Baby Hamsters

[angela_z2003]

:confused: My hamster gave birth to six baby hamsters yesterday. They look very healthy yesterday. However, 3 baby hamsters died this morning. i took the hamsters out and the motthe hamster became very frantic.

i have two qns.

1) what should i feed the mother hamster with?

2) how do i make sure that the other 3 hamsters will not die?? thanks.

[mzdolittle]

First of all, I'm sorry you lost some of your baby hamsters. Was it the first litter for the mother? Hamsters (most small rodents, really) have a tendency to kill their first litter or just let them die by not feeding them. Another possibility is there was something wrong with those particular ones and the mother knew it and killed or refused to feed them. Also, unless the mother is VERY tame and used to you holding her, if you handled the babies or disturbed the nest in any way or even got very close when taking a peek, the mother may have rejected them for that reason. You should feed the mother hamster food for hamsters, small pieces of fresh fruit, unsweetened cereal, the usual food.

[Wayfarer]

Pretty much what mzdolittle said. Baby deaths among rodents are frighteningly common. /= The best thing to do is to leave the mom and her babies alone, put her in a quiet, preferably dark room, or put a towel/blanket over her cage. They frighten easily and, for whatever reason, this will usually lead to infanticide. Make sure you let others in the house know where the hamster is and the situation with her.

And, yeah, normal food.

Good luck with the pinkies! ^_^