Roborovski hamster care in India: a tiny, fast hamster while you are away

The Roborovski is the smallest of all hamster species, a separate species (Phodopus roborovskii) rather than a breed, named by Satunin in 1903. In the wild it lives in Mongolia and northern China, with smaller populations in Kazakhstan and Russia's Tuva Republic, in sandy semi-deserts, steppe and grassland up to about 1,450 m. A study of its genetics in PLoS ONE found that it lives only where the sand is loose and plants are sparse, avoiding hard clay and thick vegetation, and that it tolerates cold and drought well.

Its burrows go deep, about 90 cm down, with separate rooms for the nest and the food store. Seeds make up 70 to 90% of the wild diet, with leaves, stems and insects such as beetles. Its feet are densely furred, which Animal Diversity Web says protects them from the heat of the sand. Roborovskis are nocturnal and shy: when two meet, one usually runs off to hide.

Roborovskis have been kept as pets since the 1990s. Animal Diversity Web notes they are more active and harder to handle than other hamsters and difficult to breed in captivity, and Merck's veterinary text says dwarf hamsters such as the Roborovski are more difficult to handle and restrain for examination and treatment. In the UK VetCompass study they were 6.35% of pet hamsters seen by vets.

The Roborovski is the one pet hamster with a wild link to India. A 2019 paper in the journal Mammalia reported the desert hamster from the north-western Tibetan plateau in Ladakh, as an addition to the mammal fauna of the Indian subcontinent. Those are wild animals in a cold, high desert, not escaped pets, and they have nothing in common with a Roborovski in a Mumbai or Chennai flat except their species.

No source we found records when pet Roborovskis first reached India. Hamsters are named as pet animals in the Pet Shop Rules, 2018, so buy from a shop registered with the State Animal Welfare Board, never from the wild. The species' wild range is cold and dry, and PDSA's advice of a steady 18 to 21 °C applies to it as to every pet hamster in Indian heat.

Wild Roborovskis eat mostly seeds, with leaves, stems and insects, and carry food in their cheek pouches to underground stores. A pet still needs a complete hamster pellet as the base: Merck's veterinary text says generic seed mixes should be avoided because hamsters pick out the seeds and ignore the pellets. PDSA adds a small daily portion of washed vegetables and the occasional protein treat.

Scatter food in the bedding so the hamster forages, as the RSPCA suggests, and keep sweet fruit and sugary snacks out: PDSA warns sugar can lead to obesity and diabetes in hamsters. Grapes and rhubarb can be poisonous to rodents. Ask your vet how much to feed a hamster this small.

Meals a day: young hamster after weaning, pellets always available, with fresh food introduced slowly; adult, pellets topped up daily and scattered, plus a small daily portion of fresh food.

The Roborovski is not a breed of hamster but a separate species, Phodopus roborovskii, a relative of the Campbell's and winter white dwarfs. A study in PLoS ONE found that wild Roborovskis live only where sand is loose and plants are sparse, and Animal Diversity Web describes burrows about 90 cm deep with separate rooms for the nest and the food store. That background explains what a pet needs: deep, loose bedding to dig in, room to run, and somewhere dark to hoard.

It also explains the behaviour sitters notice. Animal Diversity Web says Roborovskis are shy, that one usually runs to hide when another approaches, and that they are more active and harder to handle than other hamsters. Merck's veterinary text says dwarf hamsters such as the Roborovski are more difficult to handle and restrain even for a vet. A Roborovski is a pet to watch in the evening, not to carry round the flat, and a good sitter is happy with that.

The RSPCA says dwarf hamsters such as the Roborovski can sometimes live in pairs or trios with the right care and conditions, but that even dwarfs do not need company to be happy, and many pairs and trios fall out later in life even if they got on at first. PDSA goes further and says pet dwarf hamsters should not be housed together because dominance issues and fights often happen. In the VetCompass study, bite injuries from other hamsters were among the most common problems vets saw.

For a sitter, a pair means two animals to check at every visit, not one. Tell your sitter how many hamsters live in the enclosure, how to tell them apart, and what normal play looks like. Signs that a pair has fallen out are wounds on the rump or face, one hamster kept from the food or the wheel, constant chasing or squeaking, and one hiding and losing weight. Leave a spare enclosure set up and write down whether the sitter should separate them at once if they fight, then call you.

The PLoS ONE study describes the Roborovski as tolerant of cold and drought, living on the Mongolian Plateau with its continental climate. Its furry feet, Animal Diversity Web says, protect against the heat of sandy soil, but it escapes the hottest hours 90 cm underground. A pet in a tank by a sunny window in Hyderabad or Nagpur in May has none of that. PDSA's steady 18 to 21 °C is the target, and the coolest inner room is the place.

If your Roborovski lives in a glass tank, Petym's advice is to keep it well away from sun, use a mesh lid so air moves, and ask the sitter to check that the bedding at the bottom stays dry through the monsoon. A Roborovski that is panting, drooling, weak or lying flat on a hot day needs moving somewhere cooler and a call to the vet straight away.

Drop-in visits suit most Roborovskis: an evening visit each day in your home, where the hamster keeps its tunnels and hoard. The RSPCA advises keeping a hamster in its familiar enclosure with its usual food and not moving it unless necessary, which matters even more for a species that is hard to catch. Choose a sitter who stays for long trips, heat waves, a pair that has started to squabble, or an older hamster.

Petym is not taking bookings yet and will open city by city once its sitters pass the checks. At the free meet and greet, show the sitter how to count your hamsters, how the lid locks and where the spare enclosure is. During a booking the sitter follows your written plan, logs each visit, sends a photo every day and, in an emergency, calls you and takes the hamster to the nearest 24-hour vet on the city's list.