Your Hamster Just Had Babies! What Next?
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One day you wake up to find a little bundle of pink, bald, wriggling little bodies somewhere in your hamsters cage! Usually in one of the bedding boxes, but it can be anywhere. This can come as a huge surprise, especially as the pet store told you they were both boys or both girls. You have just inadvertently become a hamster breeder. So what do you do?
After recovering from the initial shock and thinking "Oh, my God" you usually start to quite like the little cute baby hamsters and if you're like me you very soon start to want the best for them.
You certainly don't want them to be eaten by the mother or father hamster, which can and does happen. So you need to take some action, or rather inaction to prevent this. I say inaction because the single most imprtant factor in your hamster parents not eating the babies is for you not to "contaminate" them with your human scent. Particularly if it is the parent hamsters first litter, when they get very anxious and protective and would rather eat the babies than leave them to the fate of a perceived predator i.e. you!
A hands-off approach is therefore the best line to take at this time. The mother will feed the babies for the first 2-3 weeks with her milk and will usually bury them somewhere secure, often a nest box. She will often move them from time to time. Who knows why but they do? This can be amusing to watch as she grabs them one by one by the scruff of the neck and moves them somewhere else in the hamster cage, often simply to move them back a few minutes or hours later. You should omit your usual hamster cage cleaning routines during this stage and disturb them as little as possible.
In the first two weeks while the mother is suckling the baby hamsters you need to make sure that she is getting plenty of fluids, dry hamster food and a good supply of fresh vegetables. She will often look much thinner than usual, whilst at the same time the father hamster may look a bit fat. His role is to help out a bit with keeping the hamster pups in line when they start to wander and just generally support the mother. It is good for the parents to be kept together at this time, although if you don't want further hamster babies they need to be separated as soon as possible, as the mother can become pregnant again within hours of delivery!
The situation is very different with Syrian hamsters, which are solo animals, and as soon as the father has "done the deed" he needs to be back out of the cage again and Syrian mothers have to do it all by themselves.
From about two weeks old the hamster babies will have developed some fur and will now be wandering around in the cage and tentatively exploring their new environment. They look adorable at this point and are very cute. The mother and father will get a bit uneasy with their new freedom so you may see some out of character behaviour from them at this time. They may get a little aggressive or agitated so try to be understanding and gentle with them and always let the parents see when you are handling the hamsters. Handling them gently is good as it will help to tame them and make them great pets for when the time comes to pass them on or keep them.
From about 3 weeks onwards you should start to try to determine the sex of your hamsters as they become sexually mature at about 6 weeks, although it can be even sooner. So if you don't want to be over run by more litters, especially of in-bred hamsters you need to separate the male hamsters from the female hamsters by six weeks. Sexing dwarf hamsters can be difficult, particularly at under six weeks of age so you should check and recheck this as they get older.
Dwarf Russian Hamsters are sociable animals that will usually live in groups of two or more quite happily, as long as they are introduced to each other very early or ideally are litter mates. Sometimes though you will find that fighting will occur, particularly between males and if this does happen then you will need to separate them.
If you are not going to keep the hamsters yourself then by six weeks you need to be finding good homes for them. Some smaller pet stores will often take them in or you can try friends or associates or even advertising your hamsters in your local press. Just make sure that the persons to whom they are going will care for them properly by providing adequate hamster housing and feed them correctly.
So there you go, it's not that difficult is it? The parents do most of the work and you just enjoy the baby hamsters and make sure that they end up in happy homes.
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Thanks Eileen,
Glad you like our baby hamsters.
If you mean our forum, yes it is free to join. We'd love to see you there :-)
These are cute pictures! two of my previous hamsters had babies; they ate them all. :-( I thought the last litter was going to make it and be fine, as they were growing hair and moving around more and more, but my APBT pup knocked over the cage, letting everyone inse out. The mom ate the babies bc of stress and fear for their lives, I assume. Better to eat and make it quick versus make them suffer.
Sorry to hear that, it is horrible to think of them being eaten, but you're right the parents do it with the best intentions! It's still in their instinct from the wild to dispose of anything that could attract predators and unwell, injured or contaminated babies, they think could pose a threat.
We've been lucky so for and not had any eaten. In fact the parents now trust us to help them with the babies and we have been priveleged enough to be allowed to handle the babies at under 10 days, Which means we get very tame hamsters :-)
i JOINED ANIMAL WEB!
Thanks Jackilyn, look forward to seeing you there :-)
The picture of the two week old grey baby hamster is just precious. Nice HUB regards Zsuzsy
He is goregeous isn't he. Glad you like the hub.
OMG!!! THESE HAMSTERS ARE TOO CUTE.....I REMEMBER MA HAMSTER[[BROWNIE]]WHEN SHE GAVE BIRTH TO HER BABIES MY MOM ALMOST CAUGHT WHIPLASH BECAUSE SHE WAZ SO EXCITED...THEY ARE VERY CUTE..CANT WAIT TO GET MY HAMSTERS!!
What type hamsters you getting meagan?
Why don't you visit our forum, link below, when you do and you can tell us all about them and show us some pics.
My hamster just had 6 babies and they are so cute its been about over a week and there so cute
I got 3 dwarf hamsters from a friend and they were all siblings. We thought they were all boys because we didn't think we really wanted babies but one turned out to be a girl and she just had babies. i was sooooooo surprised. now, as you said, i'm starting to be happy one was a girl but we need to separate the 2 boys because we don't know which is the dad. also, we're not positive exactly how old they are. Is there any way to tell how many days old??????? please answer cuz i can't find any sites where it tells you.
I got 3 dwarf hamsters from a friend and they were all siblings. We thought they were all boys because we didn't think we really wanted babies but one turned out to be a girl and she just had babies. i was sooooooo surprised. now, as you said, i'm starting to be happy one was a girl but we need to separate the 2 boys because we don't know which is the dad. also, we're not positive exactly how old they are. Is there any way to tell how many days old??????? please answer cuz i can't find any sites where it tells you.
