Hello Gill and Roverina, glad you found us though I wish it were not with such news, but panic over for now - that will come back when you need to wean them and have to put males and females in seperate cages
... but for now you can just concentrate on finding new homes for them
I will not lie, the toughest thing is finding homes for the pups. You can never start this process too soon; in about four weeks you are going to need homes for all these little ones. Syrian hamsters can easily have 12 to 20+ pups.
Try placing an advert in the
Classified Section here at Hamster Central, speak to petstores, especially the ones where you obtained your hamsters in the first place, and local rescue centres.
As for the cage place it somewhere relatively dark and quiet, a spare bedroom, dining room etc. And only approach it to check the water bottle and add food daily. Hopefully you will have had time to set up a routine for this but if not do it now, choose a time of day and stick to it, week and weekend. Fresh food in the form of organic baby foods (minus onion as far as possible), wheatgerm, oatmeal, brocolli, apple slices, tofu chunks, plain chicken breast and cooked egg yolk/scrambled egg.
There are a few things you should not do that you might normally do. First, don’t clean the cage
The old bedding will have to last for about 18 to 21 days when the hamster pups will be weaned. Don’t worry about the smell; your hamsters won’t mind it and healthwise will be fine. You may add a bit more nesting material if it’s cold. Add it away from the nursing area; let mother hamster find it and use it.
If an accident occurs and the water bottle for example breaks and soaks the cage, carefully prepare a box to temporarily place mum and nest in. Quickly clean the cage out and set it back up. Return the nest to the cage first, and then mum, sprinkling a few nuts and seeds around in the litter layer to keep her occupied while the pups settle back in. When moving the nest try to take as much as possible and use a plastic ladle or put polythene bags over your hands like gloves.
On rare occasions a pup might become separated from the rest of the pack
This can happen when mum leaves the nest and the pup is still attached to her nipple, eventually falling off, or the pup may have started exploring and lost its way
Usually the pup will squeak loud enough that the mother will hear and retrieve the lost pup. If the pup appears to be left for more than 30 minutes, you can take the decision to help, however DO NOT pick the pup up with your hand. Instead, get a spoon and rub the bowl of it in the cage litter. Then scoop the pup up and move it closer to the nest. Sometimes it’s best to drop the pup on top of the nest if it’s completely covered. Sometimes pups are deliberately ejected by the mother or it will wander back out again
If this happens, repeat this process over again. Eventually, the pup will either be accepted or die
There may be a problem with that pup that only the mother hamster can detect
The pups will grow quickly, and at about two or three days you’ll see pigment appear on the backs of the pups. You may also be able to see what colout their eyes wil be - dark pigment means dark/black eyes, no pigment red /pink eyes. At five days you’ll see tiny hairs called guard hairs. After 5 days, pups will have started to chew on solid foods and groom themselves. You may add millet spray for the mother hamster to gather and take to the nest or sprinkle in a LITTLE wheatgerm or oatmeal. Pups will eat this right up. Don't be alarmed if you see babies eating poops as this is perfectly normal. Pups need the caecal bacteria found in the droppings to help them digest hard cellulose food.
At eight to twelve days fur grows in thicker and some may even open their eyes. Early exploration away from the nest will be made slowly and tentatively while the pups eyes are closed. Most pups should open their eyes at about twelve to fourteen days.
Though they will be eating a lot of solid foods now, they are also still nursing about every four hours and will continue until about eighteen days of age. This is when I feel hamsters are at their cutest. Once their eyes open it’s ok to start picking them up for short periods of time; in fact, it’s almost impossible to resist. Just remember that first impressions can set the way they will respond to humans for a very long time. Respect their space; I find it’s best to let them crawl into a toilet roll tube and then from there into my hand. Don’t keep them away from the nest long or they may panic and jump from your hand, although I bet they will be jumping everywhere anyway
Always hold them close to your chest and to the ground just in case. Over a double bed/duvet is best. Start sexing them at this point too.
At twenty-one days the pups are weaned and may be separated from their mother. It is alright to allow pups to remain with mum into their 4th week (twenty-eight days) though. I often remove one sex first depending on how many males or females there are. If only one of a particular sex I leave this with mum until they reach twenty-eight days old. A big exception to this is if the mother grows tired of sharing her space and starts chasing her young away. At this point separate the pups from mum immediately.
At 4 weeks you should separate all the pups by sex. This may not be that easy, but it is important as you’ve already discovered
Syrians are solitary and will need to be housed alone from six to eight weeks old. Young Syrians will eventually fight to the death of you leave them together too long. Hopefully by this point though you will have found all of them a new home, though I bet you want to keep one or two
Whatever the case, remember that until they are all adopted out these little living creatures are going depend on you for food water and enrichment activity. It’s a big responsibility, but it’s also very rewarding.
Hello from Gill and my new surprise baby hamsters
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