CARING FOR NEWBORN HAMSTERS...

Advice #1

for the first week or so, don't mess with the mom or the babies. just let the mother take care of them and don't disturb her unless you're putting in fresh food or water to her cage. if you see a baby missing from the litter, don't panic, rodent mothers often eat/kill their babies if they sense that they are sick or something is wrong with them, but when i worked at the pet store, we had 10 litters of hamsters and only 1 baby was killed. after about a week or so, you can start to take out the babies and do whatever you plan to do with them, but until then LET HER TAKE CARE OF THEM.


Advice #2

DO NOT touch them, not even the mommy. Make sure the food and water is on the ground level for easy access and let the mommy care for her babies. Put them in a quiet room with as little human activity as possible and make sure they are warm. Mommy will nurse them till they are old enough to eat on their own, once you see that they are independent and eating/drinking on their own seperate them! Especially males from females because incest doesn't exist in the hamster world and you will have a much bigger problem later on if you let them breed. Also note, while the babies are young mom will be VERY protective and very mean toward you so don't take it personal, she is just protecting her young.


Advice #3

DO NOT touch the babies until they have hair. The smell will confuse the mother and she may kill or eat them. Same thing for changing the litter, although that can get icky, if you change it too soon you can freak the mother out and cause her to kill the babies. Keep the cage in a quiet place, don't disturb. Make sure the mother had food and water but even then, give her this in the least invasive way possible, put in the food and water and leave them alone. If you absolutely have no choice in changing the litter because its saturated, add litter rather than removing what's there and try not to touch it with your bare hands. You have to be VERY careful. If the worst happens and she kills the babies, don't be too upset, mothers often kill the first litter. But if you're extra careful you have a good chance of preventing this. Once the babies are 4 weeks old or so and eating on their own, you can put them in a seperate cage. The mother will go nuts, fill her cheeks with food and try to find a way out to find the babies. However, moving them prevents her from hurting them. You can put the back together once they're a little bit bigger but you will probably find mom has a dominant attitude and will beat up on all other hamsters, whether or not they're her babies. Not to the point of killing them, just to the point where she is a bully. She still deserves the best care possible.


Advice #4

Omg!! I am in the exact same situation except that my hamster only had three. You should not hold them for two weeks and leave the mom alone. On the 10th day you should put tiny peices of apple in their cage with a spoon so the mom won't smell a weird scent on the babies and cannabalize them...gross and sad huh? I agree! My babies are 15 days old now and are doing fine. On the eleventh day make sure to lower the water bottle so that all of the babies can drink from it. Make sure that on the 15 day they can eat and drink properly. On day 8 you should take mom out and handle her or put her in a ball to run around and give her a break from motherhood. My mommy hamster was real protective of her babies and when I changed the food and water one day she jumped up, bit me, and would not let go!!!! She also climbed the cage bars as she bit them! I heard though that this was normal so don't be scared if she does the same thing. Mine are dwarfs and on the 15th days one of the babies squeezed itself out of the wire bars twice!!! Set the cage in a plastic tub so you don't lose one of the babies. This site will also help you a lot on caring for them. The site doesn't come up if you type it in up top so you have to go to Google and type in Russian Dwarf hamster information and click on the first site. (No, it is not all about dwarf hamsters, it pertains to all hamsters.) Also make sure you seperate them at 4 weeks of age so they don't mate and you have more surprises on your hands. The babies would also have birth defects since they are related.


Advice #5

do not hold them till 3 days old when you do hold them do not pick them up as u can injure them so wat u do is put your hand down and let them crawl into it try not to hold them for very long though for they can get really cold or hot and i'm not sure but i think at 2-4 weeks old they hop around alot which is called the popcorn stage so when you hold them be careful they dont jump and they need to be weaned at 4 weeks old until then they eat from there mom but as it comes time to wean introduce them to the water bottle and solid food and the mom may eat some do not stop her either i know its hard not to but its normal hope i helped


ps. I just have to see what others have to say about their pet. Well, after this, i surely remove all the babies (hope they all survive) and i guess i ada 6 babies there. I need to separate them soon when they can feed themselves. Luckily i did not touch the babies. Lucky and hope each one of them are well, healthy and alive. Lets just see ya.

BABY HAMSTERS BORN TODAY SOMETIEM AT SUBOH.... 17.05.08.

My fren mau satu dah and the name would be RONNIE. weLL... i know why!!! ha..ah... Miss OLIVE. Olive so cute. Chubby white and light brown hair/bulu. And i hope this information will help you too if you got hamsters...