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Old 03-31-2021, 10:33 AM   #1
dorianhamster
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Unhappy Accidental pregnancy help!

Hello. I am new here. My female Syrian hamster, Petunia, turned a year old last month. This month I left her and my 1.5-year-old male Syrian hamster, Fern, with my sister for a couple of days. We had hamsters growing up so I figured she would know how to take care of them and not let them "play" together. I was wrong. I came back and Petunia was pregnant. I am shocked. Supposedly she only let them "play" together once, but that was enough to get her pregnant. She let them hang out sometime between March 12 and March 13, I'm not too sure which. Of course, it is now going on 17-18 days since they were together and she has swelled up like a balloon. She's become pear-shaped, her nipples came in, I've been feeding her more, and she's been building a big nest. I've been doing my best to stay out of her way but I cannot help but check on her because I am so worried about her. The last time I held her I could see a couple of little bulges in her stomach which I think are the pups. She has been pretty restless for the past few days, but last night and today she has just been sleeping. Still no birth yet. Is that normal?



I am just so nervous for her. Is it normal for her to not have the babies yet? Is there anything I can do to help her? What is the latest she could have the babies? Should I be worried? Is she dying? Again, this was an accident and I am very frustrated with the entire situation.
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Old 04-01-2021, 08:34 AM   #2
souffle
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Default Re: Accidental pregnancy help!

Normal pregnancy lasts 16 days. If they go on longer then there is a much higher chance of the pups being born dead and over 18 days I would see a vet.
The fact she is acting oddly is a bit concerning. After the pups arrive the mothers do stay in the nest all the time practically to tend the babies. Are you sure she hasn't had them.
After this time she does need checked though so I would encourage her out with some babyfood or tasty veg and use a clean spoon rubbed in the pee corner to part the nest and check for pups. If she is still very swollen there could be dead pups inside her and this is a dangerous situation. Having pups at this age is also not recommended as the mothers can have delivery problems but accidents do happen so you just have to do what is best for her. Older hamsters are also more likely to have a womb infection after mating which can cause swelling.
Is there any odd smell about her or any discharge? Is there blood on the bedding?
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Old 04-01-2021, 09:14 AM   #3
dorianhamster
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Default Re: Accidental pregnancy help!

Quote:
Originally Posted by souffle View Post
Normal pregnancy lasts 16 days. If they go on longer then there is a much higher chance of the pups being born dead and over 18 days I would see a vet.
The fact she is acting oddly is a bit concerning. After the pups arrive the mothers do stay in the nest all the time practically to tend the babies. Are you sure she hasn't had them.
After this time she does need checked though so I would encourage her out with some babyfood or tasty veg and use a clean spoon rubbed in the pee corner to part the nest and check for pups. If she is still very swollen there could be dead pups inside her and this is a dangerous situation. Having pups at this age is also not recommended as the mothers can have delivery problems but accidents do happen so you just have to do what is best for her. Older hamsters are also more likely to have a womb infection after mating which can cause swelling.
Is there any odd smell about her or any discharge? Is there blood on the bedding?
I am pretty sure she hasn't had them. She has made one large nest with all of the bedding and one small nest with less bedding. She's been sleeping in the smaller nest and there are no pups there. Unless she had them and ate them or left them to die somewhere else. . . But i've been pretty nosey (I set up a spy cam) and I haven't seen anything like that. There has been no blood in the cage or bedding. No funky discharge or odd smell from it or her from what I can tell. She's still quite swollen but she feels smaller today than she did yesterday? I think? Not significantly smaller but not as swollen. Do you have any advice about finding a vet for her, especially in this situation? Would a vet even be able to do anything for her?
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Old 04-01-2021, 05:13 PM   #4
dorianhamster
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Default Re: Accidental pregnancy help!

Quote:
Originally Posted by souffle View Post
Normal pregnancy lasts 16 days. If they go on longer then there is a much higher chance of the pups being born dead and over 18 days I would see a vet.
The fact she is acting oddly is a bit concerning. After the pups arrive the mothers do stay in the nest all the time practically to tend the babies. Are you sure she hasn't had them.
After this time she does need checked though so I would encourage her out with some babyfood or tasty veg and use a clean spoon rubbed in the pee corner to part the nest and check for pups. If she is still very swollen there could be dead pups inside her and this is a dangerous situation. Having pups at this age is also not recommended as the mothers can have delivery problems but accidents do happen so you just have to do what is best for her. Older hamsters are also more likely to have a womb infection after mating which can cause swelling.
Is there any odd smell about her or any discharge? Is there blood on the bedding?
I checked her bedding and there is no sign of babies and no strange smell. Just a slight hamster urine smell because I've been doing my best to not disturb her for these past few days and mess up her tank. She's not too swollen, just enough that if I touch her sides I can distinctly feel little bean-like structures which I'm assuming are the pups. No strange smell on her either and no odd discharge. Her bottom is the same color it usually is, which is a bit darker than her other fur and skin.

I called the only vet in my area that sees hamsters and they refused to see her out of fear of stressing her out further. Ugh. They just said to sit back and "let nature take its course" with her. Of course, this did not help me and made me feel even worse. I felt like they were my last hope for this and now I just have to continue to wait.

For now, she's eating normally, sleeping normally, and drinking normally. I would say she is still nesting more than usual. Definitely not bigger today than she was yesterday which I'm grateful for. I will say today she has slept a lot, but it is not quite her usual awake hours yet and I did check her out this morning so she could be tired from that. Yesterday she was up a bit earlier which was unusual for her but not unheard of. No signs of pain or anything like that from her. She's been her usual friendly, spunky self throughout the pregnancy.

I am hoping and praying with every fiber of my being she makes it through this okay. I wish I could have at least taken her to the vet to find some answer, but I cannot do anything about that. I will let this forum know how it turns out either way. I just can't believe she's going on 20 days pregnant. I am so anxious.
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Old 04-02-2021, 01:56 AM   #5
Ria P
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Default Re: Accidental pregnancy help!

I would phone around different vets because a vet doesn't have to be an exotics vet to be able to examine a hamster. I was told by my vet that it is part of their training.

Someone may have a locum vet who would be willing to see a hamster.
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Old 04-02-2021, 09:59 PM   #6
dorianhamster
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Default Re: Accidental pregnancy help!

Well, I went to check on her and there was some blood in her nest. In a panic and without thinking I picked her up and there was a good amount of blood on her vulva as well. When I picked her up she started licking herself and doing her best to clean herself. She had been sleeping all day. I got her to take some food from my hand and she went and stored it in one of her nests. She then ran on her wheel for a minute before (weakly) walking back to her nest and going back to bed. Not really any fresh blood and all blood near her was dry. I am wondering if she gave birth and then ate them? I am just hoping none got stuck and that everything is ok internally. None of the vets could see her today. I am going to bed now.
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Old 04-03-2021, 04:25 AM   #7
souffle
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Default Re: Accidental pregnancy help!

I would say she has delivered them late and they have been born dead She will have disposed of the dead pups in a natural way. It's normal to see blood around the underside after she has given birth but she should clean it up over a few days and return to normal. If she doesn't and shows signs of continuing discharge she may have an infection and would need to see a vet urgently.
They can take a few days to recover though and sometime have an upset tummy from disposing of pups.
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Old 04-03-2021, 04:27 AM   #8
Ria P
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Default Re: Accidental pregnancy help!

It is possible that she ate them. They may have been stillborn. She could also have hidden them in a nest but then you'd hear little squeaks. I have never had a pregnant hamster but know people who have.

It's now really a matter of letting nature take its course while hoping for the best possible outcome for your hamster.
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