When I started my site about the Roborovski, 5 years ago, I had almost no information on the Roborovski. It was not a well known pet and documentation was very limited. Even on the world wide web. The tiny scraps of info I had I got from crumbling books in the library, encyclopedia's and the limited array of articles that were available to me then.
Since then a lot has happened. I gained a lot of knowledge form personal experience, breeders that were just starting out, contacted me spontaneously giving even more valuable insights on this wonderful critter.
Back then the White Face mutation was unknown.

Nowadays this hamster gained enormous popularity, maybe not as much as the Golden hamster or the Siberian dwarf (or Russian Winter White as we call it here), but more and more people have been sharing their experiences.
Also, more and more sites have been appearing about the Roborovski, which is great. On the downside it also meant that a lot of my content was getting copied without permission. It's inevitable on the Internet, but it hurt nonetheless when people did not contribute me as the source of their information.

I still love Roborovskis and love to share what I know and experience, but contemplated about pulling the plug on the site, because my life is so extremely hectic right know. And it was frustrating to see that when I updated my site in the scarce free time that I have, it immediately oozed into other sites.

But nevertheless, for me, sharing the knowledge I gather about the Roborovski, is more important than people copying my site. If that is what it takes to get that information out there, then so be it.
But my motto is and always has been: "All you have to do is ask". I have thousands of great Roborovski pictures I have not used for my site, which I am happy to give to any one building a site of their own. And people may always use my site as a resource, if you just state that you found the info on my site and link back to me.

So I am not quitting. I have seen to many sites crumble to the pressure of the Internet, I wasn't planning on doing the same. Now if I just had more time on my hands ;-)

Genetics all over again

Hi,
recently there has been renewed interest in the Roborovski genetic coat pattern inheritance question. For many years now the Roborovski has established itself as a relatively common pet. When I look at the forums I frequent, many people keep Roborovskis now. In the Netherlands however, the breeding research on Roborovskis has come to a stand still and too many questions remain. People from around the world who are Roborovski breeders or, like me, just fascinated by this type of hamster, all say the same thing when it comes to genetic coding for the Roborovski:
There is no such thing, because we just do not know what a white face Roborovovski is. Is it a hamster with a mutation for color, is it a pattern? Is there a heterozygote WF and a homozygote? Are all of the WF variations (Normal, light/fading, pure white) just one pattern mutation with different phenotypes?

What we need is documentation. Careful breeders with good administration and a lot of them. It's just as boring as that :)
I'm sure together we can get somewhere and partly unveil the mystery of the elusive Roborovski. I can only promise you I keep on searching for answers and share them as they come to me.

I'm currently dusting of old e-mails, requesting status quos from the breeders I have in the past corresponded with and reactions are slowly coming in. Hopefully I have something new to share soon!

New Roborovskis coming home!

When I will be home after the holidays there will be two new faces waiting for me at home. My friend Tamara is so kind to pick up two new furry heroes for me in my absence :) I promise to post some mug shots when I get home. And.... Hopefully I will have my brand spanking new IP cam working by then! With two new faces to watch I hope I will be able to resurrect the old Web Cam section.

Also I hope to get around to putting on line the media and movies sections. And the newly written FAQ with answers to lots of the questions that have been asked by email over the past few years. Only then will I have fully ported my whole old site to this new one. So stay tuned. Fun things to come in the New Year!

So for now Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,
Dymph

New domain!

Just to let you know that as of now R&R Hamsters can be reached through http://roborovski.net

Took a while to "hijack" that domain, as all the good ones are always taken. Thank goodness for domain watchers!

Hello World

Busy times ahead, I had no idea finding a job could be so time consuming!
But here it is. The new site! Especially the white face section is greatly enhanced.

If you find any quirks or bad links, please report them back to me! I will be forever grateful and the site will perform better ;)

I have not had the time to fill in some of the sections, but I did not want to wait any longer with putting the new site online. Hope you like it, for me at least it's easier to work with :)

Thanks for visiting!

Dymph

Master Plan in effect....

I never thought I would see the day, but after this weekend I wil be a post graduate :) It will be a nice new feeling being Master of something (Arts, in this case). I will have to do a little bit of last hard work the coming day, so the site update will have to wait a few days longer.
After all this, I can finally relax and enjoy my first real summer holiday in 5 years :D

Juggling time and hamsters

Hi,
just a short note to let you guys know a new and hopefully improved R&R Hamsters is on the way. At the moment I'm really busy finishing my master thesis and after that I will have oodles of time on my hands :)
The new site is near completion and I added a lot of new content and info, so be sure to check back in a couple of weeks!
Thanks to every one that has sent me photos of their dwarf hamsters and Roborovskis in the mean time! They will be featured on the new site version.

Lots of love,
Dymph