Hi Liz, I hope you are enjoying your babies.
I'm not quite sure whether you are asking about the age of the babies or the parents. I think it is the babies. On our forum we can give a more detailed answer, link below.
But basically they are pink and bald until about 7-10 days from 10-14 days they have some fine fur and open their eyes and start wandering from the nest at this stage. From 2-4 weeks they get bigger and more adventurous very rapidly.Have look in our photo galleries where we usually give the age and youtube videos, again links below.
hello:) my syrian had babies 5 days ago, its her first litter and theres 11 of them!! the dad is mine and so is the mum but i have left them separated as the males and females when they are syrian tend to fight if left together. now i read that u reccomend them to be together or are u meaning just for dwarfs as dwarfs like company.
im scared of the babies being eaten but i took a chance and held mummy (odie) she seems to be her normal sniffy nervous self, so hopefully as long as i dont attempt stroking the babies until they are 2/3 weeks older ill be ok.
any tips u can spare for us syrian lovers??
vicky x
p.s the babies keep sqeaking its sooo cute!
hello:) my syrian had babies 5 days ago, its her first litter and theres 11 of them!! the dad is mine and so is the mum but i have left them separated as the males and females when they are syrian tend to fight if left together. now i read that u reccomend them to be together or are u meaning just for dwarfs as dwarfs like company.
im scared of the babies being eaten but i took a chance and held mummy (odie) she seems to be her normal sniffy nervous self, so hopefully as long as i dont attempt stroking the babies until they are 2/3 weeks older ill be ok.
any tips u can spare for us syrian lovers??
vicky x
p.s the babies keep sqeaking its sooo cute!
Hi vickers,
Congrats on the baby hamsters, they are adorable little creatures and I am sure you will enjoy them massively. Your are correct re. the Syrians, where the male should be removed after mating, my article was specifically about Dwarf Russion hamsters where the dad comes in handy for 2 weeks or so and contributes a lot and increases survival of the babies, but this is not the case with Syrians.
Best place for further info is our hamster discussion forum where we have some Syrian hamsters breeders. The link is right at the bottom of this page.
Good luck
what is litter?
what is litter?
Hi missy, a litter is the term used for a group of babies all born at the same time from the same mother.
My siberian Hamstersjust had a litter today :)
I'm quite excited how the little ones are going to turn out. Six of them btw hehehe.
But I must say I am a bit anxious too... She has sepperated them into two different groups 3 in each... and I am worried that she is taking care more of one group and neglecting theother one.
Oh well.. if you have any special tips pls do let me know
Thanks :D
Congrats Fenella, you are in for an exciting time watching the babies develop over the next few weeks. I' interested to hear that she has divided the babies into two groups, ours has never done that. Well, not for long anyway, she sometimes moves them from one part of the cage to another but they all end up together eventually.
Why don't you drop into our forum and let us know how things are going and you will get all the advice that you may need there.
I was on vacation for the weekend and came home to three little bald things in my hamster cage. I was pleasently suprised. I was unsure what to do because i had no idea who mom is. However i took bothe of them out put them upside down and noticed the larger one had a bald belly, and it looked red and sore. That hamster keeps attacking the other one. I s this mormal? Why is she attacking him? She did not seem to have any interest with the babies. She was stepping on the and just going after the other hamster. I have removed him from the tank. She then took the babies and buried them in her home and has not come out since. If I peek in I can see the babies. How long before we handle them. I took her wheel out as well because she stayed on that instead of tending to them. Any thing else I need to do? Thankyou
Hi Melissa, a little more info would be helpful on what sort of hamsters you have, how many and what age they are now and the best place to give more info would be on our forum and you will get lots of further advice and information.
Basically in a first litter I wouldn't handle the hamsters until at least day 10-14. I would leave the wheel in as the mother likes a little break every now and then and the wheel is a good release for her. The mother can behave quite erratically such as keeping moving the babies from place to place, it's as though they don't know quite what they want.
Sounds like your doing ok :)
My daughters hamster just had 11 babies. They are about 2 weeks old now and are starting to run around the cage. However their eyes are not open, not even a little bit. Is it this normal? The mom is very protective over them when I stick my hand in the cage she runs over to it. Is there any chance if I clean the cage or touch the babies that she will kill them? I also would like to know is it true if you touch 1 do you have to touch them all?
Hi Brandy, 11 baby hamsters that is some litter!
The eyes normally open at around 10 days in dwarf hamsters, the latest for us with dwarf hamsters is day 13. It may be a little laters with Syrians.
I'm sure they will open their eyes in the next day or two.
If your mother hamster is used to frequent handling then by this stage it should be ok to handle the babies, in the full presence and view of the mother reassuring her that you mean them no harm.
The risk of the mother killing the babies is very low at this stage, you should be fine to handle them and it just makes sense to handle them all.
Thankyou very much for your response. They are dwarf hamsters. I checked on them today and they seem to be fine. However to my suprise there are now 5 total. I guess she was in the middle of having them when we came home. How do I get into the forum. I am sorry I am new to this page.
Mellisa,
No problem happy to help.
To visit the forum if you scroll down a little there is a section entitled AnimalLoversWeb Forum with a few of the latest posts from our hamster forum just click on any of the titles there and it will take you to the forum. There you can just browse the information or register to join and post further questions or comments.
Thanks for the response. I am more concerned with this litter because the last little she had she killed all but 2 of the babies. They lived to be about 3 weeks. We are not sure what happened with them but the 2 babies died in the cage. They did appear to have any bite marks on them, so I am a little confused as to what may have happened to them. They are suppose to be teddy bear hamsters, which I am confused about also. I don't see anybody using that name for their hamsters.
