Roborovski Hamsters

Illnesses

Tumours

Genetics

Roborovski's have 34 chromosomes (Humans have 46 and Syrian Hamsters have 44) they do not seem to have any genetic predisposition to disease although they seem to suffer from "inbreeding depression". This means that when when colonies are left to breed for several generations, the offspring appear to be less fertile and start mating at a later age. As the offspring begin to mate between themselves even more, the pups are born weaker and weaker. It comes to such a stage that only one pup out of 6 survives naturally. it is always best to introduce new bloodlines by mating completely un-related partners.

Taxonomy

Animal Kingdom

ORDER: Rodentia
FAMILY: Cricetidae
GENUS: Phodopus
SPECIE: Roborovskii Please click on the image for a much bigger view of it.

All animals are subdivided in different orders (type of animal) In the case of the hamster this is the order: Rodentia. (Rodents) The rodents are subdivided in different families. The hamster belongs to the family: Cricetidae. The different hamster families are subdivided again in differend genera. The genus is a grouping in the classification of living organisms having one or more related and morphologically similar species.
The genus the Roborovski belongs to, along with the Campbell and the Russian Winter White dwarf hamsters is the genus: Phodopus. And last the specie is: Roborovskii.
The genus and the specie name form the scientific name for the animal, so the full scientific name for the Roborovski hamster is the Phodopus Roborovskii.
Other names this animal is also known by is Desert Hamster.

I'm sorry about the grainy quality of the image.

*Please note, most of the text on this page has been taken from http://www.roborovski.net/.

Bathing (in liquid)

It's simple. NEVER, EVER bathe your hamster in liquid, unless told to by the vet. This might be the case when a hamster gets mites.

Bathing your hamster in special Chinchilla dust is different. This helps remove the oil in a Robo's coat, keeping it clean and shiny. Simply place a spare food bowl full of the dust (or otherwise called Chinchilla sand) in the Robo's cage. They'll work out what the bowl is for eventually, so there is no need to fear if the Robo eats a small amount of the sand to begin with.