I have lots of babies, help!

Estelle · 06-03-2005, 01:39 AM

To cut a long story short I bought two male roborovski hamsters and one of them had 6 babies on May 13th. They have been doing well and are now around 22 days old. This morning I have 6 more babies! Should I take the first lot out now? Mum was feeding the older ones this morning. Shes now back in the nest with the little ones.

SnuggleHam · 06-03-2005, 04:10 AM

Hmm 22 days old now.. That’s about three weeks old. I've never bred Roborovski before but I’m pretty sure that at about four to five weeks they should be weaned and self sufficient, If you don’t want any more pups you should separate the pups into male and female enclosures, separate the father too if you don’t want more. And then just let the mother raise the next batch.

Your not anywhere in the US are you

?

Estelle · 06-03-2005, 04:20 AM

I am in the UK. They are three weeks old today. I am going to separate them next week sometime. They are with dad at the moment so I have to buy or make another home for the girls. I thought the gestation period was 23-30 days so I wasn't expecting babies today! I have tried sexing them a couple of times. They all look the same. 3 of them had a tiny bobble but it was really close to the bottom opening so not sure if they are boys!

Emma · 06-04-2005, 12:55 AM

Robos can produce litters as little as 3 weeks apart, I think it is usually longer (4-5 weeks) but I've heard plenty that have managed it in 3. The male will mate the female as soon as she gives birth, so if he was still there for the birth of the second litter, you may well have a third litter on the way too.

The main question is are the older litter eating by themselves? It sounds like your Mum is doing well feeding both litters. I have heard of two cases where the mum has killed the older litter when this has happened though.

If it was me, if I thought the older litter were eating enough, I think I'd take them away now, and make sure I fed them plenty of high-protein foods and that they were using the water bottle. I'm sure babyboos will answer here soon, she breeds robos herself so will be able to answer better. All the babies could be kept together for another 3 weeks, with Dad if you like, so you'd only need 1 extra enclosure for now. In another 3 weeks you'll have to separate boys & girls. Boys do have a tiny "button", it is further away than the female's slit is, but with robos being so small everything is quite close together! The easiest way is to compare different hamsters, put any you are unsure of in the "boys" group, and re-sex every day. It's less trouble to have one girl in with the boys, than one boy in with all the girls!

Poor Candace is desparately looking for a mate for her robo and over here in the UK we're swimming in them! Wherabouts are you Estelle, are you going to be keeping all of the babies?

How old were your original pair? I've always been told by breeders robos usually wait to mate until the spring after their birth, were these guys only born earlier this spring? Although I've heard more and more robos breaking the "rules" on breeding - bigger litter sizes, breeding in autumn/winter....maybe the UK robo population is getting more fertile.

SnuggleHam · 06-04-2005, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emma

Poor Candace is desparately looking for a mate for her robo and over here in the UK we're swimming in them! Wherabouts are you Estelle, are you going to be keeping all of the babies?

Estelle said they were in the UK... I figured that would be the answer I got back after I asked. It would be way to easy and convenient if Estelle was from the US and lived near me lol . To bad about it being illegal to ship rodents through the mail, if it wasn’t the case id have one by now. The only way is to receive it by plane and that would be over 100 dollars! If I had more money id fly some over from California from this one lady who breeds them and even has the white faces variety!

Estelle · 06-04-2005, 05:29 AM

I have mum in one cage with the new babies and dad with the older babies in another cage. I was worried she'd attack the older babies as she'd have too many to feed. They all seem happy like this. The babies were nibbling at proper food before their eyes were open. They can all get to the water which is in a gravity fed mushroom which came with the habitrail mini cage.

I'm not planning on keeping all of them. I am going to try and sell 4 of the older litter first. I am in Leicestershire if anyone has a good home for them! I may keep 1 or 2 males with dad depending on how many there are. When the second litter grows up (and providing she doesn't have yet more) I'll keep 1 or 2 females with mum. I wanted to get dad out before she had this second litter but I didn't spot the signs and thought 3 weeks would be too early for the next litter so he could have mated her again (oh no!)

I got the hamsters in the middle of April and I was told by the pet shop they were 6 weeks old then. They certainly seem to be very fertile! I will take the females out at 4 weeks old because I couldn't risk them getting pregnant too, I'll end up with hundreds of them!

Estelle · 06-07-2005, 09:08 AM

I have been checking the sex of the 6 baby roborovski's. They are 3 weeks 3 days old. They all look to be male. I didn't see nipples on any of them and they all have a little bobble next to their bottoms. Is it unusual to have a litter all the same sex? I'm worried about making a mistake!

**babyboos** · 06-09-2005, 03:27 PM

It can happen as often they will have had more than 4 babies originally and some will have been removed by the mother or other cagemates

Have you tried the empty tumbler test?

Estelle · 06-11-2005, 06:51 AM

yes but they run around so much its easier to hold them and look. I have checked again and still looks like 6 boys!

**babyboos** · 06-11-2005, 10:30 AM

You need to leave them in the tumbler for at least 15 minutes - if they run around all the better