Teddy bear hamster is just another name for a Syrian hamster, also known as a golden hamsters (whatever the colour). It's easy to see where the name teddy bear hamster came from for these hamters as they do resemble little bears. We have a Syrian called Sooty who looks just like a miniature brown bear.
The most commonly used name these days is Syrian hamster.
It's difficult to say for sure what happened to your last litter but the likelihood is that the mother just neglected to feed them for some reason. I think that is unlikely to happen this time.
my hamster were suppose to be two girls, but appearenly they wern't because i woke up to 5 pink, naked, little, squirmy things that scared me. she killed all of them by putting them in the wheel and spinning themm to death:-{
Hi, I got a "girl" hamster for my birthday, she seemed lonely so I got another girl. I did this because I wasn't sure that I could handle any offspring. One day I was at the fair and I came home and heard tiny squeaking sounds, I just thought it was one of them making noises. The next day I woke up and saw Betty carring a large pink thing in her mouth. I rushed over to the cage and saw a baby! I was very happy and confused! I thought they were both girls, I looked up how to tell the boys and girls appart and "gizma"(who now is gio) was the daddy! I didn't know what to do so I just took gio out. Later on I noticed that one was gone, I searched the cage only to find two tiny legs in the bedding. I just thought it was for the best of the babies. Then one died and i took it out of the cage, the next day another was dead and i was taking it out and it fell. Betty walked over to it and picked it up and put it back in the nest, I was devistated to see that my baby thought that her baby was still alive. I got it out in the end... But since then the two left are doing good. They both are boys, I already gave them names, even though i cant tell them apart, they are Jesse and Shawn, they both mean a gift from god, just like their father, giovanni. I want to have another litter, do you think it will be successful?
Thank you!!:)
Hi Haylee, sorry to hear what happened to your poorl little hamsters.
Hi tutu congrats on your baby hamsters, and I'm sorry to hear that you lost two.
They are wonderful little creatures and I'm sure you will enjoy the two remaining babies.
Regarding having more, there is a difference between an accidental litter such as you have just had and deliberately choosing to mate hamsters. Now that you know that you have a male and female, if you want to breed from them, you really need to look into a few things, like what sort of hamsters they ar, are they pure breeds or hybrids themselves and are there any known health problems in the their type or crosses. Also, of course, there are already many unwanted hamsters in society and many people feel that hamster breeding should be left to specialist hamster breeders and that most people who want hamsters should get them from rescue centres rather than produce more hamsters.
I personally don't make a judgment on an individuals choice as to whether to breed their hamsters or not (providing they do not produce a diseased and unwell offspring) but many people on internet forums etc, will criticise this, I mention this just something that you should be aware of.
In terms of the outcome, the first litter does tend to be the stormiest, especially in very young hamsters and the things do tend to go more smoothly with subsequent litters.
Good luck with it whatever you chose to do and if you need further help or support visit our forums from the link below and we will offer what advice we can.
Hi, I bought 2 girl, dwarf hamsters @ a really young age and i opened their cage today, and took off the box that attaches to their wheel and we didn't look but picked up the hamsters and when i looked after one bit me, there were two pink things wriggling around. -will the mother kill the babies after we disturbed the nest? We didn't touch the babies but do you have any advice on keeping them alive? Thanx xxx
Hi Hollie, first litters can be a bit precarious especially when accidental and tend to occur in very young hamsters who are not much more than babies themselves. Dwarf hamsters very rarely kill their babies but it does occur and touching the babies is one factor that can play a role.
The parents, especially, the mother will be more anxious than usual and this would explain her uncharacteristic bite. The best thing you can do now is interfere as little as possible and let her get on with it.
Good luck.
Drop by our forum if you need further advice.
John
I know that both of the hamsters are pur bread siberian hamsters, I don't think there are any health issues, I got my hamsters from a pet store and they probobly don't know if there is ant health issues that run in the family.
If I continue to have any litters I am going to give them to friends, most of my friends love animals, should I still try or tell them never mind?
Thank you for your previous advise
*tutu*:D
It is a very personal decision, I certainly don't want to preach to anybody.
My own view is that having some litters of hamsters is a wonderful experience and having one or two litters, that you know you can find good homes for and to people who won't irresponsibly breed further, is a perfectly valid thing to do with your hamsters, with all of my provisos mentioned above.
Thanks for the advise:)
I was just wondering if your first litter was successful...If you had another litter please tell me if the second one was more successful....thank you!!:)
Yes, we have now had 3 litters and been fortunate in not having lost any babies from any of the litters.
We have now separated the parents as we are not hamster breeders and a new litter of babies every 4-6 weeks was more than we could cope with :)
Hi ALW
I have found your site very interesting as a few weeks ago my daughter and friend allowed their syrian hamsters to play together.... the inevitable happened! (Actually the inevitable happened in about 30 secs I believe!)
We now have 12 very cute nearly 4 week old babies. They are separated (hopefully) into boys and girls and away from mum. They have started fighting and I wondered if I could give them to new homes now. I really really dont want them to reproduce again! What do you think?
Many thanks
Angela
Yes, 3-4 weeks is about the minimum time for separation from mum, six weeks is usually better but sometimes you can't wait this long as I have seen baby males try to mount mum at under 6 weeks old!
If they have started fighting more seriously yes now is the time to separate them from each other as well as hamsters, cute though they are, can do each other some very serious injuries very quickly! You could give them to new homes now.
Sounds as though you have done a great job there!
Hiya, thanx 4 the advise!Just wanna say that we've been checking on the hamsters and they came out every now & then but now they're barely coming out at all. I've checked some websites that say 2 feed the mother fruit and veg, we put in some cucumber, but we're not sure about what food to give them, what do you say??? Oh, and guess what? We discovered another baby!! I think they're still alive coz i heard a faint squeaking noise and the two adults don't make any noise, we've seen no sign of the babies so far, have any ideas why? (sorry if i've repeated myself there!)
Thanx 4 your help!
