Completely noob! :)

[asmith]

Hello.

Very nice site

I bought 2 hamster. I think they are syrians. But I'm not sure. I didn't get a cage for them at first. and they were in a box till they made me do it. when buying the case, my wife saw another one in the tank, and we bought that too. The new one is female. So 2 females and one male. The pet store told us they are over 30 days old.

Now I read all over the internet that the male and female must be kept separated and never mix groups of males and females together. But in 2-3 pet stores I've seen in my life, they all kept ALL of their hamsters in one big tank. Meaning they were all only 'selling hamster'. I asked the pet store if it is ok that we have 2 females and 1 male together in one cage, and he said that it's ok.

The first male and female had no problem and always sleeping together. The third female started fighting with both A LOT for the first 4-5 days. Then they got along. But still the first male and female slept together at night and the third one slept on the other side of the cage.

We saw them mating. The male with both females.

We've cleaned their cage 3 times. But each time after cleaning, they changed their 'sleep place', 'toilet' ... Kinda like each time we put them back after cleaning the cage, their mind got reset where everything was before and they selected their places again.

About 7-10 days ago. 2 females started to sleep together at nights and the male slept in the tube until now. (the cage has a tube connecting one side to the ceiling). The first female started to biting cage bars all the time. And 5 days after that, the second female started biting cage bars too and the first one did it less but still did. Last night the second female got so crazy and aggressive, and biting the cage bars harder. I holded my finder about 2 mil behind the bar she was biting, and she steped back 1 foot, then jumped crazy and bite by finger and I bleed.

In the mean time, the 2 females gathered a lot of cottony, tissue. They took everything soft we offered them and they build kinda a bit nest. Like in 1/3 cage.

Today, I saw 3-4 babies. I'm not sure, cause they were moving them around in pile of cutton and tissue. Some were not moving and I finally saw the first female ate one of her children. well I had read before they do such thing, but hadn't seen in front of my eyes. I was like 'how cute! she is licking her baby' and I turned out 'omg!! blood and the baby got no hand!'. In the past week, all the male did was sleeping in the tube and didn't came out. I saw him once eating and then the 2nd female made him escape to the tube again.

That's all the story till now. I think you must know how I feel seeing that scene.
I read few articles here and I had never thought about this much responsibility .

Please guide me what should I do. I didn't buy them to abandon.
Thanks for your time

[souffle]

Dear me that is a sorry tale of seriously bad information from the pet shop and irresponsibility on your part. I am glad you are now seeking advice.
Fistly you need to determine which type of hamster you have. I don't think they are syrians although it is possible. How big are they? A syrian would be around 5-8inches long where as a dwarf would be much smaller. Have a look at pictures in the threads in the different species sections and tell me what they are or post a pic.
If they are dwarfs and the two females are getting along OK then you can leave them together but you MUST remove the male right now. Get a large plastic storage bin if you cannot afford a cage. If one female has already had babies she will already be pregnant again as they mate striaght after birth. The next litter will come in around 21 days. The second female is probably expecting too so get the male out so she will not get pregnant after she delivers.
The male is being bullied and you must get him out or you will have babies coming out your walls. They may also attack him and as he is likely their brother the inbreeding is a very bad thing.
If they are young Syrians then they MUST be separated into individual cages right now and kept alone. The pet shop is wrong. You CANNOT keep syrians together. Regardless of whether the are syrians or dwarfs they are far too young to be having babies as it will be a terrible strain on their bodies.
It is too late to worry about that now so concentrate on feeding the mothers well and also reducing stress. The mother is killing the pups as she is so stressed she cannot cope. Leave them completly alone except for feeding and water. Do not touch or handle pups or nest. Two dwarf females will help each other with the litters.
You need to either find homes or find cages for groups of males and groups of females before they are 4 weeks. Females can stay with mum and males can be introduced to dad provided the cages are really spacious for a group.
When you buy an animal you must house it properly and a rodent needs a secure cage not a box!
The females bit you because they are scared and they are defending their territory and the babies. It will be hard work to tame them all when they are weaned. The top logo shows a dwarf and a syrian. Which is yours?
Here is a link to some advice on feeding and caring for babies
Breeding Syrian Hamsters - Advice & Guidance
The care is much the same for dwarfs.
Good luck

[asmith]

Thanks for the reply.

Why the pet shops I've seen keep tons of hamsters in one big tank? and is there a big chance many of them get harm because of fights?

