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Ave
01-18-2018, 02:05 AM
Hi,
i woke up today a bit late, i heard my hamsters screaming so i ran to the cage as fast as i can, and i found the babies sitting on their mom, eating her guts out, i freaked out and asked my dad to take her out, she was dead, my poor baby, the father was in the cage, too, so i think that he’s the one who killed her.

They are dwarf hamsters, the father is about 6 months old, the babeis are 27 days old.

Guys please help me I don’t know what happened, and I don’t know what to do ..

souffle
01-18-2018, 04:09 AM
This is a normal response to a dead hamster Ave. They will eat the body as it is a source of protein and they will clear it to prevent predators coming to the dead body. I would suspect there was something wrong with the mother and she passed away. Sometimes they may have an infection in the womb after having pups which kills them. She was also likely pregnant again as you left the male in with her and it is likely the pups inside her were dead or stuck and this caused the mother to die.
At 27days the babies are of an age where they are fine and independant.
You MUST separate the males and females now as they can breed at this age.
Take the male pups and leave them with dad or in a group themselves. Female pups need put in to a cage with only females else they will mate with dad or brothers. If they fight a lot they need to be kept singly.
Clean everything out and put them in to the groups now and monitor them closely. Start finding homes for them in same sex pairs or singles. If dad seems to resent the boys then keep him alone but dads usually accept them fine.
You can rehome them at around 6 weeks. Feed plenty food as they need a lot at this age and give them extras like veg and plain chicken / tofu, pasta, porridge to help them grow.
Good luck and ask anything you need to know. Accept as well that they don't act like humans and what they did was instinct not badness or anything.