Holz xxx
thanks
one last thing, the hamsters are boys and i want to know if i can put them in the same cage as thier father that they were seperated from? Will they fight? Will he rember them? Please help me!!!!
Hollie, spinach,carrots,apples and brocolli are good and highly nutritious, also sunflower seeds, nuts and tofu are high in protein (also fat) but that is ok when she is lactating.
It frustrating when you don't know what is going on with the babies, we usually use a house with a removable top so we can get a good look in every now and then without disturbing them too much. Try to have a good look when he parents are out.
Tutu, we have not had much success keeping the boys together with dwarf hamsters although many people say that you can. We also have been unable to keep any of the boys with the day, so I think that you are unlikely to be able to do this if they have been separated from him for more than 24-48 hours. Also if the dad is aggressive he tends to do serious damage to the babies so I wouldn't risk it.
thanx...My girl hamster is very tiny, and is on the chubby side. I was looking at her and a website told me that her back starts to look fatter. Her back is sort of fat, but her and the boy were only together for about 5 minutes the other day because she escaped and I had to fix the cage so I put her into the same cage with the dad. Could she be pregnant? Are there any other ways to figure out that she is pregnant?
t.y.:):D
If it was just the other day, there wouldn't be any signs of pregnancy yet, it is possible even from an encounter of just a few minutes.
Tutu I know that you joined the forum and I would recommend any ongoing questions be asked there, as I am on there everyday and it allows for fuller answers than these comments boxes.
Thanks
John
i had gotten a siran hamster on friday from a lady who had a girl and a much older boy . we of course got the girl because she was very active.And two days later she has 8 babies we called the lady who gave us the hamster and she said this was her second litter. it has now been two weeks there not moveing arond alot and there eyes are not opening but im shure there alive cause when i check on them there nursing. she had her babies in a wheel thats connecting to her cage. im starting to get worried when can i hold them?
Hi Meggie, I bet the babies are lovely, Syrian babies are totally adorable.
At 2 weeks they should be opening their eyes and moving around a bit, I'm sure they will any day now. I would wait until they are before holding them as Syrians are even more protective of their babies than dwarfs.
Good luck with them hope all goes well.
thanks
i got a dwarf russion hamster 2 days ago and he wont let me take him out and hold him wthout giving me a bluddy finger
help need advise
Hi elizz, sorry to hear that. 2 days is very early with a new hamster and really they are better left to settle in for 2-3 days before even attempting to handle them.
Taming a new hamster is a gradual process and does require a lot of patience, I don't have room to go into it here but there is lots of advice about taming a new hamster on the forum, just have a look there and I'm sure you will get some ideas about how to handle this.
how do i post a picture
where i cannot find the fourm
Just under the hamsters equipment ads below here there is a section entitled:
"Animal Lovers Web Forums" with the latest posts there, just click on the titles of any of the posts there and that will take you to the forums.
i just looked in the cage and mom was gone what should i do . i think my lil sis fed her and forgot to close the cage .
helllllpppp! i'm panicing
Meggie, close all of the doors, get help and hunt around until you find her, hamsters are usually to be found just sitting under a piece of furniture when as escape occurs indoors.
Hope you find her and that she is ok.
yeah my nabors are all looking aroud the house
thanks
im getting reely worried i have seen no sign of bear (my hamster) and she is a mother to 8 babies its been like 40 minutes and no one has heard a squeak .exept for the babies
p.s we've flipped every peice of furnuture
i need help please responnnnd
If you really cannot find her all you can do is keep a low profile and hope that she re-surfaces from somewhere in response to the babies squeaking, which if she is around she should do. I would make the room dark and quiet, make sure she can access the cage if she is around and leave the room for an hour or so and then check back and see if she has returned.
I am afraid that is all I can suggest, if you need any further advice please go to the forum I am on their daily, but only check here for comments once in a while, it is not really designed for ongoing 2 way real time communication the way that a forum can be. The forum also has other hamster keepers who may offer further advice.
i just had a litter of 6 chineese dwarf hamsters so cute... all open eyes and eating food drinking from water bottle.. how soon can momma get pregnant after
Hi bethjarosz, congrats on the babies :)
The mother can get pregnant again virtually straight away I'm afraid!
Hey just poppin in 2 tell u that i now have two hubs since I had spoken and I am expecting more babies any day now
:) jacinda:)
Hello, i'm a dwarf hamsters breeder from Portugal, specialized on the campbells. I ask you, are you hamsters hybrids?
Our 6 month old hamsters shocked us last evening when one of them had babies. (We thought they were both females!) We have separated the male from the rest so hopefully it doesn't happen again although we hate it because they have grown up together. My question is if we are lucky enough that they survive, would the mother dwarf who has always been so docile be able to live with just 1 of her female babies if we decided to keep one? The parents are completely hand tamed and wonderful pets. Thank you!
Hi Stacie, congrats on the babies!
That is unusual after 6 months, usually they will have bred long before that if they are a male - female pairing.
It does break your heart separating them but it is the right thing to do and after a few days of agitation or erratic behaviour they will be fine.
As for mother you do stand a fair chance of being able to keep at least one female with her that often works out ok, but you do have to keep a constant eye on siblings who remain in groups for any signs of serious fighting.
Good luck.
My hamster gave birth four weeks ago. When are the babies old enough to leave the herd? I think its about four weeks. Right?
Yes, about 4 weeks is right for dwarfs and 4-6 weeks for Syrians or at the first sign of serious fighting.
I just got a hamster and might have been with males how do you tell if she is prenant?
Hello~
I bought my daughter two female chinese hamsters, we've had them for about 21 days. To my suprise two days ago one hamster started to have babies I seperated the two hamsters. They are both females because shortly after the first hamster gave birth to 8 babies the second hamster started having babies. I was shocked. She had four babies. I only see three now though I think one had something wrong with it because it didn't look right. She must of gotten rid of it her own way. My seven year old daughter is so excited. I had bought her a hamster about 1 month ago and it died like two weeks after we had it so that was when I bought her the two females. I'm new at this so I've been reading alot of information online.. Its been very helpful.
