Help me please Hamster Babies

Hillary84 · #1 01-08-2005, 07:54 PM

[font=Comic Sans MS]Hello everyone, I am brand new to pet lovers and I need help.

I got a Hamster Last Friday. I had the gut feeling she was pregnant,beacause she was acting strange. I have never owned a hamster before in my life! So when I woke up this morning I found a pile of baby hamsters and the rag she sleeps on covered in blood. The pile of Hamsters has been like that all morning none of them seeming to move. The mommy hamster(named Dashley) has not bothered with those and I have noticed one in the back of the pile that moves but she ignores it. There are also two or more underneath her. Are the eight hamsters in the pile dead? One has a bloody eye,but I am not sure what to do. Please someone help me

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Magnum · #2 01-08-2005, 08:30 PM

http://www.talktothevet.com/ARTICLES...erbreeding.HTM

Hillary, everything I have read so far says not to disturb the nest or she will eat the babies. I have included the above link. I do not have hamsters, but I hope someone here will be able to help you.

Jerica · #3 01-09-2005, 01:58 AM

If the mother is not nursing them at all they will not survive, and it could be possible to hand feed them if you have the time, but keep watching them close and try to put toilet paper or something like that in the cage for the mother hampster so she can make a good nest. Are they uncovered completely? Are they squirming at all or squeaking? If no sounds or movement are there they may be dead, but most likely the mother would eat them then. It is best to keep an eye on them from a distance and be very quiet for the first few days. If they die there is nothing you can do, and it just happens some times. This could be her first litter and she doesn't know what to do. But for now watch them, quietly put something soft like kleenex or toilet paper in there and make sure the momma has food and water. I hope everthing goes ok.

Easlethistle · #4 01-09-2005, 05:24 PM

I hope that the babies are still alive. When my mouse had her second litter, it was actually to cold for her to keep them alive, so I'd pile in the bedding. There are lots of reason your Guinea Pig may not want to feed the babies. Animals tend to be able to sense if something is not right, and if the babies were sick or inbreed at birth, she would ignore them. They could be premature (a Guinea Pig breeder mention that is happens) and she just doesn't have the means to look after them.
I hope they get better.

Hillary84 · #5 01-10-2005, 02:03 AM

the baby hamsters on the washcloth were all dead. Now there are only 2 or 3 left out of 18 or so, I am so upset and I don't know what to do.

Easlethistle · #6 01-10-2005, 02:07 AM

Is she nursing the others?

#7 01-11-2005, 02:49 PM

Please let us know how they are doing?

Jadewyng · #8 01-15-2005, 10:46 PM

Hi Hillary,
I just joined and just saw this post. I hope all is going well with the mama and surviving babies...
I used to breed hamsters a lot back when I was in high school. Let me just first say, don't be upset or blame yourself. There was nothing you could've done and I'm sure nothing you did wrong!
This type of thing is fairly common for first-time hamster mothers. I know this sounds gross... but I once had a mother eat the heads off 14 babies and leave all the bodies behind. After that, she had many more litters and never again had a problem.
Anyway, I would guess part of the problem was the fact that she had 18 babies! This is a VERY large litter for hamsters!! It was probably just too many for her to handle. Normally, hamsters have anywhere from 7-12 babies on average. It may be that they were even born dead or very weak. The fact that she had 2 piles - one set aside and one under her - says that she likely knew there was something wrong with some of them. She saved and cared for the ones that were okay... and she set aside the others. This is very normal behavior for a hamster.
There's not a whole lot of intervening that can be done with hamsters. You just have to let nature take it's course.
I would love to hear an update! Let us know how everyone's doing... If you have any other questions, I'll do my best to answer them.
--Stephanie