Help! Baby hamsters!!!!

[squillyfer]

Hi just wondering if anyone could help. Around February time we bought two chinese dwarf hamsters. We bought them from Pets at Home and named them Starsky and Hutch. We were assured that both were male. However a few weeks ago Starsky pushed Hutch fro the bed they shared and the pair began to fight. We were about to seperate the pair putting it down to territorial differences when this afternoon we found a baby in the cage. We have now presumed that starsky must be a female. I know hamsters normally have around 7 pups but we can only see the one and from pics I've seen it looks about 6 days old. We haven't touched the baby or disturbed the family. All three hamsters are still living together. Any tips on what we should do now and how to accuratly age the pup.


Any help welcome because we are baffled. We thought we had two little boys!!!!
Thanks:)

[squillyfer]

we've just seen 2 more babies, brining total number up to 3

[Jojo]

When I had my hamster problem this week - i googled and found lots of helpful sites - one of them, I'm sure had details about breeding etc. I'll see if I can find you the link

Edit: I just found this on one site:

A few days before birth it is best to do a complete cage clean as you won't be able to do another one for about 2-3 weeks. Make sure she has lots of bedding material to build a nest. Keep the cage in a nice quiet room to avoid stressing the mother as she gives birth and looks after the pups.



Two young pups enjoying their first solid food.
If it is a dwarf that is pregnant and the father is still sharing a cage with the mother then it is a good idea to remove him before she gives birth. He can be left in though if you want to as he will help out with looking after the pups but note they can mate again within 24 hours of her giving birth and you'll end up with another litter due in 18 days.

Once the mother has give birth to the pups it's a good idea to remove the wheel from the cage as this may injure the pups if they wander around the cage. Also lower the water bottle ready for when the pups can start to drink from it. Keep providing fresh fruit and vegetables daily along with some bread soaked in milk. It is important you do not disturb or touch the pups, doing so may cause the mother to kill them. You can start to handle the pups once their eyes open which is around 2 weeks old. At this age they should wander from the nest more often and will start to eat solid food. You can also clean the cage out once the pups are at handling age.



18 days old
At 3 weeks old they should be fully weaned and eating solid foods. They should be removed from the mother before 4 weeks old and put into single sex groups. If you plan to keep the dwarf pups then these can be split into single sex groups with females living with the mother and males with the father. You must make sure the cage is big enough to cage them all.

You must keep them in these groups until they are 6 weeks old if you plan to sell them. From 6 weeks you can sell them if you wish to. Syrians should be seperated by 8 weeks old to avoid fighting. If they fight before this time then you will have to do it then to avoid injures.

Hope that helps

[squillyfer]

thanks thats a big help, epsecially the part about the dad being able to stay in. Like I said the main problem was we had no idea she was pregnant and most sites aren't much help if you didnt know when the pups were born. The three we've seen look about six days old so we didnt have any way to prepare the cage or the mother.... or us for that matter lol

[chance]

I remember when my hammy has baby hammys i had to remove dad as him and mum kept fighting and he actually looked like he could of harmed the baby as well so keep a eye out just in case.Mine was a russian dwarf,they were gorge!!

[squillyfer]

Ours are chinese dwarf the babies are so cute. Dad seems ok i there at the minute but we are keeping a close eye on mum and babies