Hi Jenn,
Wow! both hamsters having babies, that is the first time I've heard that happen.
I've realised from this page and our forum how often people who think they are buying two same sex hamsters end up with a male/female combo but both females and both pregnant!!
Anyway, congrats on all of the babies I hope you can deal with them all.
If you need any help or advice please visit our forum.
hey i am new :) just thought i would post :) My current brood is 3 boys 6 girl dwarf hamsters and 5 babies ... (the last mom and babies are rescues) I will post some pics when I can
hiya yesterday i just got three dwarf hamsters along with 5 baby hamsters. 1 of the dwarf hamsters keep on attakin the baby WHAT SHOULD I DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HELP xXx
Hi Xylinda congrats on your litter, would love to see some pics. Hubpages don't allow posting to other peoples pages so why don't you drop by our forum you can post them there?
Hi Betha,
If an adult hamster is attacking a baby you must separate the adult from the babies straight away or it will most likely kill the baby.
How old are your babies?
What genders are your 3 adults?
Both hamsters pregnant deserves some kind of pet store goof-up award.
my hamsters are two different breeds of hamsters. one is a panda hamster and ones a short haired. they were supposed to be both girls and they got along fine in the same cage but about ten days ago well, cutting it short i have three baby hamsters in my cage. is this bad that they are mix bred?
Hi Nikki,
Many pet store hamsters are hybrids of one sort or another, they do not apply the rigid breeding criteriea that a specialist breeder would. Some hybrids are more prone to poor health than others and sometimes there is an element of inbreeding which can also result in hamsters with health problems.
The mix you have in not one that I am aware of having any particular problems but obviously indiscrimnate breeding is not a good thing so I would separate the parents straight away or she could get pregnant again very quickly (like withing 24 hours!)
Hello every1,
I am new here just signed up. I am glad I found this site.
Here is my story and questions.
I have two short haired hamsters. One I bought from the pet store for myself, her name is Chloe and the other was bought about 3 weeks ago as an early birthday present for my son, his name is Leo.
Well I have a gigantic tub in my bathroom that I dont use so I put Chloe in there as the cage I had was not suitable for her because she could get out by squeezin through the bars so i had her in the tub and put the cage in there so atleast she couldnt roam around the house and get lost or stepped on. Then Leo came and I put him in there also until I could get my son's room setup to put Leo in his room. Of course Leo was in a glass tank at the time and my son left the top off and he got out and 15 days later we had a litter of 12 babies.
They have been separated since then. The babies were born on July 30th so they are only three days old. I am down to 10 babies now and am wondering why that is. I cannot find them anywhere and wonder has she eaten them? She seems to be takin great care of them. She refused to put them in the cage and she even delivered them in the tub under mounds of toilet paper because thats what she prefers as opposed to the bedding I bought her from the pet store. She wont use that as bedding for the babies.
I have since purchased a cage suitable for hamsters a 3 story actually and Leo is on the top and I have blocked off the top from the bottom so Chloe and the babies can go down there when they are big enough. At what age should I or can I even move Chloe and the babies to the bottom of the cage or should I just leave them be?
Thanks!
Hi shortygirl29, sorry about the delay replying, I've been v. busy.
There is quite a lot to cover in your comment and really our forum would be a better place to deal with it, you should have a look there.
Basically, short haired doesn't really tell me what sort of hamsters you have they will either be Syrian or dwarf and it is a very important factor as they are very different types of hamster.
In a large litter babies can be lost for a number of reasons, the likeliehood is that they were weaker and not right in some way and yes the mother may have eaten them (if they are syrians as there is no good proof that dwarves eat their babies).
When you should move them depends largely on what type of hamster, but I would make them safe and provide food and water where they are until about 2 weeks then you should be ok to move the whole nest box in dwarves but syrians can still be a bit unpredictable for a bit longer.
Hope that helps a little and as I said any futher question try the forum as I am on their much more often and so too are many others.
Good luck
I posted a response to u in the forum, but thanks for responding here. I have changed my profile pic to reflect Chloe. That is the picture I took of her the day I bought her home in May. All the pet store had posted about her was that she was a short haired hamster maybe they should be a bit more specific. Maybe I should have put Questions in my title in the forum because no one has replied to it yet..silly me. All I wrote for the title was My Pet Hamster Chloe
Nice hamster, it is a Syrian.
I don't know where you posted but I have not seen this on our forum.
What did you put as your username and I will check if you are a member there?
I've just checked, that is not our forum that you have joined.
Our forum is here:
http://www.animalloversweb.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.
Oh okay I will post there because some things have happened since last night...so sad!
Sorry to hear that, I'll see you there.
Hii. My hamster Smuge had 9 little babies early yesterday morning. My mum has bred hamster before so she is helping me but I just wondered how to prevent milk fever. I read about the symtons and that it can be cured but I don't want Smuge getting it.
I seperated the mum and dad the night before they were born which was lucky caus I woke up to tiny little noises in the cage and saw a baby. I knew she was preganant but didn't know how far. It was a big suprise. Smuge is a very good mum though. She is very protective and quick to get the babies back if any have somehow got out the nest.
I also wondered what is the best milk to use for Smuge to drink while she is nursing the babies, as I have read to soak bred in milk and feed to them.
Milk fever is not very common, but there is nothing you can do to make it any less likely other than all the usual practices of good hamster care anyway. If you think it is occuring with an unwell mother and sick babies, then seek vet help sooner rather than later as it does need antibiotics if it does occur.
There is not absolute need to give milk of any kind to a nursing mother, but you can if you want to and formala baby mild or standard mild is ok in small amounts, other high protien food, like tofu, egg whites and nuts together with plenty of high fluid veg like cucumber are good.
