I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS/is not/might be wrong with my robos. As besides scratching they have no symptoms of mites OR fungal infection. I've looked this stuff up here and here and was told that mites you can quite easily SEE (they are about the size of a full-stop ("period")) and tend to cause scabberous fur loss anyway which none of my robbies have... fungal infection or "ringworm" as it tends to be called causes again fur loss in a ring. My Itchies have nothing more than itchiness and perhaps some pinkening of the skin... I don't know that they are stressed either...... Believing that it might be infested with mites (because it's full of old bedding: I left it in there as it was the covering of their old food stash) ~ I removed their famous "tea box". It did, at one stage used to be an actual Sainsbury's Red Label teabox but was later replaced by a "water for injections" box... which doesn't somehow have the same ring about it, which is why I continued to call it their teabox... anyhow I got rid of that and, despite a wealth of tubes to doze in they set up home in the furthest corner of the tank out in the open. A pile of furry dozing grooming nibbling hamsters. Looking a bit like the one illustrated though I think that is a Russian hamster not a robo.
Yesterday, thinking they might perhaps NEED more tubes I added another FIVE,making EIGHT toilet tubes and one half inch wide ten inch long length of kitchen roll tubing that only Itchy can ping down as only Itchy is narrow enough! Sure enough their ears went up and their eyes looked beady as they explored these new additions to their "burrow" (well that is how they think of tubes: they love to hide in them sticking only their pink noses out...) ... yet despite all this enthusiastic exploring they won't sleep in them and prefer to go on sleeping au naturel. Which suits me as they look so entertaining when doing it...
If I do have to de-fungus/de-mite them I will look for a powder not a spray. Sprays make a massively panicking noise for most animals (ever tried to aerosol a cat?~ well then!) Plus some of the stupid instructions: ("shield the animal's eyes") ~ ever tried to HOLD a wriggling roborovski let alone shield the eyes: that is IMPOSSIBLE without general anaesthetic and even I think that is going too far... so my solution is to construct tubes into a U-bend shape. Then to fill the U with the medicinal fur-powder. Place hammy at one end of the U. Poke her bum with a chopstick or otherwise encourage her to burrow through... and hey presto she emerges covered in treatment powder and not hating me TOO much for doing it... does everyone agree that is the best way..?
Yes, if they must be treated then I suppose a powder is the better way. Can't say I know a thing about your little babies tho, but I'm sure you'll do the best thing for them.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about the commercial when you first mentioned it, so I googled him and found it on a myspace page. But I wasn't sure if it was a serious product or not as we don't have that brand here. Or atleast I don't use it. Maybe I should... my hubby is in construction and his whites aren't so white anymore. :(
Best wishes with the robos and thanks for posting the vid!
Sounds like a good plan to me, Gled. Poor babies!
ReplyDeleteI feel itchy just reading this post! But yeah, that sounds best.
ReplyDeleteOh, that DAZ commercial was hilarious. It's been a long time since I heard RSF.
And yeah, re YA: SE Hinton ins the shizz, and I haven't read any Cormier, but I'm motivated now. Also: Judy Blume was another biggie. (And of course ME in a few years time after I've written a few more books, and actually sold a few copies. lol)
I've had to medicate dogs, including hyper-active german shepherds (alsations, I guess, to you blokes...) but I can't help you with hamsters. Good luck with it. Pet health can be frustrating since they can't tell you what's bothering them and they're so uncooperative.
ReplyDeleteGreat Amy vid, I've had her album for almost a year. I wonder if she'll ever be able to get it together again or if this will be it before she becomes a fully burned-out husk. The Kraftwerk song is also a fav.
Your proposed dosing method sounds reasonable. Pity the robos do not come with some kind of instruction manual. :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good way to delouse the hammies - hope it works. :)
ReplyDeleteWill you be able to rub it into their skin afterward? I know the flea powder for my cats seems to require that step.
ReplyDeleteYes I definitely say go with a powder - not a spray. Who the hell comes up with these ideas? They obviously have never tried them to fruition LOL
ReplyDeleteAwww the poor little things!
ReplyDeleteCrystalchick: Hmmm: I shall have to find a mites/fungal powder; double check it IS suitable for small animals... & if so get 'em burrowing through with the threat of a chopstick prodding their behinds...
