# My sons russian hamsters keep escaping



## Blado (Oct 16, 2012)

Hi all this is my first post here, im desperate for advice. my sons nanan bought 4 russian hamsters ( all born together girls) and a cage, all was well untill I heard scratching one evening, the tube on the ''Duna Fun Hamster Home by Ferplast'' had come off and hamsters escaped. once caught and the cage put back together all was ok, but last night the same thing happened and my lad was distraught as he thought they were going to die, as it took ages to get them as they were obviously scared to death. 
All help advice would be great thankyou


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## peter0 (Oct 4, 2011)

All i can say really is to get a new cage and a better made one.

Russian dwarves from pet shops are normally a hybrid hamster of two species called Winter Whites and Campbells Dwarves. They ideally should have a one level big cage with no shelving as they can become territorial over a shelf and i'm sure they should have one of each toy you put in (ie: 1 wheel per hamster and same with houses/huts etc) and it's probably best to scatter feed their food so they can't fight over the food bowl and have various water bottles too. 

Good cages would probably be a large tank or a ZooZone 2 (you would have to mesh the bars at the top as it's actually a rabbit cage but too small for rabbits)

Other cages that are good are:

Barney Pet Cage (From Zooplus)

Alexander Cage (Zooplus)

Alaska Cage (Zooplus)

Igor Hamster Cage (equinecaninefeline.com)

Kevin 82 (equinecaninefeline.com)

Hamsters should ideally live alone but since yours are birth mates and have lived together okay for now it can work if you make sure there is no fights and they're all happy. If you ever have to split them up for whatever reason a good cage is the Ferplast Kios (Zooplus) as it's a good size for a single dwarf hamster and a good price


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## LittlePaws AnimalRescue (Sep 11, 2012)

What Peter said!

The duna fun is barely big enough for 1 hamster let alone 4.
They need much much more space, a zoozone2 at the minimum.

And with multiple hamsters you need multiple items in the cage....so 4 wheels, 4 houses etc.

Also levels for multiple hamsters is a big no-no. They can cause them to become territorial over a level and then lead to them fighting.


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## Blado (Oct 16, 2012)

thankyou so much for your replys I have ordered the zoozoo 2 and extra bottles, toys, wheels, etc. hopefully all or most will be here tomorrow 
thankyou again


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## peter0 (Oct 4, 2011)

That's brilliant. I'm sure your girls will be very happy in there as it's huge!

And they won't have any tubes to knock out to get out and have a play


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## kiania (Feb 21, 2011)

With four hybrids, you'll also want to be prepared for squabbles. About 6-12 months they will go through puberty, which means scraps. Boxing and a smidge of blood is 'okay', but if anyone gets more than a few drops of blood type of damage, you need to split the colony to stop them bullying each other.

This is the same for all of the dwarf hamsters - puberty means the hierarchy shifts, and they get antsy. Some get through it okay, but with a colony of four, you've got exponentially more squabbles compared to the more common 'pair'. So do prepare around the 6 month mark to have a spare cage on stand-by.

With four wheels, scatter feeding, four hidey-holes, and a number of water sources, you should be able to minimise squabbling, but there is no guarantee (females are as bad, if not worse than males apparently!).

Don't forget that with hybrids you also need to watch their diet as they are diabetic-prone. This means no fruit, no high-in-sugar veggies (carrot being the main one here!), no honey-based treats, no flaked maize/corn and no dried peas in the food, and the lowest amount of sugar possible. Personally, I use the RatRations mix (here: Dwarf Hamster - Basic - £1.38 : ratRations.com ) as this is made specifically for dwarf hamsters that are diabetic prone (so you don't have to pick out some ingredients - and they actually will eat everything rather than pet shop mixes where they leave the alfalfa bits which are completely unnecessary for them!).

I'd also consider taking a look at the Hamster Central forums for more information on how to manage a hybrid colony: - Hamster Central

Not sure I'd call a ZZ2 'huge' myself, it is about right for 2 dwarfs - with four, they will be a little friendly, but it is a large improvement on the duna fun  With dwarfs, the best thing is that they dig, I'd advise anyone getting dwarfs to go for a glass tank so you can watch them while they dig - myself, I'm an avid advocate for the detolf (£40 glass cabinet from Ikea, flipped onto it's back) as it is the best cost versus size enclosure on the 'market' (even if it is marketed as people furniture rather than a hamster cage  ).


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## Blado (Oct 16, 2012)

Thankyou v much, I like the idea of the glass cabinet Im going to look into that  in hindsight we really should have done research on these hamsters before taking them on ( Im not saying we wouldnt have took them on , just would have been beter for them if we were clued up first ) glad I found this place andf Im really greatfull for all your help. the zoozoo 2 arrived and with all the accessories its loooking good Ill take pictures tonight when we put them in ( need to mesh the top and they are all asleep atm dont want to wake them and turf them out of there home lol ) thankyou again


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## Louiseandfriends (Aug 21, 2011)

I do agree, do be prepared for fights! Separate them if necessary. 

