Microfluffies have more hamster DNA in them than other fluffies do. Intended to simply make them smaller, this also had unintended side-effects, some good and some bad.
The most widely known side-effect is the microfluffy’s burrowing ability/instinct. Hasbio took advantage of this by creating their special Nutrigel, which doubles as a food source.
While microfluffies can live off kibble like other fluffies and crave spaghetti like them too, they prefer Nutrigel to kibble.
Another, much less pleasant side-effect is an increased tendency for microfluffy mothers to eat their foals if said mother is stressed, doesn’t have enough food/water, and/or doesn’t think her litter will survive.
Sometimes, the mother will attempt to hide her foals in her cheek pouches (which are also a side-effect of the additional hamster DNA) if she feels they are in danger, but will end up swallowing them by accident.
While normal fluffy mothers have been known to do this type of cannibalistic infanticide on occasion, it has only ever occurred among lone ferals and strays, and the mother typically leaves at least one foal alive.
Meanwhile, due to inexperienced owners, foal-eating in microfluffies is much more common and the mother will likely end up eating her entire brood if nothing is done to remedy the situation.
Real-life hamsters eating their brood is due to the reasons listed here.
Unfortunately, misinformation about hamsters causes them to not get the proper care they need, leading to the infamous baby-eating.
Even worse, due to sickness caused by the non-native domestic corn crop, the critically endangered European Hamster has shown an increase in this infant cannibalism and is now even more at risk.
It still blows my mind that hamsters are real animals. I couldn’t imagine walking through a field and just seeing a bunch of wild hamsters scurrying around. I didn’t even think about where they might have come from, they just were.
It is kind of a funny premise that fluffies do something dangerous upon dying. Not only would people not be able to abuse them, you would be scared to kill ferals and have to be diligent about keeping dumb fluffies from getting themselves killed.
For those of you who thought rabbits and (most) rodents were little furballs
Meet Nuralagus rex, who weighed 26 pounds, 6x larger than the average modern rabbit
And phoberomys (the largest rodent)
Which weighed more than a ton.
Are they nocturnal and need 500 square inches (UK standers) of unbroken space. A wheel big enough so the don’t curve their backs? They’re borrowing so i figure they need the six inches of bedding.
Microfluffies I would make diurnal like normal fluffies just so they have more chance of interacting with normal fluffies, but the rest is a definite yes.
EDIT: I’ve decided that some microfluffies are born nocturnal like real hamsters, as it would bring even more interesting story-telling possibilities.