ReplyDeleteDabich: thanks... only 1/2 reasonable-sounding idea I could come up with ...
Alexgrrl: glad you know Hinton isn't she the best? Not all that girlie teen romance peer pressure rubbish but bigtime issues... exellent stuff. Do you recall that character called M&M (from The Rumble Fish, I do believe) who had an acid-freakout and was never the same again... my heart goes out to M&M... SE Hinton has a real talent going on ;->...
PS Alexgrrl II: Judy Blume? Name rings several bells but not sure I ever ploughed thru one of hers... did she write FREAKY FRIDAY? Or am I gettin' seriously xxed wires..?
ReplyDeleteWhitenoise: her album: you mean Back to Black? Try her 1st one... it's just as fantabulous, BELIEVE... lots of Uncle Remus types playing sax in her vids (straying on Barrack Obama territory if you ask me... (socalled "black credentials" when actually Winehouse, as the name implies is JEWISH)... but hey! That's the modern/postmodern/postpostmodern planet we live on...
Yeah those pointynose policedogs we call Alsatians. Aparently Alsatians derivate from Alsace-Lorraine in France. But instead of babbling away in French at home, the locals of that region just growl, bark, whistle, and scrach at doors when crisp packets rustle or the sound of cans opening pricks up their pointy ears..
Lonegrey...: yeah they ought to... of course I picked up all the roboleaflets with my new purchase on the day ... to read on way home, flattering self i had made utterly sublime micro-social-hamster purchse... also I have a book called The Dwarf Hamster that goes into their sociology/health etc... plus my internet brouses but NOTHING has been totally fulfillingly revealing... so I dunno :-<...
Akelamalu: many thanks. Logic tells me that a furfull of medicinal white powder should definitely get them wee beasties off of their coats...
ReplyDeleteTutTut: rub the powder into skin afterwards? well I was hoping their effort of burrowing through that powdery u-bend would get the treatment right into their fur... if not I shall have to get heavy duty gloves (that don't smell of me), pick 'em up one at a time and rub fur against grain to get it properly worked in... if they don't quite realize it's me doing that - then hopefully they shouldn't resent ME too heavily for the heavy intrusion on their coaty-comforts...
Patti: possibly have tried them. on lab animals. who are not pets. and they don't CARE what those animals think of being so horrifically sprayed by a device that to a robosized critter is a screaming in the ear saying "run run run! run for the cloudy hills!!"
Preposterous: well if I get my way with the treatments they should be premium little swines all over again...
;->...
YES I agree that is the best way! Jack our Lorikeet won't talk to us for a day if we spray him ...
ReplyDeleteI love that whites ad...used to love that song and brings back memories!
ReplyDeleteI think that sounds like a great idea (powdering them in the tube...but what about their eyes? Maybe you could pinch the end of the tube and just plop them in rear first, without putting their little faces in. You know, "backing" them in or plopping them in rear first with only enough tube to cover up to their necks (do they have necks?). Just a thought.
Hi Gleds. Sorry I'm not around much now and thanks for all your visits to my blog. My poor elderly brain doesn't assimilate things very quickly which means my course work takes me hours and hours...in fact days! Hope your solution for 'powdering' the Hammys works ok. Sounds a good idea in principal...bet you'll have fun tempting them through the tubes!
ReplyDeleteTake care, stay well
Rx
Good luck with the powder - cats are hard enough to keep from wriggling, but you have got it all worked out with your very own powder machine *!*
ReplyDeleteThat hammie in your photo looks very obliging - sort of saying place powder here! lol
...yes I never noticed, that fungi does look like that mouse ear you mentioned .... I posted more about those cicadas too with photos. Some live in the ground for years*!*
Hi Gled,
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like the plan, and wont hurt to try.
Janice~
Hi Gled, it's Wednesday a.m. here in the states and i'm just checking for a new post. Hope you got the mite thing sorted out.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I feel itchy. I think this sounds like a good remedy, and you've given it much good thought. Good luck. If it were my fuzzy baby pet, I would be flipping out!
ReplyDeleteI've heard that Kraftwerk are officially "recluses". Look it up on Wikipedia. They haven't granted interview and even their studio cannot have mail sent to it.
