My Daughters "female" hampsters had babies

[chachi]

If you remember a while back I did a thread about getting My 6 yr old Daughter a hampster. Well a little over two weeks ago we went to the Pet shop and got her what were supposed to be two female dwarf hampsters. Yesterday My Daughter yelled out that there was a creature in her cage moving around. Sure enough it was hampster babies. Thank God she saw it because I was going to clean the cage out later on and would have unknowingly dumped them in the trash because they were underneath all the bedding where you couldnt see them. Anyway so now we have 5 baby hampsters and My Daughter is thrilled.

[cheeselover8481]

If I were you I would seperate the mom and babies. My friend's hamster had babies and they didn't know that the mom sometimes eats the baby. Ewwww....I would read up on it to see how you are supposed to care for them.

[chachi]

We separated the male but you cant separate them from the Mom she nurses them. I read they will sometime kill the babies if they are stressed so we are leaving Mom and babies alone. So far so good

[bensonmomof4]

It is normally the males that will eat the babies. Not a pretty picture!

[Amber_lv]

i have never seen a baby hamster mabey you can post some pics when they get settled in.

[Patti]

That's cool!

[cheeselover8481]

Oh. They probably left the male in there. Just thought I would warn you since it took them by surprise seeing babies gone. Good luck! How many did you say she had?

[Ashley V]

Originally Posted by chachi

If you remember a while back I did a thread about getting My 6 yr old Daughter a hampster. Well a little over two weeks ago we went to the Pet shop and got her what were supposed to be two female dwarf hampsters. Yesterday My Daughter yelled out that there was a creature in her cage moving around. Sure enough it was hampster babies. Thank God she saw it because I was going to clean the cage out later on and would have unknowingly dumped them in the trash because they were underneath all the bedding where you couldnt see them. Anyway so now we have 5 baby hampsters and My Daughter is thrilled.

By the time I was 14, I had 10 hamsters total and four of them were from a (litter?) of hamsters. I had bought to "female" hamsters and had them in the same cage, but every four days (they are in heat) I noticed that they were doing something that didn't seem natural. I started researching and found out what was going on. Before I could get another cage for the male, he got the female pregnant and I knew it (I saw the whooooole thing), so I did even more research and even calculated to the day when the babies were going to be born. My family thought I was crazy when I kept saying she was pregnant. The day the babies were born, I had picked up my female and felt one of the babies roll around. When I got home from church, my plan was to clean out the female's cage and get the smaller cage ready for the male. Later that night I was doing what I planned. I had just gotten the male settled in and picked up the female to clean out her cage then I saw these naked pink things dangling off of her belly. I ran outside and rubbed it in my family's faces that I was right and they were wrong. It was so fun. I miss all my hamsters. They really were a pleasure. I would definately get more if I could. How many babies are there?

[JESSY_RN2B]

Originally Posted by chachi

If you remember a while back I did a thread about getting My 6 yr old Daughter a hampster. Well a little over two weeks ago we went to the Pet shop and got her what were supposed to be two female dwarf hampsters. Yesterday My Daughter yelled out that there was a creature in her cage moving around. Sure enough it was hampster babies. Thank God she saw it because I was going to clean the cage out later on and would have unknowingly dumped them in the trash because they were underneath all the bedding where you couldnt see them. Anyway so now we have 5 baby hampsters and My Daughter is thrilled.

Awwwwww, I lost my dwarf not too long ago........this brought back memories. So glad your daughter saw the babies

[BubblPopElectrc]

Make sure you understands to be quite around them and leave her alone as much as possible (as I'm sure she does), we had a female hamster give birth once, and she must've gotten stressed out and ate her babies.

[HighlandYorkies]

REMOVE THE MALE IMMEDIATELY ! He will have a longer pointed end than the female does. He can never again be housed with the female.
Separate into male and female babies at four weeks old - keep the females with the mum until they are six weeks old, and you will need a cage for the males at four weeks, but place it next to the females cage. This prevents them all getting pregnant again as they are sexually mature at 4 weeks !!!
DO NOT DISTURB THEM or clean them out for the first week, and only clean the corners the second week. She will only eat them if you disturb or handle them. You can start to handle them at three weeks to get used to humans....hold with both hands, over their bedding in case they jump.

