oh no our hamsters had babies

generalmiaow

They're Russian dwarves (black and white mottled, from the same litter - and before anyone says anything the pet shop guy SWORE they were both male) - and we recently put an ex-gerbil plastic house thing in their cage, and we noticed that they were spending a lot of time in there... and today my housemate noticed there were a whole load of new hamsters. I can't tell how many babies there are as they won't leave the house and I know you're not supposed to touch them.

My girlfriend reckons the mom or dad (can't tell) is eating some of them but really we have no idea and the various tiny bloody things around the cage could just be afterbirth. I have googled and read so many conflicting things about what you're supposed to do, separate the father, don't separate the father. Some stuff says you're supposed to give them cheese. Does anyone here have any definite advice on what we should do - and when in their lives, assuming they survive, we should consider finding them a home?

Advice will be rewarded with hamster pictures

Schlemm

Defo separate the male, pregnant hamsters should be left alone, including when they're pregnant and after they've given birth. You shouldn't re-mix them or they'll fight with one another. Hamsters are solitary animals, although sometimes they can be group housed if the group has been formed after weaning, but they're better off on their own. Females will attack males except when they're in oestrus, ie, when they're sexually receptive, which is about once every 5 days.
Leave the mother with the litter for about a week, and provide the babies with some water after about a week.
Sometimes when mother hamsters are disturbed, they stuff their babies into their cheek pouches if they feel threatned. So if you're wondering where they've gone, this could explain this.

Pics please!!

generalmiaow

Thanks for the advice. The reason I'm still not sure about separating the male so far is that they're dwarves, and I understand dwarves are quite social compared to syrians (these two lived together for three months without fighting). I'm also shocked to learn the mother may already be pregnant since apparently they usually do this right after birth.

I suppose it will depend on what I actually see happening, whether there really is fighting or eating. Same thing goes for pictures, I can't see into their little house yet, I'll be sure to snap em as soon as mommy and daddy move out of the way!

generalmiaow

here's one of the babies hanging on to one of the hamsters while it walks around. terrible video.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5269683304034651346

Our man in Havana

The female will already be pregant again - they mate straight after giving birth - they sometimes eat the babies - young mums can get confused after cleaning up the afterbirth & eat babies - you can keep mum & the female babies together & keep dad & the boys together.

dudara

It's OK to keep the male with the female when you have Russian dwarves. The males are actually quite active dads. The female eats the placenta, so that might be what you're seeing. It's not uncommon for the mum to eat the pups, so don't feel bad if that happens.

generalmiaow

All right, time to hold up my end of the bargain! Thanks for the advice guys!

Here's an older picture, when we just discovered them.


Here's the mom, having some cheese. The dad seems to be spending most of the day sleeping in one of the tubes, can't say I blame him!


One of the babies from today. He has his eyes open half of the time now.
sure.


And again. We think there's about three altogether, but there's no way to be

dudara

They look gorgeous! Good luck with them.

Dwarves are very popular pets at the moment, you should be able to sell them to most pet shops if you don't want to keep them.

Our man in Havana

They are a stunning colour - tis a shame you are so far away as I would have been interested in the babies.