ReplyDeleteBloody hell, I am 58 today and I REMEMBER "Right said Fred" and Daz ads!
ReplyDeletePoor Robies - agree with you re powder not spray.
Thinking of you and them, Gleds. You are such a kind man.
Bloody hell, I am 58 today and I REMEMBER "Right said Fred" and Daz ads!
ReplyDeletePoor Robies - agree with you re powder not spray.
Thinking of you and them, Gleds. You are such a kind man.
Oh Dear I'm afraid something has happened to Gledwood and/or Robos!?! Or are you collecting toilet rolls ...
ReplyDeleteHi Gleds it's Thursday - Happy VD! Where are you!?
ReplyDeleteGled, have you ever considered that the toiletrolls may be the source of the itching? Certain toiletpapers have funny chemicals (perhaps in the glue) on them or a lot of paper-dust.
ReplyDeleteWhen did you start noticing the scratching? Howlong have they had the toiletrolls? Did you change TeePee brand?
Just a thought...
Anon: REALLY~?!? Does he sulk that very much just from being sprayed? Oooer!! I had better use the powdery U~bend technique then!!
ReplyDeleteDebs: I get your point but you really don't need to worry about robos' eyes bc they're desert critters and so have massive eyelashes and are used to dealing with excessive dust/sandstorms etc... they come from the outer reaches of the Gobi desert... see what I mean? When burrowing they automatically close eyes... also imagine if they're BEHIND the one burrowing, back-kicking dirt in the face? They are expert at not getting it in the eyes~~ seriously!
Ruth: What d'you mean your "ELDERLY BRAIN" you are still OK if not a spring chicken then a summer one. OKAY??! ...
... hmmm as for the hammies. Powdering them... yes half the fun WILL be "tempting" them through the tubes... hence the bum-poking chopstick idea!! ;->...
Bimbimbie: the hammy in the photo looks like a Campbells Russian. Unfortunately these are far less wriggly. Robos are designed like a mini Metro or hatchback car... legs positioned like the four wheels and body weight equally proportioned. Excepting Itchy their bodies are equally weighted by all fours which makes them VERY effective wrigglers. They don't NEED to bite they can wriggle free from almost ANYBODY's hold! ;->...
Janice: the robopowderingplan? Should work a treat!!
ReplyDeletePatti: Not sure WHAT's happening mites wise now... if nothing does I'm getting that antimite/antifungal powder and doing that u-bend thing. I just don't wanna do it for the sake of it tho... know what I mean they are very tiny tubbies who don't appreciate organophosphate pesticides rubbing into their furry furs... ;->...
Aintnever: I didn't even realize anything was wrong until they ALL started itching... now that famous "tea box" is removed and their Itchiness has slightly decreased. I don't wanna treat for the sake of it, but wanna get rid of whatever irritants may be bothering them...
Ve: Kraftwerk "recluses"..? Yeah I've heard that one too ;->...
Welshcakes: HAPPY BIRTHDAY... surely that's not such a bad number? 35 is the only one that really got me...
ReplyDeleteAnon: Collecting toilet rolls? Whacha mean? No! Toilet rolls are robo-burrows! They love 'em!
Patti: What do you mean happy VD? I've never had herpes ~~~ touch wood! ~~~ or gororrhoea! ~~~ or syphillis! ~~~ or HIV ~~~ or anything else!
What on earth is happy VD?
PLEASE EXPLAIN!!!! ;->...
Vincent: They've always had toilet tubes. Without them they would be bereft. No "burrows" to hide in (stick "the pink noses" out of...)... no I'm pretty sure it is NOT an allergy (which causes fur loss and much redness) or anything worse than mild mites/fungus infestation as NO fur loss and only the kind of skin pinkening you would expect from scratching anyhow... thanks for the concern though if you do find out anything more PLEASE TELL ME I need to know as this is such a mystery...
;->...
Sometimes it's a psychological thing and the hamsters are not itching but they are grooming. Do you see the hamsters licking their paws first?
ReplyDeleteYou can't always see mites. Some rodent mites are so small you would need a good deal of magnification to see it, and some bird mites, too. D. Gallinae, the chicken mite, is generally too small to see and can infest rodents. If you can, you should take it to the vet and see what the vet says.
ReplyDelete