Keep their bedding clean, change at least once a week from after the first clean out at 10days-2weeks apart from corners.

At six weeks they need to go into separate cages or be rehomed by then, but if they are russians you can separate into small groups, as they should live happily together being from the same litter - if there are fights, remove the bully, and separate before there is a death.

Give them chopped fruit and veg, mashed bread and milk for the babies and the mum(change daily)in a very shallow dish so no drownings, and change the water bottle once a day. They like egg which is good for mum, and give them plenty of their normal hamster mix.
The babies will eat small amounts of normal food long before their eyes open - almost from birth, but will drink from their mother for 4-6weeks, though they are weaned at three weeks.

Good Luck - you will have LOTS of fun !
Debra ( breeder of many HAMSTER litters !!! )

[Amber_lv]

Originally Posted by HighlandYorkies

REMOVE THE MALE IMMEDIATELY ! He will have a longer pointed end than the female does. He can never again be housed with the female.
Separate into male and female babies at four weeks old - keep the females with the mum until they are six weeks old, and you will need a cage for the males at four weeks, but place it next to the females cage. This prevents them all getting pregnant again as they are sexually mature at 4 weeks !!!
DO NOT DISTURB THEM or clean them out for the first week, and only clean the corners the second week. She will only eat them if you disturb or handle them. You can start to handle them at three weeks to get used to humans....hold with both hands, over their bedding in case they jump.

Keep their bedding clean, change at least once a week from after the first clean out at 10days-2weeks apart from corners.

At six weeks they need to go into separate cages or be rehomed by then, but if they are russians you can separate into small groups, as they should live happily together being from the same litter - if there are fights, remove the bully, and separate before there is a death.

Give them chopped fruit and veg, mashed bread and milk for the babies and the mum(change daily)in a very shallow dish so no drownings, and change the water bottle once a day. They like egg which is good for mum, and give them plenty of their normal hamster mix.
The babies will eat small amounts of normal food long before their eyes open - almost from birth, but will drink from their mother for 4-6weeks, though they are weaned at three weeks.

Good Luck - you will have LOTS of fun !
Debra ( breeder of many HAMSTER litters !!! )

how fun you know a lot! they must be teeny tiny little things lol

[chattiesmom]

Baby hamsters, how much fun can you have. I bet your daughter will really enjoy watching the kids grow up.

[YorkieShadow]

Originally Posted by chachi

If you remember a while back I did a thread about getting My 6 yr old Daughter a hampster. Well a little over two weeks ago we went to the Pet shop and got her what were supposed to be two female dwarf hampsters. Yesterday My Daughter yelled out that there was a creature in her cage moving around. Sure enough it was hampster babies. Thank God she saw it because I was going to clean the cage out later on and would have unknowingly dumped them in the trash because they were underneath all the bedding where you couldnt see them. Anyway so now we have 5 baby hampsters and My Daughter is thrilled.

Yes please seperate the male and female, He will eat her babies. and if you handle the babies, the mom will eat them.
Hampsters are so darn cute. When I was a little girl my mom bought me two female long hair teddybear hampsters, well turned out one was a male. They had babies and then got preg again. I ended up having 52 hampsters in a very short time and had hid them in small cages and when my mom found out she made me find homes for all of them but two. lol

[xxmxaxrxyxx]

Originally Posted by chachi

If you remember a while back I did a thread about getting My 6 yr old Daughter a hampster. Well a little over two weeks ago we went to the Pet shop and got her what were supposed to be two female dwarf hampsters. Yesterday My Daughter yelled out that there was a creature in her cage moving around. Sure enough it was hampster babies. Thank God she saw it because I was going to clean the cage out later on and would have unknowingly dumped them in the trash because they were underneath all the bedding where you couldnt see them. Anyway so now we have 5 baby hampsters and My Daughter is thrilled.

how cool is that...