In Above my Head - 2 Litters/3 Female Dwarfs

K'sHaven · 04-03-2012, 07:48 PM

Hi everyone,
This is my first post. I've been doing some reading online about dwarf hamsters for a while already tonight. I work at a feed store where people can sell animals at or give us animals for us to sell.
Last week we were given 14 Dwarf Hamsters in one tank, all mixed genders and 5 of them are babies, still weaning. We only had two (10 gallon) tanks available, so I sexed the hamsters and kept the females with female (including mom and the litter of 5) and then put the males in a different tank. Thankfully everyone is friendly. They were given to us because the original owners didn't know how to sex them and they kept having babies.

Today I went to feed the females and I found 4 newborn pups in their little house. I checked all of the females, besides the original mom, and they all have swollen tummys, but no obvious nipples. To avoid any trouble with toddlers/customers, I asked my boss, (the owner of the feed store) if I could take the whole female tank home so that the babies could hopefully be raised successfully.

So I have them at home. Instead of the hamster food we have at work, which is cheap, I gave them a mix of Mazuri Hamster/Gerbil and Ecotrition for Hamsters and Gerbils. (I own three male gerbils.) Besides that I have left them alone, they're in a corner in my bedroom, opposite from my window and lamp.

Sorry for the long post! I haven't had dwarf hamsters besides taking care of them at the feed store, which we are made to take care of at a minimum amount. They get food, clean cages, water, and houses. Is there anything extra I can do for them now that they're in my care for a while?

Kissa · 04-04-2012, 01:15 AM

Protein! Scrambled/hard boiled egg, plain cooked chicken, baby food (no onion!) etc, to keep mummy's strength up. I believe it's also best to keep each mother separate -- possibly make separate bin cages for each potential mother? And keep disturbance as down as possible. The babies can be handled safely after their eyes have opened, at about two weeks old.

Be careful changing their food, it's generally recommended to do a mixture of old and new food for a week so it's less likely they get an upset tummy from the new food.

What type of dwarfs are they?

**Tammy22** · 04-04-2012, 01:30 AM

Hello K'sHaven,
welcome to the forum

I think you have done the best thing for them now and hopefully the babies will be ok if the group is left in peace and quiet.
You will have to be prepared for all of the other females to give birth too as they have all been in with a sexually mature male. What species are they? You will need to find this out to know how long you have before knowing if they can still be pregnant after being split from the males.
Depending on the species they might be able to all continue to live together, but it really depends on the species and the individual hamsters whether or not they will all live happily together and raise their litters together. Obviously you will probably be unable to find out which babies belong to which mother.
Please keep us updated

Tammy x

MommaHammie · 04-04-2012, 01:44 AM

If you don't know what breed they are, you can always show us pics (sorry its just me trying to see some litter too >_<) I wish you luck in raising all of the little gems!

K'sHaven · 04-04-2012, 05:31 AM

Thank you everyone for the advice. I will make them a couple scrambled eggs in the morning, it's 5:20 am for me, the hamsters are keeping me up.

I will take pictures of them after it gets light. I believe they are Campbells, but the original mother is black with white feet. The only hamsters we've had in the store are Teddy Bear hamsters and Campbells. A couple months ago a girl brought in a litter of hamsters, Campbells and Black Dwarfs. Would they still be Campbells or a mix if they're all black?

I realized after reading my two posts, that I said 14 hamsters here, and 20 in my introduction post. I have 3 adult females here, 5 young babies, 4 newborns. I believe there are 4 or 5 males at the store and before I brought this tank home I took 3-4 Adult females out that didn't look pregnant. Though if they end up having babies as well, they will come home with me too. So I believe around 14 is the amount of dwarfs we were given.

Sorry if that is confusing everyone.

One of the adult females and a younger baby keep wrestling? I'm not sure if that is what they're doing. The adult is on her back, wrestling with her front legs with the baby who is wrestling back, at her side, and nuzzling the adult's head and neck. They make noises while doing it. It's not distress squeaks, we've had more than a few (same gender) hamsters come in one group and start fighting, so I know what that looks like and sounds like. They make clicking noises, which is loud to the very soft squeaks my gerbils make.

Thanks again, everyone for the advice. I'm a little wary of separating the adult females as I really don't know who the mom is to the newborns.

samzyzg · 04-04-2012, 05:44 AM

Well since you don't know who the mother is and as long as they aren't sexually mature and no one is being hurt i wouldn't separate them yet, not until the little ones are old enough... Also there are four types of dwarf hamster.
Dwarf Hamsters Russian Siberian Chinese Winter White Hamster
I just done a quick search and gave a link to the first page i found and it explains the differences between them.

K'sHaven · 04-04-2012, 05:49 AM

I believe I have a Campbells Dwarf Russians or a mix of them. Besides the black one, which I will get pictures of in a couple of hours.

Kissa · 04-04-2012, 06:15 AM

You've probably got hybrids, actually (crosses of Campbells and Winter Whites). The black colour will be from the Campbell, as they can come in black. The hybrid because most pet shop hams sold as "Russian dwarfs" are hybrids, and these are probably pet shop hams originally.

You won't have a mix of different species, they wouldn't be happy living together. (Actually not sure if pure bred Campbells and Winter Whites would get on, since they can be bred together, but since the number of pure Winter Whites in the US is low anyway, I doubt you've got any.)

K'sHaven · 04-04-2012, 08:15 AM

Okay, here are the pictures. Sorry they aren't great quality. I had to move their tank next to my lamp so I could get some light. We have a storm right now and it's giving me a bad light quality for moving objects.

Adult top, one of the original babies bottom.

Same adult and baby, baby drinking water. The adult wants to be an escape artist, it's not working out for her though.

Cathii · 04-04-2012, 08:56 AM

They're adorable! I love the last one of the mum climbing up the water bottle! That made me laugh

I'm sorry I don't have much advice but they look like Campbells. That's what the slim line down their backs and arches on the side tell me anyway

They could be hybrids, but probably part Campbells. Don't quote me on that, as I haven't had much experience with Campbell's (edit - or hybrids) - I'm a robo lover - but basic research on the internet leads me to that descision.