Nano the Robo & Unit the Russian Dwarf

A blog for Nano my tiny roborovski hamster, and Unit my chunky Russian Dwarf. Also in memory of my lovely Syrian hamster, Popcorn.

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Hey everyone! I’m not gonna be updating this blog anymore, as I rarely post here. I’m gonna occasionally post over at my budgie blog, @budgiechops if you wanna see occasional pics of the hammies!

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*sniff sniff* 

Oh! A mealworm, yay!

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Excuse the terribly photo quality, but Nano was eating a piece of corn in the cutest way possible and I didn’t have time to grab my good camera.

We’ve just realised Nano is actually a female, despite being told she was male when we adopted her. I guess it can be hard to tell with tiny wiggly hamsters that don’t like being handled!

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Someone’s enjoying his new rock. A nice cool place to puddle out on hot days!

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It’s been pretty hot here lately, so I gave Unit a cold ceramic bowl to sit in. I think he approves! I’ve also discovered that he has a great love for mealworms so I gave him one as a treat while he cooled down.

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Unit has changed his mind. This is the comfiest place to sleep.

I’d just finished setting up his detolf cage but I didn’t have the heart to wake him so I let him finish napping in his temporary cage.

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Apparently this is the comfiest place to sleep

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I know it’s a bit soon after Demo’s passing, but I still had the space in my home and heart for a needy ham, and curiosity had me checking for any hamsters available for adoption nearby.

That’s how we’ve welcomed this cutie to our home. He’s huge for a Russian Dwarf, but is a gentle giant. I think he’d made quite an impression on the staff who were caring for him, as they were delighted to see him finally get a new home. They asked us to make sure he went on a healthy diet as he was still a bit of a chunky boy. I think he’s been a bit over pampered at some point in his life!

His name at the adoption centre was Sammy, but I’ve decided to rename him. There was no doubt about what name to pick this time - as everyone was in awe at the size of this lad, we immediately thought to call him Unit. <3

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Hey everyone, I’ve got a sad update about Demo, the injured russian dwarf I rescued last week.

After having a course of drops to take her eyelid swelling down, the vet was able to have a much better look at the inside of her eye, and it was an absolute mess in there. There wasn’t an eyeball to save, just a horribly injury. It looks like her previous owners lied about how she ended up like this and it was trauma that caused it.

Due to the pain she was in, only options were to put her to sleep, or to have an operation to fully remove the eye, which was risky. I gave her the chance to live and today the operation went ahead. Unfortunately, towards the end of the op, she stopped breathing, and although the vets were amazing and spent a long time trying to revive her, it wasn’t to be and she passed away.

I’m heartbroken. She hadn’t even been with us a full week yet and I already adored her, for how sweet and friendly she was, despite her pain. Her life was so short and it’s so unfair. I hope she enjoyed her last days of being pampered and loved.

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A couple of days ago I adopted a sweet little Campbell’s dwarf hamster, and I’d like to introduce you all! 

As you might be able to see her right eye is closed. I was told she was born blind in that eye, and this was the reason nobody had yet adopted her. They said it had always been like that, and it didn’t bother her.

I didn’t really believe that, as her eyelids are very pink and a bit swollen, but I agreed to take her, and so the first the day after I brought her home we went off to the vet. She is blind, but her eyelids are inflamed and probably quite sore so she’s been prescribed eye drops until Monday to hopefully take down the swelling. She may need to be sedated to enable the vet to have a much more thorough look inside the eye and make a decision on what to do next. They told me they can’t guarantee that they’ll be able to save the eye, so chances are she might be having an operation soon.

Despite her eye problems, she’s an incredibly sweet hamster. She hissed and squeaked angrily as she was being taken out of the cage when I was being introduced to her, but I think she’s been grabbed roughly a few times in the past (I think she was originally bought as a pet for a two year old child), and she’s already much more trusting and climbs up on my hands of her own accord.

For her fresh start, I want to give her a brand new name (she was previously called Paper). There are two that I’ve been thinking of so far linked to her whole one eyed situation - Demo (a reference to Demoman from TF2) and Leela. I prefer Demo because it fits in with all my “tech” sounding pet names. Any suggestions would be great!

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A round boy

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Om nom nom, delicious mealworm

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He peeks

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Om nom nom

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Everyone, meet Nano! He’s still very shy so this is the best photo I could get right now. He’s obsessed with his wheel, I don’t think he’s ever had a proper one before.

I don’t like using the aspen bedding for him. The flakes look so huge in comparison to his tiny feet, so I’m going to look into getting a softer paper based bedding.

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Hey everyone, sorry for leaving this blog abandoned for so long! 

I’ve got the sad task of letting you all know that Popcorn passed away last week. She was suffering with Pyometra and rather than let her struggle on in lots of pain we made the decision to put her to sleep. She was about 2 and a half.

I always regret not posting more about her on here, but she was a very independent hamster who didn’t particularly enjoy being handled or having photos taken, unlike the budgies who love being the centre of attention.

I didn’t think we were going to get another hamster, but being a softie for animals who need new homes I did a bit of searching around and found a little Roborovski hamster. He’s called Nano and is super cute. He’s still settling in, and seems very surprised by how big his new cage is. He’s never had a proper wheel before, just a flying saucer type, so he’s been thoroughly enjoying his new silent spinner. Once he’s more comfortable with my presence I’ll upload a photo for you all.

(I hope I’ve tagged this well enough so that I don’t upset anyone with this post)

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All the sand goes under the logs. Always!