What am I doing wrong?

[Rellen]

I am feeding the mother (clean) fresh fuits and veggies, pablem, and of course her normal food..
and I am leaving her cage alone except to feed and give her water.

But in my last litter with the cinnies, 2 of them died at age 10, naturally. I scooped them out and buried them.

Now, with my newest batch of babies at age 11, 3 of them have died in the last two days.
One of them was extremely small, and I figured it died and she ate it,
and then I went in and found one today, dead, so I scooped it out with a spoon and buried it.

Then I went to change her water a few hours ago, and I saw her EATING a baby. (devastating..)

Oh yes, and on day 9, I also found a baby, with its stomach all puffed up and green. :S and the one I scooped out today had a sliightttly puffed out stomach.

Could this have anything to do with the mothers milk or what I'm feeding them?
Or does this happen often?

[souffle]

It is not uncommon to lose quite a few of the pups at this age. I doubt you are doing anything wrong but you need to ensure they really do have strict peace and quiet. It is natural for the mother to eat a dead pup as in the wild this would attract enemies so don't worry about that. The bellies of dead pups always swell up after death and they may have had something wrong with them or not been getting in at the milk with larger pups getting in first and pushing then aside. It really is natures way of ensuring the fittest survive and mother does know best. She can detect things wrong that you could not. Be sure you rub the spoon in the bedding and use minimal disturbance to take out a dead pup. I would up the protein fed to mum. Give her and the babies, scrambled egg, tofu, milky porridge, chopped chicken and baby food now. ensure they have a low dish like a jar lid and they can reach the water bottle as they will want to drink soon. Good luck with the rest of the babies and don't fret as there is nothing you can do for such yound babies. Mother must care for them.

[Rellen]

It is not uncommon to lose quite a few of the pups at this age. I doubt you are doing anything wrong but you need to ensure they really do have strict peace and quiet. It is natural for the mother to eat a dead pup as in the wild this would attract enemies so don't worry about that. The bellies of dead pups always swell up after death and they may have had something wrong with them or not been getting in at the milk with larger pups getting in first and pushing then aside. It really is natures way of ensuring the fittest survive and mother does know best. She can detect things wrong that you could not. Be sure you rub the spoon in the bedding and use minimal disturbance to take out a dead pup. I would up the protein fed to mum. Give her and the babies, scrambled egg, tofu, milky porridge, chopped chicken and baby food now. ensure they have a low dish like a jar lid and they can reach the water bottle as they will want to drink soon. Good luck with the rest of the babies and don't fret as there is nothing you can do for such yound babies. Mother must care for them.

Ah, thank you so much! :)
Yes, I have been feeding her scrambled egg here and there :)
Thanks a billion :D:D:D

[Yaffle]

Sorry to hear that Rellen, I'm sure it's nothing that you are doing wrong it's just natures way.

I also saw Yeti eat her pups so I know how distressing it is. All I can suggest is that you give her and the pups plenty to eat and disturb her as little as possible. Yeti seemed to lose a lot of her pups around 10 days but everything settled down within a couple of days. There is nothing you can do for them so try not to dwell on it and find something to distract yourself. Also try not to blame Mum as she knows best x

[Bunsey]

some breeders would say that if she's done this twice, not to breed from her again. it could just be that she's not very maternal. 3 breedings is the most a female should have anyway, so it wouldn't be the end of the world to stop at 2

[Spuds Mum]

It often happens Rellen, and can be more likely if the nest is disturbed or the mother feels threatened in any way, so one of the best ways to help is to keep Mum in peace and quiet and steer clear of the cage unless giving food etc. I always like to make sure before Mum has the pups that she is moved to a quiet area in the house too, away from lots of hussle and bussle.

I feed my Mum/litter protein every day in the form of chicken, eggs, tofu, cheese and give porridge made with puppy replacement milk.

We also sprinkle food around the nest such as small crushed dry food, wheatgerm and small bits of carrot and broccoli from about 7 days, just so that the pups can begin to start eating solids whenever they are ready (sometimes Mum doesnt bring food back to the nest)

Despite all the best laid plans though, it is not unusual to lose some pups, its natures way, and one of the reasons of course that nature allows hamsters to have such big litters, not all of them are expected to live. It is always very hard to see them pass though, and I have had similar experiences so my sympathies are with you.

I would just take no chances, give her lots of protein, keep things calm and quiet, and hopefully the other pups will do well x

[Holly]

As the others have said, you aren't necessarily doing anything wrong - sadly rodents will often lose several babies in a litter, it's just nature's way and is why they have such large litters in the first place - as all may not survive.

I would definitely up the mum's protein intake - give her lots of milky supplements as this will help with her milk production and, other than that, just try and leave her be until the remaining babies come out of the nest and open their eyes.

I recently lost most of a litter from my lovely Smartie and it was devastating so I do know how awful you are feeling - I started with at least 16 in the litter and have ended up with just 5 beautiful babies from it. I had another litter at the same with none of the problems - and I did exactly the same for both mums so I'm fairly sure it wasn't anything I did, though of course you blame yourself.

In Smartie's litter they all seemed to survie until around 9 days and then, in the next 3 days, they all just died. Smartie didn't eat them, she tucked their little bodies behind the nest so I had to carefully remove them with a spoon - all were perfect with fur and lovely features but all were very skinny and had bloated, discoloured tummies like you describe. I spoke to two top breeders about it - they said the bloating is a sign of starvation - I guess my lovely Smartie just couldn't feed a litter of 16. I'm so proud of her for trying so hard and keeping them going so long.

Best wishes fior the rest of the litter and mum, hope they do ok now.

[Rellen]

As the others have said, you aren't necessarily doing anything wrong - sadly rodents will often lose several babies in a litter, it's just nature's way and is why they have such large litters in the first place - as all may not survive.

I would definitely up the mum's protein intake - give her lots of milky supplements as this will help with her milk production and, other than that, just try and leave her be until the remaining babies come out of the nest and open their eyes.

I recently lost most of a litter from my lovely Smartie and it was devastating so I do know how awful you are feeling - I started with at least 16 in the litter and have ended up with just 5 beautiful babies from it. I had another litter at the same with none of the problems - and I did exactly the same for both mums so I'm fairly sure it wasn't anything I did, though of course you blame yourself.

In Smartie's litter they all seemed to survie until around 9 days and then, in the next 3 days, they all just died. Smartie didn't eat them, she tucked their little bodies behind the nest so I had to carefully remove them with a spoon - all were perfect with fur and lovely features but all were very skinny and had bloated, discoloured tummies like you describe. I spoke to two top breeders about it - they said the bloating is a sign of starvation - I guess my lovely Smartie just couldn't feed a litter of 16. I'm so proud of her for trying so hard and keeping them going so long.

Best wishes fior the rest of the litter and mum, hope they do ok now.

Exacctllyy what happened to me!
It's good to know that it may not be my fault..
I try my best to keep it quiet :)
I will continue to feed her tons and hope for the best.