our surprise babies

[gill]

Our little surprise bundles are a week old now and mother is being very caring. I was reading that Syrian hamsters reach sexual maturity at 3 to 6 weeks old and I don't want any more surprises straight away. Does this mean they will have to be separated as soon as 3 weeks? I am not sure yet how many there are, it looks a lot, maybe 10. Will they have to have 10 separate cages at 3 weeks?

[i-love-paddy]

Hi,



You will need to seperate from mum at 28 days, putting them into same sex groups. females are usually receptive at 5 weeks so I would definitely seperate at 28 days, putting the boys in one cage, the girls into another. Hamsters can become territorial from 6 weeks, so usually need seperate cages from this age, although I have heard of them staying together until 8 weeks, it just depends.



I would start looking for homes ASAP as well.



Hope this helps

[babyboos]

There are different way of weaning the babies from 3 weeks (21 days) onwards. Depending on how many of each sex there are you may wish to remove the larger group first and leave the smaller group with mum until 4 weeks (28 days) old. This way mum also has a gradual withdrawl from her pups, rather than all going at once. Of course other people do just remove them all at the same time - any day from 21 through to 28 days old. It is generally not accepted to have pups with mum after they are 28 days old.

[gill]

Is there a foolproof way to tell which is which when we separate our babies this week? I can tell the difference when they are fully grown but I am having trouble with these tiny bundles of fluff.

[babyboos]

Once you start comparing the babies side by side Gill you will start to pick up the differences don't worry.