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Old 12-28-2016, 07:48 AM  
souffle
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Yorkshire, UK but my heart lies in Scotland!
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Default Re: Help! My Dwarf Hamster just gave Birth!

Hi there - sorry to hear about the surprise litter!
One of your main issues will be that mum is not tame herself yet so when it comes to having access to handle the pups this may be delayed with a stressed new mummy.
The rule of thumb is normally when all pups eyes are open wide that you can start taming and handling. Dwarf eyes will open between 12 and 16 days ish normally. Once they open you can start with stroking their backs when they are round the food dish. You will need to include mama in the taming too and handle all at the same time. If mother is very uncomfortable with you touching them ie flying out and screaming or biting then you need to delay as you could still cull the pups up to around 4 weeks. At 4 weeks you must sex the babies and separate into male and female groups as they start to mature and can get pregnant then. Girls could stay with their mum but boys must be in a male only group. Feed plenty good food like extra small seeds, fine chopped veg, porridge, babyfood, chicken, tofu, scrambled egg etc. They will eat loads of hamster mix too so free feed that.
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