honey,s 1 week babies

[ilovemyhammies]

here is Honey and her 1st litter of 5 babies (I think)
not sure how old they are, as she had them while we were away on holiday and there were 2 due dates as she was mated at the pet shop, then 4 days later to our Benny

is Honey a Cinnamon? and pet shop hamster dad was a Cinnamon and our Benny is Red Eyed Cream Banded, can you tell from the colours who is more likely to be the dad?
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o8/ilovemypiggies/002.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o8/ilovemypiggies/008-1.jpg

ED: two pics have been edited out as the babies do not have their eyes open yet - please check forum rules.

[souffle]

Yes she is a cinny. I would say the dad is Benny as the babies are all cinnies and there is one cinny banded. Being REC Benny will be ppee and mum is pp. Dad only has one band gene Baba as there is one banded baby. If he had two they would all have been banded.
Sorry folks I have seen the pups when I took the pics off as forum rules do not allow pics of pups with eyes shut but I am sure we will see them with their eyes open soon.

[Gust0o]

Honey looks fantastic - I'm sure we'll have no problems waiting for proper pictures of the pups :)

[Theodore]

Why don't you allow pictures of babies with their eyes still closed?

[Gust0o]

To quote from Snuggleham's rules posting, above:

Some Rules before Posting Pictures of Baby Hams.

We on Hamster Central do our best to try and promote proper hamster care to the people who view our forum. It has been agreed by moderators and the administrator that pictures of baby hamsters without their eyes open and most particularly being handled or outside the nest should not be posted on Hamster Central.

The reason for this is because there is severe risk of cannibalism of the litter by the mother if she is prematurely disturbed or stressed and we do not want to encourage people viewing such pictures to regard it as acceptable and to disturb the nest and mother for the sake of photos. Although some experienced breeders with experienced mothers may risk taking photos it is not recommended practice.

It is for this reason that we must make one rule for all users, to be fair.

On Hamster central we welcome pictures of baby hamsters WITH THEIR EYES OPEN in the cage with their mother and as they mature, being handled and playing together. If they are being handled with eyes just open then they poster must explain that the mother is happy and allows the babies to be touched.

We DO NOT allow pictures of baby hamster in the nest with no fur, out of the nest or being handled when the eyes are not open and ask that if users have such pictures they use them only on their own sites and at their discretion. Any such pictures will be removed from hamster central by the moderators and the poster advised of the reasons.

We do however love to hear about the birth and development of litters bred by our users and encourage everyone to tell us in writing of their experiences until the baby hamsters are old enough to be photographed. You should remember that clicking, bleeping and flashing cameras can be stressful to both mum and pups so when photographing you should attempt to not use the flash and use a zoom lens if at all possible. Ideally the mother should not even know you are taking photographs and you should never touch the nest or pups to try and get ‘a better shot’. Baby hamster’s eyes open a different ages so there is no hard and fast rule as to when you will be able to post their pictures on Hamster Central however as a rule they should be open by 21 days at which point the babies will also be weaned so if in doubt you should wait till then. If your babies’ eyes are not open by then you should check your dates and if you are sure of their birth date seek veterinary advice. Some hamsters who have been wrongly or accidentally bred may be anophthalmic whites which have no eyes.
You should contact a moderator for advice if you are unsure whether you may post a certain picture and we will be happy to help.

We want to set a good example to new and inexperienced breeders and hope you will all understand the reasons for these rules which will help ensure the best possible chance of rearing a successful, happy healthy litter of baby hamsters.

Hope this helps explain :)

[Rellen]

Yes honey is a cinnie, she looks exacttlyy like my cinne, who just gave birth 27 days ago to a litter of 6.

Are cinnies' litters smaller?
Just an observation...
And she was also a bad mother.

And then my REC and Umbrous golden each had litters of 11 or 12, and all are alive except 2 that died naturally. (I buried them today.. *tear*)


But congrats on your babiess! :)

[ilovemyhammies]

sorry for being naughty :oops: I didn't read the rules before posting!!!