Good luck and if you have any further question drop by our forum where several hamster breeders will help you out.
help i got 52 hamsters in less then a week bye my hamsters brreding i dont have any more cages to seprate what should I DO
My name says it all. I was sold two "males" and now one is pregnant!
It is a VERY common scenario, anyway...enjoy!
I bought a dwarf hamster 2 weeks ago. And a week ago she had babies. We were very surprised. The babies are a week old. everything was going ok. Last night she started going to the top of her cage and laying on her side. Then she will go back down to the babies....she won't eat or except any treats which isn't normal. Is she going to die? I am very worried.
It's difficult to say from that amount of info exactly what is going on, but what I would say is that the mother often behaves a bit erratically in the few weeks afer deliver.
Not eating or drinking would be more worrying, so keep a close eye and offer plenty of tempting fluid rich treats like cucumber, peeled grapes, applea and protein rich e.g. boiled egg white and tofu.
Have a look in on our forum if you need any further advice.
Good luck with mum and the babies.
Thanks for the tips. Mom and babies are doing great! They are two weeks old today. Can I clean the cage?
No problem, glad to hear all is going well.
Yes at 2 weeks you should be able to clean the cage.
My friend have hamsters before but have some reason all babies dead then we must waiting until they have babies again.
Thank you for your advice when they have babies, We will take care of them :)
My hamster babies are 3 weeks today. The babies are starting to fight. Do I need to separate them? They aren't fighting with mom , just the babies , nothing terrible but enough to want to stop them.
Playfighting is very common at this stage and can be very noisey with lots of squeaking going on.
If it going beyond that especially if there is any sign of blood, usually around the nose or rear of the hamsters then it is time to separate, in dwarfs this is usually at around 4 weeks, in Syrians it can be 5-6 weeks. You definitely want to be separting all by 6 weeks anyway as at this age they will start inbreeding.
So, in summary 3 weeks is a little early but it can be necessary to separate them at this age.
Hi there! I really find very good information about breeding from this website than any other place.
Just one question ;
I own a pair of pudding hamsters and I believe mama hammie is gonna give birth real soon. So when should I remove papa hammie and when should I put him back?
I did alot of research (friends, webbie, pet stores) they seems to give alot different answer! I'm really scared that mama hammie will eat them up ._.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Thanks =D
Hi Callie.
There is no one absolutely correct answer which is why you get different opinions.
It basically boils down to this:
1. If you want to guarantee no more breeding after this litter remove dad before the babies are born.
2. If you leave him in within 24 hrs of delivery the mother can get pregnant again. Dad will help out with the babies and take some strain off the mother but will usually fight with the babies when they get to around 4 weeks old but at 4-6 weeks you should be separating the babies anyway as they will often start to seriously fight after this age and will interbreed.
You can try keeping some females with mum if you wish and some males can sometimes live with dad, but in all cases you need to constantly keep and eye on them as they can start fighting at any time even after living happily for weeks or months. If you have any pairs or groups living together make sure they have enough room and one wheel per hamster should be in the cage, this helps to reduce territorial behaviour.
Help me! My hamster just died and left like about 10 babies who were born about 3 days ago!! what can I do to avoid them from dying??
Hi Miley, sorry to hear of your loss of the mother hamster.
Try these two threads on our forum for some ideas about how to try to raise orphaned hamsters.
http://www.animalloversweb.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah./
http://www.animalloversweb.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah./
Good luck with them.
hi my hamsters just had a litter of 8 babies she's eat 4 and one has died theres only three left is that normal for them to eat there babies
that hamster is so cute! my hamter is going to have babies also and i hope they r cute as yours and alos that she doesn't eat them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Lukas, I'm sorry to hear about your babies. No it is not normal for the mother to eat the babies but it is well recognised that it can happen for a number of reasons, particularly Syrians and especially with the first litter. Usually there has been something wrong with them or the mother has been stressed for some reason, it is done out of survival instinct in the mother to protect her and the remaining hamsters from the perceived risk of predators. If you have a further litter just read our articles on what to do when your hamster has babies to minimse the risk in any future littters.
Hi Alycia, hope all goes well with your hamster babies.
Hi ALW! my hamster,Bella, just had 11 babies about 2 weeks ago.I am not sure as to what breed they are. The parents both have butts that stick out.I just wanted to clarify when I can start to handle them and clean out the cage.This is Bella's first litter and I want the best for the babies.Everyday I let her run around in her ball for short amounts of time. Also, when is the best time to seperate her from her babies?Thanks!
Hi all,
I'm looking for some robos or any kind of dwarf hamster to give a loving home to. If you know of some that need a home I would be honored to take them. I live in toronto,eastyork.
If u have it please contact to elaine_veronica2006@yahoo.co.id
many thanks
Hi 11_Hail_2, congrats on the babies.
You can handle them and clean out the cage by two weeks of age, so you are ok to do that now. You should separate the babies from the mother (and into same sex groups) by 6 weeks of age when they become sexually mature and start inbreeding or before if serious fighting occurs. Syrian hamsters all need to be kept separately from each other but most dwarfs may be able to live is same sex groups.
If you haven't already separated the parents I would recommend doing so as you will end up with phenomenal numbers of baby hamsters and really if you don't even know what breed your hamsters are then I wouldn't recommend further breeding.
As most breeders will have specially selected their breeding hamsters on good genetic lines to maintain the health of the species and non specialist breeders run the risk creating offspring more prone to illness or disease
Thanks for the answers. I have already seperated the parents.I think that my hamsters are dwarf hamsters, but they dont seem to be that small...I am positive that they are the same breed. The people at the pet store told me that they were dwarfs, but I started to doubt that when they started to get so big. I do not plan on Bella having any more babies!Thanks again!
hose hamsters are so cute
were do hamsters origanaly come from
hi.
my hamster had babies 6 weeks ago and she had 8 sadly 5 died. out of the 3 remaining she had 2 boys because we seen them trying to mate with the mom but the other one we didnt we think its a girl but we bought it a new cage and next day i noticed its tail was sticking up and didnt look normal it ran around and looked very strange is this normal if not HELP!!
