Hamster babies! help!

[Laurenpops]

Well I know I havent posted much since I joined (busy mum of 7 so dont get much internet time!) but I posted a while ago about getting two winter whites males for daughter for xmas, on the 19th december older daughter who was looking after the hams till xmas came to me and said one of the hams had got very fat. So I take a peek and "hes" not just fat hes pear shaped and has swollen nipples....clearly not a blumming "HE" at all!!! On 23rd december we had some lovely extra christmas presents, not sure on how many as I havent disturbed mummies nest but from what we've spied we have 4-6 babies. We've taken dad out the cage but kept cage next to mums. Now two things worrying me - these two "parent" hamsters are siblings, is this going to cause problems for the babys!? and aslo mum was only about 2 months old when she got pregnant so is this going to damage her health?

Any advice regarding babys would be much appreciated, we've done a bit of reading up but I always find it more helpful to get first hand advice from other owners.

thanks in advance!

[kyrilliondaemon]

We took in a pregnant foster hamster in November, the pups are seven weeks old tomorrow so I really know how you feel.

You're right to avoid disturbing the nest. Mum may benefit from some extra protein, things like mealworms, scrambled egg, chicken... Be careful not to provide too much fresh food, but some of those things can be really good for Mum.
Milky foods like porridge can also be worth offering sometimes.

Just to ask, was Dad taken out before or after the litter was born? If it was after you could have another litter on the way later.

Just leave Mum to it for now, when the pups eyes are open you can possibly start handling them if Mum seems ok with it. At four weeks of age they'll need to be separated into single sex groups, if needed the girls can stay with Mum and Dad will probably accept the boys (the male pup from the litter here is living with his Dad permanently).

There's no guarantee it won't damage Mum's health, litters in general do tend to shorten lifespan and Mums can suffer a lot from a litter. All we can do there is make sure she's got plenty of food, water e.t.c and trust her to care for herself at the moment.

And er... Inbreeding can be a problem, but as long as there're no problematic genes (we had a risk of anopthalmic white pups in our litter) the pups should be pretty much ok. One generation of inbreeding rarely does much harm

The litter we had started to leave the nest at 10 days, eyes started to open around 12 days. Oh and one thing - Try to not panic if at first one looks unhealthy. The male pup in our litter really scared me the first time we saw him but the fears were groundless so its worth waiting before you worry

[samzyzg]

I'm no expert, but seems like you have the basics down and sorted with for now. Extra protein I think would really benefit her having to look after the pups while she's still one herself.
There is a risk that something could be wrong with the babies, just due to bad genetics but that could occur in two hamsters who weren't siblings as well but carried bad genes so I wouldn't try worry about it just now, she will do whats best for the litter as much as she can. Just continue keeping her stress free, if she gave birth on the 23rd the litter would be about a week old know. I think around 14 days they tend to open their eyes, so you may see them moving around the cage soon

I hope all goes well!

[racinghamster]

I would also have both adults sexed by a vet to make sure the dad IS the dad and not a female? Mum may have got pregnant while in the pet shop and not from her cagemate? Just to make sure the one you seperated isn`t genuinely female?

If he is a male, then he will need to live alone from now on. Any baby males will need sexing before they are four weeks of age. The female babies can live with mum, but any males in the litter will have to live as a group in a seperate, adequate cage set up (i.e, no shelving and good space).

How are they all doing? Remember to take a note of the day/date the litter was born to keep a record of their age.

[Laurenpops]

Thanks folks, the babies are now 12 days and out and about in the cage eyes open and fuzzy, not quite furry, but with very distinct dorsal lines, looking gorgeous already! Mums being much less protective when you go near, babes are eating fresh veg and the odd nibble of meal worm but not interested in the proper food yet.

I'm pretty certain that the other ham is definitely male and is the dad as the length of the pregnancy and the time we bougt them mean the mummy must of got pregnant after we got her. Going to transfer them all to a bigger cage on sunday and have just bought a storage bin to make a temporary home for when we seperate after sexing them and it looks like we've already got homes lined up for several of them which is brilliant, but we're hoping to keep some so the mum and dad can each have some company, obviously there'll be no trouble with mum staying with one or two of her daughters (assuming we have some girls in the litter!!) but how would I go about introducing dad to his sons?

Dads cage is very close to the mum/babies and hes been very curious, always at the side of his cage having a nosey at all the activity in the mums cage and I presume he'll be picking up the scent of the babies so will this help him accept a son or two into his own cage when they're ready to leave mum?

[racinghamster]

I know nothing about breeding or baby hamsters, but if you do have any baby males and want one to live with his dad, I would still be cautious and hopefully someone with more experience can guide you on this. Pairs of dwarf hamsters usually end up needing seperate, but sometimes the exception here is, if they are related, which yours are, you have a much better chance of sisters or brothers staying together longer or for life.

If you are rehoming them to people you know and trust who can care for them and are prepared to pay for a vet if one is needed, then great. If they have never kept a dwarf hamster before, I would be reluctant to offer them in pairs unless the person is well prepared for seperations and can spend time with them. Pairs are harder work than singles!

When you switch the cages soon, keep all or most of the old substrate and bedding so as not to upset or stress the hamsters. Especially mum. This helps retain their scent.

It`s good that you have kept dad close by as he will smell his family near. This `might` help with introductions, but it`s not guaranteed. He`s been seperated from the main family group, so it`s 50/50 whether he will accept one of his sons and may bully him. Personally, I wouldn`t risk it as he wasn`t meant to be in there in the first place! He would probably be living alone now anyway of he was bought as a single male, so I wouldn`t worry too much.

[shiny]

Hey Laurenpops - well done for managing these surprise babies . I bet they are gorgeous, your children must be loving being able to see what they're up to. How many babies are there in the end?

[Sandti]

Keep an eye on the mum as she could have been mated with again as soon as she had given birth. Make sure to give her lots of high protein foods like boiled chicken, scrambled egg and tofu

[kyrilliondaemon]

We introduced Ghost to his Dad Peep when Ghost was four weeks old (he was the only male in the litter) and we just plonked them in a neutral area. Peep adored Ghost from the second he saw him though, our biggest concern was actually Ghost being slightly unnerved by this big hamster who kept desperately trying to groom him lol
We found that introducing the two on my arms sorted that - Ghost felt safer so they got used to each other on my arms then were much happier to go into neutral territory together. After that the boys went to a new cage together and we just kept a close eye. All was fine - at four weeks pups are usually too young for Dad to regard them as a threat anyway

[amie]

Congratulations on your unexpected babies.
Although this thread is under Winter Whites, am I right in saying that you bought them from a pet shop and that they are therefore hybrid dwarf hamsters?
Introducing male pups to Dad is possible but long term there is no guarantee that dwarf hamsters will get on and often they end up having to live as singles.
I would think carefully what you would like to try. If you decide to try the dad with the male pups you must make sure that you do it before the pups are 4 weeks old. Otherwise the adult male can see them as a threat and instantly fight with them.
I don't think the dad's cage being nearby has any bearing at all on him picking up scents. His territory is his cage. Any introduction would need to take place in a neutral cage.

Good luck and if you need any more advice, depending on what you decide, then do ask.
If I'm being totally honest it would be ideal if you could find homes for the pups and then you won't have to worry about introductions. It can be stressful and as I said earlier there is no guarantee that it will work in the long run and you would have to make sure you had spare cages to hand in case of fighting.