I got 2 female russian hams today from a lady with a typical story of not wanting them anymore. I have had 2 russians before but i was about 12 at the time and i really cant remember much about them. They are in 2 seperate cages as her parter wanted one after she got one. This is the cage they have each Ferplast Combi 1 Hamster Cage - i think its the smallest cage i have ever seen.

So first question is should i be going for zoozone type cages rather than ones with bars?

Should i even try to introduce them or is that a lost cause now? The lady has had them a few weeks and i have no idea if they came from the same place or mother. I also have no idea on thier age. I was basically just handed them and shown the door so had no time for questions.

Foodwise they are just on p@h hamster museli, my syrians are on JR farm hamster food which also make this JR Farm Hamster Food: Great Deals on Small Pet Food at zooplus: JR Farm Dwarf Hamster Feast is this a good food for them? Please tell me if JR farm food isnt good in general, i take such alot of care doing special mixes for my rats but when it comes to hamsters there dosnt seem to be much info out there on doing your own mix. I do of course feed fresh food too.

My partner is away with work at the moment and has no idea i have them so any ideas on how i should explain how they got here?

Sorry for so many Qs but after googling for a while im not finding any solid answers and i know people on here have russians, thanks

Those cages are horrible, and yes too small. A zoozone would be great, as far as bonding goes it depends how old they are, its worth a try but you would have to watch them very closely for signs of fighting, its hard sometimes keeping littermates together so adding two adults is likely to fail, but not impossible. They can be prone to diebetes so watch out how many sugary treats they get (fruit is high obviously). If you do decide to try to bond them your best bet is in a large cage thats one one level, every item that might be high value (wheels, houses etc) needs to be duplicated so they have one each and I would scatter feed and put two water bottles in.

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Poor hammies, glad they are in safe hands now
I love the Zoozone cages for hammies so I will always recommend them especially as they are cheap at the mo Range of Hagen Ovo luxury expanding hamster cage systems at up to 50% off the RRP

As for getting them together I think it is best to keep them separate now especially as they are already split, the likelihood of them bonding again is slim IMO.

The JR food looks ok, I feed Harry hamster which is one of the best out there

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whats the analysis on the JR food? for a hamster you need atleast 17% protein
you will also need to pick the corn and dates out of that for a russian

zoo zone type cages are great, i would definatly go for them

i agree, its best not to try bond them, you have no idea on their age, and they are more tolerant of company rather then outwardly social animals, the risks of attempting a bond far outweigh any of the benifits

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Ahh thanks for the replies and the zoozone link, if i cant find any second hand ones looks like im going to be ordering 2 pink ones Ive read before about how hard it is to bond them and as i cant tell if they are young or not perhaps i should just keep them apart. Ive now got to find where they are going to live as im running out of space in my house to put cages lol they are currently on my dining table although i never use it for actual eating.

I didnt know they where prone to diabetes altho i remember reading about b3rnies poor Orinoco I have degu so i know what a strict diet they have to be kept too. I havnt seen harry hamster for years i remember giving that to hams i had about ten years ago. Ive had alot of probs finding hamster food one of my syrians would eat, he didnt like p@h museli or their premium one or my local pet shops own mix but he will eat JR but only the selected pieces so perhaps harry hamster is worth a try

and Lil miss the JR food i currently use has 15.2% protein and the dwarf mix is 16.1%

i would probably swap mixes then, or add some cat kibble into the mix just to up protein count a bit, 15% is quite low for a hamster
i feed best pets hamster food, which is bang on 17% protein, it is only sold in 10kg bags though, unless you find a pet store who buys it in to re bag it

another thing, is PAH muslie actually has sugar added to it. so it isnt really advisable for dwarfies at all

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I think ill try Harry Hamster protein is 19%, if i bought a 10kg bag of ham food i prob have it for a couple years! Im not sure what mix my local pet shop uses but i didnt like the fact it was so high on sunflower seeds which of course my fussy ham liked but thats all he seemed to eat and not good for his waistline

You could tell your bloke the hamster fairy left them. He might not believe you but he cant prove nothing lol

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Jarhead and friends