Me againn My hamster Leela's babie hamsters that survived started mating with her at 4 weeks too and the girl babie might be pregnant if shes a girl and i wonder if the mum is too!!!
Luke for hamsters advice I would prefer if people asked on our forum as I am on their much more than I am here and there are hundreds of other members who can also give advice there.
*PLEASE NOTE*
If you are looking for advice on hamsters our discussion forum is for that purpose.
This page is for comments and info only.
Hi , my hamster just had her 2nd litter yesterday
& one of the baby died today . but the mum did not eat it or move it far away .
She just left it below her .
awwwwwwww that is soooo adorable!!!!!
i am sooo jealous i wish i had one tooooooo
they r soooooo cute i have a hamster named Gabby,she was pregant when we got her so one wedsnday morning we saw a little,little surprise with her when we woke up that morining;15 little baby hamster!!!!!!i know rite 15 but i still want 2 keep 'em!!!tell me what 2 do at Keaera2010@live.com!!
And 4 all ya'll hatas 2010run it baby boo!!
sorry
but i just can't stop looking at them
ps please reply at aqeelahfendi@yahoo.com
i just forgot to say my question
do u know if the hamster don't like u or me
how would i make them like meeeeee
PLEASE HELP I'M DYING TO HOLD MY DWARF HAMSTRER!!!!!!!!!!!
i have the prettiest brown dwarf hamsters and they already had like 12 babies each......is that normal???
I have a dwarf hamster that had 11 babies about 2 weeks ago. The babies are roaming around, but the mama is real mean to them. She will like box them with her front paws when they go to the food or get too close to her. Is this normal for her to do this?
Anyone who can help me on my last comment please e-mail me at chatterkim@yahoo.com. Thank you.
my hamster just give birth today.... :-)
up there you said nutritious fruits and vegetables would grapes also work?
my male hamster has just started moping around and his fur is getting wiry...is this normal when they are seperated?btw they are syrian hamsters
me again...last night my hamster made this horrible sound kinda like a scream...is that normal when she is close to having pups?
tra - Yes grapes are good, they especially like them peeled.
**TO ALL PLEASE NOTE**
We have a forum for answering queries, this comments page is basically for comments so please don't post questions here, go to the forum for that
I have a hamster that is under a year old. We take her out many times a day , I just noticed a big lump on her lower belly. I didn't notice this even earlier today !
What could this be? I am really worried. She acts completly fine. Running around like usual and eating fine.
I have just bought two dwarf Hamsters at the weekend - Roborovski ones. We called them Tom and Ed after the Chemical Brothers. Kinda worried now though, as the smaller one, Ed kept hopping onto Toms back, i don't think they were making babies, but it has all of a sudden stopped. I work as an electrician most days and evenings, so i don't get to see them wake up around 6-7. I am slightly worried as the bigger on Tom, is very clean and likes to make sure the nest is pristine! I hope they are girl and boy, but it certainly seems that they are. I am worried if they do have babies, what i should do, and if the dad would be ok to stay in the cage with them.
My hamster had babies this morning and i have no clue what to do and its the day before i have to clean the cage so its really dirty what schould i do and schould i seperate the male
can hamsters get preganet again after they give birth if you dont remove the male
what do you do if the mom stays in the little hideout and then stays out of it for along time what while happen to the babies will they get cold or sick
I think I could handle baby hamsters. I'll ask my mom if I can get two of them instead of one. A boy and a girl. Then I'll just wait. That will be very fun.
MY HAMSTER HAD BABIES AND TOUCHED IT. WILL MOMMY EAT THE BABIES
How do you tell a boy from a girl dwarf hampster????
at a young age?
and at an older age after having babies?
Thank you !
hello, our hampsters just had babies today at school and we thought they were all girls and we cant tell what ones a girl and what ones a boy how do we tell?
is it bad to have a hampster that isent a parent in the cage ?
please respond fast if you know?
Thank you !
Mr. Ds class 6-7-8th grade : ]
My kids both recieved dwarf hamsters for christmas. I was told they both were female hamsters. My daughter was cleaning the cage yesterday, and while cleaning the running ball which the hamsters always filled it with beddding since we got them a couple of babies fall out. I put the babies back in the nest and thought the mom might eat them. When we put the mom and dad back in cage they seem fine. The mom and dad both check the babies and the dad went back to his business and the stay with the babies. The next day my daughter found the mother dead. Now I have ten babies with no mom that is only a couple of days old. What should I do and why do you think the mom died. It would upset my kids so much if the babies die to. PLEASE HELP!
my mother hamster has a weird bump on her stomach thats red and puffy it dosent look like a thing she uses to feed the babies it takes up most of her chest area and it looks really weird what is it
congrulations!i hav a baby hamster,i hav separate the mum n dad caz the dad eat 3 of the babies,after i separate both of them,i find the mother was not feeding the baby hamster n itis dieing,WAT SHOULD I DO???
my hamster has not feed the baby hamster for a long time,wat should i do!
my momma just ate my papa hamster luckily all the babies are alright i think it was for protection but im not sure. help meeee pleeease
cool
My hamster gave birth to 8 babies yeaterday and today when we went to check on them we only saw about 2 of them so we don't know if the rest are dead and she ate them or what?
