My Syrian just had babies!!

AlexWyattMommy · 05-12-2011, 06:34 PM

WHAT DO I DO??

We thought it was a boy. We thought he just got fat really quick because we were feeding him too much.

He, now She, had 7 babies on the top floor of her cage. They were starting to tumble out of the house and down the ramp and out the side of the cage under the house.

I probably did the very worst thing and moved them and her to bottom floor. Where she is now ignoring them.

We are not prepared. It is too late at night to go to the store as they are all closed to get any supplies to care for them if she doesn't.

Am I going to wake up to deceased little pink babies? What should I be doing to help her?

AlexWyattMommy · 05-12-2011, 06:47 PM

it is a girl that just had babies.

Unfortunately she chose the top floor to have the babies and they started to fall out of out of the house. One started to fall between the wires on the side under the house that was lifted a little from all the bedding. Two more were starting to tumble down the ramp.

I did the very worst thing and move her and them. I am so afraid I am going to wake up to deceased pink things or no pink things because she ate them.

The stores are all closed here, so I could not even go get supplies to hand feed them if I wanted to or even knew what I was doing.

I am so sad for both my son and Simona. We just thought she was getting fat because we were feeding her too much. When she was thought to be a he.

I know you all can't help me now. I just wanted to tell someone who would understand. My husband thinks I am quite silly worrying about the little critters.

The pet store will be getting a piece of my mind tomorrow.

Teddybearhamster420 · 05-12-2011, 08:00 PM

Your saying you touched them? she wont go near them now that their is a human sent on them

LoveMyHams · 05-12-2011, 08:35 PM

She might not eat them Yahoo! Answers - Can we touch the baby hamsters?
How friendly is she with you?

As to what should you do, don't touch them again. Just leave momma alone with the pups. Make sure there is always food and water available along with lots of soft bedding and just wait and see what happens.

**Hamtastic** · 05-12-2011, 08:40 PM

There are a couple threads you might find useful:
Help-we just discovered babies
She is giving birth!!!

There are more in this subforum as well! Wishing you the best with the babies.

racinghamster · 05-13-2011, 12:30 AM

What a shock for you auntieAnnie, but if the mum is now settled with her babies, just feed and water her and stay away from the babies and she will do the rest. Take a note on your calendar of the day/date the babies were born so that you will know when they are four weeks old. How many babies did she have?

This is the risk of buying a small pet/pets from pet shops as they can be useless at sexing them and can have them co-habiting well over their reproduction age.

Just make sure the mum has plently of safe, paper shredded up bedding (NOT that woolly kind) as thin can get tangled up around babies limbs and cut off the circulation. Extra protein like mealworms for mum and a nice piece of fresh apple (remove the pips).

You cerainly should give the store a telling off as chances are they won`t change unless they know this has happened and someone else could end up with a pregnant female. If they ask to buy the babies back, refuse. You can always find them private homes or keep them yourself until good, safe homes can be found.

Edited to add: If your cage has tall floors, a syrian really needs more floor space than height, so once the babies are old enough, I would suggest looking for a larger, longer cage/tank for the mum. Same for each of the babies once they go to new homes or need housed by themselves.

racinghamster · 05-13-2011, 12:35 AM

I answered in the `Syrian hamster` section but basically say what everyone else has. Leave her alone now and just monitor her from a distance and watch to see what she is doing. Keep the noise levels down and let her settle again.

souffle · 05-13-2011, 02:45 AM

You didn't do the wrong thing at all in moving them. They would not survive on the top level especially if they were in a small house and would need moved sooner or later.
Personally I would have advised you to rub a spoon all over in the bedding then move them. Remove access from the top levels for now and cover the cage up with a box or blanket and keep her very very quiet. Don't even look at her for at least 24hrs.
Most mums will gather the pups and make a nest after they get over the shock.
Pay minimal attention to her other than food (lots of protein) and water.
This is a good article about care :
Breeding Syrian Hamsters - Advice & Guidance - National Hamster Council
Don't beat yourself up if she loses some. This happens to even the most experienced breeders. Don't even try and count the pups then you won't fret over any lost ones. Gives tons of tissue bedding and she will hide them. No small houses either - let her have an uncovered nest. No cleaning till the babies are eyes open.
Good luck x

AlexWyattMommy · 05-13-2011, 03:16 AM

She has moved them all to one corner. She then got on her wheel last night. I was sure I would be removing little carcasses this morning.

But she was with them in the corner when I woke up. She has a very thin sheet around the cage, for privacy without suffocating the little things.

I will get meal worms today from the pet store. I just give those as is, right?

Her bedding is the compressed paper fluff stuff. It doesn't do the string thing when it is shredded.

We have given her plenty of food and water so that we do not have to disturb for the next 24 hours.

To say I was in a state of shock would be accurate. I am not the calm on in crisis situations. LOL So I was quite proud of myself for thinking to use a paper plate to scoop them all up to put on the bottom floor. I did touch one because he got left behind with no bedding. I did want to scrape him across the wood.

She will be getting a bin cage after all this is over. I already have part of the supplies for it.

Thank you all for your words. Hearing the little things squeak this morning was music to our ears. I will be very grateful if some of them survive.

I am glad I found you all.

AlexWyattMommy · 05-13-2011, 03:29 AM

I used gloves when touching them. I scooped them and their bedding on to a paper plate to move to the bottom floor. Only one got physically touched by me.

I am not sorry I moved them, if that is what some of the comments are getting at. She had them on the top shelf of the cage. They were well on their way to falling down the ramp and out the side of the wires.

We have put a sheet around the cage, gave her plenty of food and water to leave her alone for a minimum of 24 hours.

This was not a planned breeding. We thought it was a boy and have had the little one for less than two weeks.

I will go read those links now. Any information I can get to help better the survival of the babies and improve the health of our new mom, I will take.

I was extremely grateful to hear little squeaks this morning.

She is friendly with us. She did nip me when I was foolish enough to try to touch while she was not completely awake. My fault entirely. And once my son last week. She has let him touch and pet her after that with no more timidness towards us.

We did think she was getting awfully fat. I say she, but we thought it was a he. She could barely fit inside her little food dish to eat like she had been doing the week before. Spent all day on line making sure we were not overfeeding her.

If the babies survive, I will be sure to take photos after the eyes open.

Thank you again for the links.