It's hard to get a photo right now. and I don't wanna disturb them more. My hamsters look like the right one in the logo, more mouse-like. and I think they reach 5 inch.

The male was always calm so far. But the females became super energic.
Now that the females was pregrant, should I give them any special food?
In the past days I've been googling a lot about hamsters. Thanks for the link. Let me know if I gotta do anything more.

Is it ok to clean the cage every week? I kinda get the feeling I shouldn't do that. since they change their position everytime and I don't like to see them bite cage. Makes me feel I've kept them in prison. I've put them out to explore around but again they find corners and try to 'dig' there. (I read they bite cage cause they are bored)

[souffle]

If you read the link I gave you you will find all about what to feed them. You must not clean the cage out at all until the babies eyes are open. You must take the male out. If they are syrians they will kill him. The only reason they are together just now is because they are so young. The babies in pet shops are kept together as babies will stay together OK till about 7-10 weeks maximum however they must be in single sex groups.
Once you have the male out then you can take a pic of him and we can se the type they are.
Which country are you in asmith as different countries have different ways of animal welfare in pet shops.

[babyboos]

would you mind telling me which country you live in first of all
do you have access to a camera to perhaps take a picture of your hamster so we can ascertain what species they are
your poor male needs to have his own home regardless as he will be very hungry now and liable to be murdered by the females if they get hold of him especially as they are now both more than likely expecting another litter
if you dont have access to a camera can you tell me how many centimentres or inches they are and what colour are they and can you have a look on internet to see if you can find a hamster which looks a little like them and direct us there
they live in big tanks in pet shops because they can stay together in same sex groups mind you up until 8 weeks sometimes more and by that time most are sold
it is shocking how many people get a baby hamster home and it gives birth because a pet shop has kept mixed sexes together - it is very poor practice

[asmith]

Hello.

I live in Iran.
I have access to camera and I'll soon get a picture. Sorry for the delay.

Continue story:
The first female ate all of her pups. Not one tiny bone left. I ordered a tank so that I separate females and the male. I'll get the tank tonight. It is 60cm x 40cm.

Last night, I woke up by some loud hamster noises. About 5:30 am. I went to see what happened there. and guess what, the second female had babies. I could count 5 at least. I could hear the pups noise and it was wonderful, mixing with the silent of the night. well having a bad example before, this time I left them without leaving a noise. We put scrambled egg, rice, hamster food and a bit chicken and some vegetables so that she doesn't eat pups for lack of protein at least. and of course I prayed they don't eat them this time
The second female (The mother) now has sit on the pups, while the first female has slept over them all. Like to protect them?
I wanted to put females in the tank and keep the male in the cage. But now I have to do otherwise cause I can't move the pups.

I'll post pics soon. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
p.s again the pups noise was so sweet!

edit: I looked over images of hamster by google image searching for dwarf and syrian. They look nothing like dwarf. dwarf are little and they are round like a ball I can say for sure they are syrian. And they look like the right one on this site banner. However I'll take a picture as soon as possible.

[souffle]

If they are definitly syrian then you must remove the other female as well as the male and house them individually.
It is likely the female culled her litter due to stress.
Keep the mum and pups very quiet and as stress free as possible. If the first female has just lost a litter she is likely lactating and may actually feed some of the babies. She could however kill these pups too and it would be much better to remove her now. Do you have a large plastic storage box you could use for her?
There are likely all siblings and very young hamsters. Syrians can have babies from 4-5weeks of age but it is really bad for their bodies to cope with babies when they are babies themselves.
They are likely confused little hamsters and don't know what is happening.
Keep up the feeding as you are doing and try and get them all housed individually. You can clean the cage when the pups have their eyes open and also start taming them. I think if you get the two others out she will have a better chance of raising them and good luck.

[asmith]

The other female is feeding 2 pups also. I was gonna remove her from the cage, I touched here and she turned and 2 babies was under her. 2 females are sleeping close to each other and I hope I haven't messed with their peace by touching the other female :/

Edit: I'm really confused. Females fight with each other and sleep with each other and feed babies together.

[souffle]

If both females are suckling pups together then you are just going to have to leave them for now. Like I said if the first one has just lost her pups she will have milk and is adopting the new pups.
They sound more like dwarfs to me.

[asmith]

Hey guys

Mangool: (First female)



Shangool: (Male)



Mooshi: (Second Female)