In satersay 21\3\09 wen i sow the cage i sow 6 little babys of hamsters . now what i should do whith them??.. :)
my sister has a 1 year old hamster and we want to breed it.Is it to late or how old do they stop breeding?. i dont know what kind it is. it was a injerd hamster from a fiegt it got in at the pet store wegot it 10% off and it has never bit a person in its life
hello i dont know what happend last night, but we found hami dead on the botom of the cage and we were so very sad, but he was fine this morning and playing around we were giving him lots of vechtables and dry hamster food,and water do you know what happend to him "help!:"
I have three two week old hamster , mom got killed today the babies are eating seeds and vegetables will they be able to live without mom's milk at this young age? Please if anybody knows it is a sad day for myself and kids.
hey um we have two gurl hamsters and one boy and im pretty sur mine,Bubbles, is pregnant. how can i tell?
help me!!! my hamster<mom> won't care for the pup!!! i think it's gonna die!
is it weird 4 a hamster 2 have 2 babies
yes taylor it is weird for a hamster to have only 2 babies
My sister dwarf hamster had two babies what should we do its the first time our hamster has had babies and we are totally lost!!! Please help!!
i have three gigni pigs
My hampster just had babies today, I am so excited and nervous. How do you know if the mom is trying to eat them or just move them around. Please let me know. Thanks
This is a very good hub... I love the photo of the row of baby hamsters. Keep up the good work.
nikki, if ur hamster wont take care of its pup. it is best to take it out and take care of it. BUT, Do more research and ask some people!! Dont worry my hamster just had babies a week ago, but she is taking care of her babies, ( i bet this is not making you feel any better). I hope it goes well!!
Hi, My hamster just had a litter of 3 and i accedently touched them because i didnt know better since im kinda young (11) but i wanna know if there is a possibility they will live?
hi i was given a hampster from my friend whos had a suprise litter she was 7weeks old when we recived her along wif her two brothers we then had then in the same age for a week and she became pregnant as it was my first hamster i didnt realise she was pregnant i thought she was just growing bigger.
when i oke this morning i heard squicking so i checked her and sh was fine, so after my dinner i went up to clean her cage i pulled her house out the cage and placed it on my bed as i took the roof off to put her in the cage i see loads of pink things and realised she had, had babies i quickly put the house back with out knocking it around and i shut the cage up i dnt want to look to see if they are ok as i have been told to leave them, do you thing they will be ok seen as i moved the house?? im kind off worried
hi i was given a hampster from my friend whos had a suprise litter she was 7weeks old when we recived her along wif her two brothers we then had then in the same age for a week and she became pregnant as it was my first hamster i didnt realise she was pregnant i thought she was just growing bigger.
when i oke this morning i heard squicking so i checked her and sh was fine, so after my dinner i went up to clean her cage i pulled her house out the cage and placed it on my bed as i took the roof off to put her in the cage i see loads of pink things and realised she had, had babies i quickly put the house back with out knocking it around and i shut the cage up i dnt want to look to see if they are ok as i have been told to leave them, do you thing they will be ok seen as i moved the house?? im kind off worried
My fancy hamster is going to give birth any day . I have my male in a different cage now.We are planning on keeping one.After all of her babies are gone and she's getting ready for her second litter,is it ok if i put dada hamster with the male baby from the first litter?
My fancy hamster is going to give birth any day . I have my male in a different cage now.We are planning on keeping one.After all of her babies are gone and she's getting ready for her second litter,is it ok if i put dada hamster with the male baby from the first litter?
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AnimalLoversWeb Forums
- Need help please...
All right I have two female rats. Trixie and Mia. I don't know excatly on ages but both are under a year. Mia is younger approximately about five or six months. I was holding them both today and on Mia I noticed a lump to the side of her throat. I'm concerned and was wondering if anyone has had rats with this or know what the possible problem is. If anyone has any insight please tell me. Thank you. - 1 second ago
- Can dwarf (robo)hamsters climb rotastak tunnels?
I had added an extra floor to my cage and just wanted to know if they would be able to climb up there.Also just purchased two 70lt bin's for £25.98 so all that money i spent on buying rotastak was a waste, unless i buy MORE hammies ;]But yeah.. does anyone know the answer to my question? - 2 hours ago
- New baby!
Well.. not really a baby! On June 24th, a lady brought her rat into the store that I work at, as she could no longer take care of it (aka. her daughter lost interest). She's a beautiful, black&white, hooded rat, about 2 years old, and she has an issue with her neck that is common in rats with respiratory issues (head-tilt). I had to take her, because if she ended up in a shelter, no one would have taken her, and I didn't want her to live out the rest of her life in a cage. She's been a lone ratty her whole life and now has 5 sisters to look to for companionship.. and she thankfully doesnt bite like one of the rats I rescued last year!!! hahahah I love them all though! With training and companionship, they can all be trained to be wonderful babies! 6 rats now!I'll post some pictures when I can figure out how to upload from my new camera! - 9 hours ago
- Why do hamster mothers eat their new born babys?
Ive always been curious, because over 9 years ago my dad bought regular hamsters and the mother started eating one of her new born.What causes the mother to do this? and also, would a robo mother do the same? Is there a 'time limit' on how long the new borns can stay with their mother for? i heard that once the new borns start developing fur, you have to seperate the new borns from their mother.What would happen if you left the dad and mother in the same cage after removing the new borns? how would the new borns survive without their mother? is there certain food you must give to the new borns?Im just really curious, because ONE DAY i may be interested in hamster breeding, thats after i manage to find a home for the new borns. But thats in years to come. - 14 hours ago
- Moving hamster babies
OK - my female Syrian hamster got out of her cage and then proceeded to have 10 babies in a corner of one of our rooms. She seems to be doing well. It is a big room but because of a set up stairs that go up out of the room no one can get out of it, but it is still out of the cage. She is a first time mom but also very relaxed and comfortable with us. Here is my question, should I try to move everyone back to the cage or leave them? I am concerned once the babies start wandering. But I also understand the golden rule is to leave mom and the babies alone. If I should move them at what age is best?Christine - 24 hours ago
Mother Hamster With Her Babies
Baby Hamsters Eating Popcorn
Baby Hamsters Out For A Walk
- Animal Lovers Web.com - Hamsters
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Eileen says:
18 months ago
awe, so cute! hey is it free to join?