you wash. So they think that's their toilet?

Iluv2zzzz, how big is your tank? Just leave both kinds of sand in to let them sort out the confusion la. The worse thing that can happen is both sand will be used as toilet.

change new container also. See how. Toilet training is either instantaneous or insufferably exasperating.

Eh.... It depends on your hamster. Some like it, some doesn't. Fat Fat and Pastel LOVES egg white but Rump and Yuki hardly touches it. Some robos like mealies and some don't. Robos prove to be possible picky eaters so serving a variety of protein foods is good.

I think you should check your hams' enclosures in case they buried the egg in shavings. My robos used to bury everything they don't like.

lol, jovyn. Use tweezers. They are a remarkable creation. The savior of people who have skirmishes for creepy crawlies and wriggly wormies.

@imperialacs : I'm so sorry for your loss... May your hammie rest in peace over the rainbow bridge.

@jovyn: I bury all my dead hams. In my bf's place where they first lived, or in the playground near my house. My house got no place to bury. Mainly concrete.

Hahha. Must plan first ma. When the incident is right on top of you, you won''t know what to do. Then your pet will end up in the thrash.

As for myself, my current pets, if they pass away, they each get a beautiful pot which I want plant something beautiful on top. So it'll be like they passed away as a hamster and reborn as a flower.

Lol, congrats sophie! She just climb up your hand for fun? You have yourself a real special ham with an attitude.

Recently the weather's bee so hot. My hams empty their toilet sand and sleep in the bowl.

My goodness. I have to wash the toilet bowl everyday cuz they have the habit of doing that nowadays. The place you keep her is very hot?

Attack? Attack then not good already right? Watch your hams carefully. Letter fight until 1 is seriously injured, it'll just be so saddening.

Nowadays weather too hot. Can see all the shavings one side, then bare tank on the other. My hams even clean away all the shavings at their eat and drink corner. They usually love tissue so much.

Maybe wet tail? You can check for injury or the tail wet or not. Or heat stroke? So hot nowadays.

Heat stroke can be fatal if not taken care of in time. Or it ca be just a stroke. Someone' hamster died overnight of a stroke and there were no apparent symptom cuz the hamster was lively the night before, as he had been for months.

It could be other things or diseases that it had and you were not aware of.

Inbred hamsters tend to shrivel up before they die, as in quickly becoming old and inactive before death. So it's not inbred problems.

BTW I'm so sorry for your loss.

This post has been edited by Jamien: Oct 31 2008, 10:59 PM

I'm not good with hamsters other than syrians and robos (and not too expert at syrian. ) but aren't both of those winter white?

@Mikkiz: Hams tend to drink little, depending on how much fresh food they take. You sure her drinking has reduced?

Sophie she look so cute and chubby!! XD

But looks like an aged hammie. And the fur is quite oily and messy. Could be a inbred condition. But comparing to some, her fur is still relatively healthy.

The butt part looks a bit dirty though. Is her poo soft or something?

Then should be ok la. But please make sure they're the same gender. Robos have bad inbreeding rates in Malaysia. Anymore inbreeding may cause unwanted conditions like thin fur, lack of 1 limb or lame, shrunken muscles, etc etc. Short to say, not pretty. Since you bought them together and they're from the same store and same age, they're possibly siblings or similarly related.

@sophie: I think she can't groom that area cuz she can't balance on her lost leg right? 2-3 years is a very great age. She aged well for a ham with special needs. Her butt area's dirt is kinda funny though.

When still hairless pinkies, females clearly have nipples while males don't.

I really never see this butt condition before. My robs always groomed themselves frequently and is clean at the butt and everywhere else.

Try to re-introduce your pair of father and son on a clean and neutral ground. If you suddenly drop 1 ham on another ham's territory, of course they'll fight. It's my experience that related hams like father and son, brothers and cousins can mix well. Unless they're used to staying alone, then that's a different story and need a delicate approach.

Aeon, put up a post in adoption thread. Many people browse there rather than here (there are people who wants hamsters but never entered the ham thread). Good luck.