That would be interesting to know if Cinnamon litters are smaller.
I'm very happy with 5, at least mum and babies are all doing great.
My friend's Black Banded hamster had 11 babies last week. poor mum :cry:

[Gust0o]

Don't be sorry, ilmh - it's a rule HC has, for the best of intentions, and now you're aware of it :)

Odd how litter sizes work out - Basia's Posh comes from a long line of hamsters which have had large litters, and produced 12 herself; I'm wondering if this fertility will transfer to her son, Snipes - though Wesley, I think, comes from more modest breeding :)

[Bunsey]

oh she's just gorgeous!! I want a Cinnamon hamster so much!

[Yaffle]

My cinnie litter started out at about 9/10 it just so happened that I only ended up with 4 surviving, so I don't think we can really generalise and say all cinnies have small litters it's probably just a coincidence. Although I think some colours are well known for being bad mothers (I read it somewhere but don't remember which colours!)

[souffle]

Our cinnie satin Bailey had 8 babies and she was a wonderful mother. I think it's just luck of the draw except with colours like light grey in which if a baby gets two light grey genes it will die in the womb hence smaller litters.

[Rellen]

My cinnie litter started out at about 9/10 it just so happened that I only ended up with 4 surviving, so I don't think we can really generalise and say all cinnies have small litters it's probably just a coincidence. Although I think some colours are well known for being bad mothers (I read it somewhere but don't remember which colours!)

yeah, that blows our small litter/cinnie theory. LOL
I read somewhere that hamsters with "red eye shine" are bad mothers.. but that may not be true..
and my cinnie had red eye shine.. her eyes looked very dark, but when I shined a light on them, they reflected red.

Hmm maybe cinnies is one of the bad mothers.
Has anyone else had bad experience with cinnies being mothers?


EDIT//
Our cinnie satin Bailey had 8 babies and she was a wonderful mother. I think it's just luck of the draw except with colours like light grey in which if a baby gets two light grey genes it will die in the womb hence smaller litters.
Okay, I guess it's now time to ditch that whole theory. :)
I guess it was just a coincidence ;)

EEk I heard about that too, that's so sad:(

[souffle]

Well cinnies always have red eyes Rellin. It's in their genetic make up and the p stands for pink eye. They can look quite dark, almost black really, but when compared to a black eye you can clearly see they are dark red. You may be thinking of the red glow that can be seen in the eyes of a white belly gene carrier when a light is shone in them. I would not rely on this test though to tell if a hamster carries this gene. The colour of the eyes has no bearing on the mothering ability as far as I know. :?

[Rellen]

Well cinnies always have red eyes Rellin. It's in their genetic make up and the p stands for pink eye. They can look quite dark, almost black really, but when compared to a black eye you can clearly see they are dark red. You may be thinking of the red glow that can be seen in the eyes of a white belly gene carrier when a light is shone in them. I would not rely on this test though to tell if a hamster carries this gene. The colour of the eyes has no bearing on the mothering ability as far as I know. :?

You are right.
Thatsssss what I heard :)
I knew there was something to do with the red glow.

[Spuds Mum]

well Rellen, I can tell you a little about the red-eye shine and whether they make good Mums as my Princess is a roan (meaning she carries the white bellied gene) and of course i took a lot of advice and learnt a lot before breeding her because of the whole 'eyeless white' issue.

In her first litter only 3 pups survived, but after some time we tried again and she raised a wonderfully healthy litter of 13 pups, and is now a Grandma as her roan daughter went to another breeder (Holly on the forum) and she has just raised a litter of 10 pups (I think that was the right number)
So in my view, hams with the 'red-eye shine' seem to make fine Mums! :D

[ilovemyhammies]

I saw Honey's babies eating solids in their nest today, some millet and some other kinds of white seeds, I am not sure what

ED: maybe sesame seeds?

[Spuds Mum]

swwweeet! :D
At about a week I always tend to sprinkle food all round the nest in case Mum doesn't bring food back. I use wheatgerm, little bits of veg cut up small, babyfood crushed up a bit.

I just love the stage from now on - they change almost hourly and they are just so entertaining! :x

[ilovemyhammies]

thanks for the useful information spud
she has been taking loads of food back to the nest for them
she's a great mum :x