Moony Paw To The Rescue!
Bert takes a water-break after excitedly inspecting all his new foraging items
Have you been on the hunt for high-quality, next-level, gorgeous hamster sprays, flowers, treats & chews?
Well, I’m happy to tell you- I’ve FOUND THEM!
There is a new hamster-shop in town, and I am obsessed.
Moony Paw was nice enough to gift me a box of their hamster goodies to try out and I had the perfect opportunity to put them to the test!
Everything was packaged SO beautifully and came in PERFECT condition! In particular, I couldn’t believe how gorgeous the Yellow Statice Flowers were!
I got a wide array of seed sprays, dried flowers, snacks & chews, all of which I used generously in Bert’s enclosure (more on that below…). Moony Paw also sells adorable ceramic hides & gorgeous little hamster plates & other accessories !
Bert finds a delicious snack scattered on his bedding
Okay, so why did Bert luck out by getting all the Moony Paw goodies??
Well, back in June, I decided to adopt a few tiny friends from Happy Horizon Hamster Haven , a small-animal rescue based out of Cincinnati, Ohio. I had recently lost quite a few of my hamsters in the previous months - Maurice, Dexter, Ella & Peggy had all passed away (all made it past two years, but still, it’s never enough time). I was left with just Fluffy the Syrian hamster & Lester the robo! It was just TOO quite in my hamster room. So, I reached out to Happy Horizon and said, give me a hamster who’s having trouble getting adopted… and this is how I ended up with Bert & Ernie.
Bert and Ernie are the cutest little robos. Under Happy Horizon’s care, they were a pair of bonded, male robos, who lived together, groomed each other, slept together, ate together… did everything together!
Sadly, upon arrival to my house, they started fighting. Chasing each other, screaming, sleeping separately.
I watched them intensely, hoping to they would settle down. I frantically tried to solve any potential conflict (lots of food, water, wheels, hides…), to no avail. I couldn’t let them spend the night like that, so I separated them for their initial night at my house.
After that night, I tried to re-bond them. They were already approx. 1.5 years old, and had lived their whole lives together. It felt like such a tragedy to have them fall out like this. I watched several videos about bonding gerbils and tried the same tactics - I purchased two barred enclosures, put them side by side so they could smell and interact with each other through the bars, and then switched their sides each day. I did this for two weeks, and then attempted a “date”, but was ready to separate them at the soonest sign of aggression.
Ernie was ready to make-up. He approached Bert slowly and started grooming him. For a moment, Bert just sat there, and I thought “! OMG! they’re back!!” But, alas, it only lasted a moment. Bert suddenly screamed, ran away and then ran back and started chasing poor Ernie. UGH, so heartbreaking.
So, I set them up in bin cages (Ernie in the Christmas Tree bin, Bert in a 200 qt bin) and took a break from obsessing over them for a little bit to let them just settle into their new, independent lives.
Bert stops for a snack in his 40” Prolee enclosure
*a note - I know, as a general rule of thumb, we do not recommend that any hamsters are housed together - it can be very dangerous to the hamsters and likely to result in injury or death. However, there is evidence that Campbell’s dwarf hamsters and Roborovski hamsters can live peacefully together, and may benefit from the social aspect of living amongst other hamsters. We know that in the wild, Campell’s and Robos do live in colonies. The challenge is, how do we create a safe environment for these hamsters to live in harmony with one another? Tony from Snow White’s Rescue Cottage and the California Hamster Association has written a paper on the matter if you’d like to learn more.
Tony runs the largest hamster rescue, possibly in the nation, but definitely in the SoCal area. She has hundreds of, primarily, dwarf hamsters, whom she has to cohabitate due to space restraints. Her secret to getting them all to get along? Abundance. Many wheels, water stations, and TONS of food. She said she has had dwarf hamsters live under her care for 3+ years! It is also crucial that all cohabitated hamsters are related and have spent their entire lives together (for example, siblings, or parent/child pairs or groups). If you’d like to hear more about this, Tony also chatted with me about how she cares for cohabitated dwarfs on my podcast last year.
Bert peeks out into the void, surrounded by pearl millet and yellow statice flowers from Moony Paw
ANYWAY, upon separation, Bert & Ernie started spinning.
If you’re not aware of spinning in robos, it is a neurological condition that can happen, particularly if they are stressed. My vet described it to me like a form of OCD, a response to stressors like how a small dog might spin and chase their tail.
Unfortunately, sometimes, even with all the best care, spinning happens. In the case of Bert and Ernie, it seems that, while they weren’t able to live together, living separately was also not ideal.
Ernie spins, but it doesn’t seem detrimental. Bert will get stuck spinning for significant periods of time, sadly.
So, when my sweet, little Ella passed away and her 40” Prolee hamster cage (https://amzn.to/4oI5q16 ) was free, I decided to update Bert to her old home, and add ALL the Moony Paw enrichment I could stuff into that enclosure!
And what a difference it made! Little Bert still spins, but the high-level of foraging opportunities combined with limited, uninterrupted space, have really helped cut down on the amount of time he spends each night stuck in a loop. It’s so sweet to find him in moments, nibbling in a corner, and I’m so grateful to Moony Paw for helping him find some peace.
Bert takes a rest from running his evening marathon
If I haven’t convinced you already, I highly recommend checking out Moony Paw’s online shop here. They have tons of great reviews! You should also follow them on Instagram, so you can see their latest products and other happy-customer, testimonials & photos!
Have you shopped at Moony Paw? What was your experience?
Bert wonders if he can reach the yummy flax seed pods from his cork log….
Other items featured in today’s post (as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases):