Hopefully, with a big cage and lots of houses, they'll get on!  xx


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## Sarah+Hammies (Jul 20, 2009)

I love dwarf hamsters, they're so full of character. I had 2 hybrids that ended up needing to be separated so it'd be a good idea to keep a spare cage at all times.

Zoozone 2 is a good size cage, I bet they love it. Make sure the top is meshed with fine mesh so they cant squeeze out. Do you have any pics of the little ones enjoying their new home?


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## kiania (Feb 21, 2011)

Blado said:


> Thankyou v much, I like the idea of the glass cabinet Im going to look into that  in hindsight we really should have done research on these hamsters before taking them on ( Im not saying we wouldnt have took them on , just would have been beter for them if we were clued up first ) glad I found this place andf Im really greatfull for all your help.


Consider it a lesson for next time  Most common newbie post on all the specialist pet forums I belong to is "Is my cage okay" or "Can I keep a hamster in this?", when 99.9% of the time it is a thing one wouldn't keep a Zhu Zhu hamster in (let alone a guinea pig!) that the pet shop said was great for a (starter) home. Makes one want to facepalm every time!

If you're looking into detolfs, some quick reading:
My thread on how to turn it into a cage (step by step as we did our first one here), would have to be without the platforms, mine is just for a single hybrid, and platforms are a big no-no for pairs/colonies: Detolfs for robos and hybrids - Hamster Central

The Austrian hamster cage blog (all posts are in English at the bottom), cages of all types to look longingly at  : Naturnahe Hamstergehege: Detolf
In Germany they need at least 30cm deep substrate for a syrian, and about 20cm substrate for dwarfs - something to consider. I've got 20cm in the detolf, not sure of the depth to fill a ZZ2 (mine is in the loft), but you will want to fill up to the top of the blue portion.

Hybrids are cute though (as are most dwarfs tbh!). The diabetic-prone and inherent health problems makes them more costly than people think they will compared to pure-breds, but they are sweet. Mine is sulking at the moment because we went to the vets yesterday as he has a skin-thingy (they weren't terribly explanatory), which fills up with gunk (cheesy-pus, yum!), so needs attention every time it happens. He's fine, but sulky, and I wouldn't replace him


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## LittlePaws AnimalRescue (Sep 11, 2012)

I have a group of 4 robo hamsters in the ikea Detolf....and I keep looking at it and thinking it looks too small!!

Only problem with having to order the detolf (we couldn't have fit the box in the car) is that delivery is another £35 which takes the total price up to £75, it's worth it though as the detolf looks amazing when it's all set up.


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

kiania awesome pages there  I love the ones on the first link with the plants.


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## kiania (Feb 21, 2011)

LittlePaws AnimalRescue said:


> I have a group of 4 robo hamsters in the ikea Detolf....and I keep looking at it and thinking it looks too small!!


For a single dwarf, or a pair, it is a good size. I'm sure I said before, I'm not sure it is big enough for a colony, but it is still much bigger than a ZZ2.

Assuming you fill the ZZ2 up to the top of the blue portion (which most people don't  ) which is the widest point, it is 5100 square cm.

The detolf comes in at 6520 square cm.

Both should be slightly less than that (those are outside dimensions), but they are still comparable enough to see that the detolf has approx 1400 cm2 extra on the ZZ2, which works out as the ZZ2 being 78% of the size of a detolf 

Having said that, for our last dwarf hybrid hamster, I seriously considered connecting two detolfs together, she really used the space. Our current one, well, he's a rescue, and lived in a mini duna for the first year of his life. For the first week after moving in, he stuck to the finacard layer that is about the same floorspace as a mini duna (about 1/4 of the detolf). Treats inside that perimeter vanished, the rest lay untouched. Every time he came out, he looked dazed, he tripped over everything - ledges, substrate, his own feet. And he slept huddled in a corner  It was heart-rendering. Then he took his first step off...and got more confident. He started going downstairs under a chin-sand platform (and not being able to climb back out - cue us moving his water down there!). Now he moves his bed once a week, and carries his bedding from one end of the cage, downstairs to a hut, then back up a vertical climb and an open nest behind his wheel. Biggest open nest you've ever seen, this one, about 20cm square, easy 

Anyway, back on topic!



polishrose said:


> kiania awesome pages there  I love the ones on the first link with the plants.


Do you mean the Naturnahe Hamstergehgege blog? If so, I know - those cages are seriously awesome! Much better than my attempts, although at least mine are enjoyed, if not as pretty!
My favourite one (isn't a Detolf, it is a DIY for a Winter White dwarf) here: Naturnahe Hamstergehege: 2,7m² Traum-Eigenbau / 29ft square DIY dream cage
I would love to have one of those, but I'm not that creative, we don't have the space atm, and my OH's just not that DIY-savvy. I can secretly dream, and save my pennies and hope someone starts making and selling them


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