[Pebbles82]

It is such a nerve wracking time after the Mother has the babies. Wondering if they are ok and wanting to check. But you need to sit it out. And not disturb the cage or nest - it's one thing that can cause the Mother to cull the babies. Can you hear any squeaking coming from the nest yet? That's always a good sign - but sometimes you don't hear anything. It will just take some nerves of steel and patience to wait for one of the babies to emerge from the nest on their own. Once all the babies are out and about in the cage and coming out of the nest on their own, then it should be safe to handle them I think but it might be better to wait a bit even then, before handling them. When they are three or four weeks old you'll need to handle them to sex them and separate the boys from the girls and Mum.

Don't take it to heart people questioning about you breeding - we didn't know the back story! Genetics is more about knowing their colouring history - certain colours should not be bred together as that can cause "eyeless whites" - hamsters born without any eyes. There's probably more to it than that.

I agree though, it's better to research it all before breeding and one criteria is to not disturb the cage and nest after the Mother has given birth. You know now.

You also need to be registered with a good vet in case of any emergency - sometimes the Mother can need emergency treatment if she struggles to give birth and the babies get stuck and that could cause suffering or be life threatening.

Agree about the pine shavings. If you're in the US, pine shavings are not safe, unless it clearly states they are kiln dried and dust extracted (because there is no legal requirement for them to be kiln dried as there is in the Uk and Europe). It also needs to state what type of wood it is. If it just says "softwood" it's not safe as that could include cedar and cedar is a big no no. If it says pine shavings that are kiln dried and dust extracted, that is technically ok, but it's safer to use paper based bedding.

Posted before I saw Lila's post initially. Responsible breeding is an important topic. We are not meaning to criticize you but just make you aware of some of the dangers. And the kind of things to ask about from breeders.

If you start another post on here, about what to look for when breeding, there are some registered breeders on here who can give you all the advice you need for the future.

The main thing is knowing if a hamster is a pure colour type and what recessive and dominant colour genes they have I believe. I know nothing about millet round the nest so I'd kind of ignore that - never heard of it before.

Don't believe everything you read on google!