URGENT - Help please! Unexpected robo babies!

Argh.....I just went over to check on one of my robos, Bruce because I could heard squeaking noises coming from his house (I thought he might be dreaming since I've just been posting on a thread about my Campbell who squeaks when he's asleep on another forum) and had the shock of my life. Bruce isn't a Bruce!

I picked up Bruce's house - Bruce went into a typical robo panic - and discovered four tiny little pups which is where the squeaking is coming from.

I'm really worried that by disturbing the nest, Bruce will eat his/her babies now. Bruce has gone back into the house but some of the babies are outside in the wood shavings. I just don't know what to do. Help please!!!

I've given Bruce some rice pudding but I'm worried sick that I might have put the babies at risk.

Btw, its my birthday today and this is not a present I was expecting!!!

[PinkEmily]

Is Bruce living alone? If not remove the other one, thats the only advice i can give really, i dont know much bout breeding etc. Im guessing there isnt much you can do now really, just let mummy do what she has to do in the hope she wont hurt the pups. You werent to know though so dont feel bad. Happy Birthday hope its not spoilt your day

[Mollz]

Right the best thing to do is remain calm. As you rightly said, there is a chance that mum may destroy the babies at this point - but there is also a chance that she may not. You didn't know that there were babies, so please try not to feel bad about disturbing the nest. Is Bruce with another hamster? If so, and you know which one is mum, then you need to remove the dad as the mum could get pregnant again.
You have done the right thing by giving her rice pudding, just keep giving milky foods such as porridge and high protein foods such as chicken and scrambled/boiled egg. Make sure she has lots of dried food and water available too.
Other than this, just make sure that she is not disturbed and that you only go in the cage to give food and water.

I really do hope for the best.

[Gust0o]

Eek! Not the present you were expecting! Are these the rescue Robos?!

I honestly don't know - are the babies ok in the shavings? I would just sit and monitor, in the absence of anything else.

Good job on the food - make sure there's plenty of protein available, and water!

From what I understand, hand-rearing is very difficult with dwarves - so I hope everything turns out ok!

[Tammy22]

Hi Justine, (just realised it was you from other forum!)

First of all do not Panick!!

Everything should be fine as long as you put the cage in a quiet place and leave her to look after her babies alone.

It is best to give her a small amount of chicken or well cooked scrambled egg each day to give her extra protein, but apart from that you should not disturb the cage at all - just make sure she has plenty of fresh food and water.

If she lives with the male hamster then she is probably already pregnant again, so it wont do any harm to leave the male in until the babies are just under 3 weeks old - he will help her to look after the babies.

If she is alone already then thats fine too - she will cope fine if she is not stressed.

Have a quick check in about half an hour to make sure the babies have got back into the nest - if not then you can just use a clean spoon to gently place on top of the nest - they should be fine though!

Good Luck and Happy Birthday

Kind Regards,

Tammy x

Thanks Tammy/everyone....I'm still having a heart attack!

I've moved Bruce's bin into a corner of my bedroom so its nice and quiet. He seems to have decided to hole up in a Crittertrail tube but I'll go and check that the babies are with him/her in 30 mins.

Bruce lives alone - he was one of two robos I got to introduce to my rescue robo Arnie - Bruce bullied his brother Sylvester so I separated him and left Sylvester with Arnie as they get on quite well. I've only had him for 2 weeks so he must have been pregnant when I got him. I was assured that a vet had checked him and that he was definitely a boy so I didn't bother sexing him myself (I sexed his brother - and all of his sisters but stopped at Bruce as by then I thought the seller knew what they were doing!) Duh!!

OKay, I'm calming down now. What a birthday! I just called my Dad and said he was a granddad and nearly gave him a heart attack too.

Thanks for all your support - keeping my fingers crossed things turn out okay.

[Bunsey]

this happened to me, too. i went to clean out my pair of female robos, lifted the hut up and there were 1 day old pinkies! (i worked out how old by looking at photos)

i was terrified they'd be eaten and it was all my fault, but the mother just moved them as luckily there was another hut in there. Try getting another hut or bridge or some kind of hidey place, rub some shavings on it to get rid of the scent and place it at the opposite side of the cage, so Bruce can move them if she wants to. I think that if Tammy (Tammy the robo not Tammy22! ) couldn't have moved the babes she might have killed them.

has Bruce retreived the babes in the wood yet? (oh, just noticed the funniness of that ) If not then you could rub a metal spoon in the shavings and then scoop up the babes with plenty of shaving as place them at the entrance to the nest.

Are they completely pink or do they have a slight brownish tint to their backs?

Bruce has 3 of the babies in a Crittertrail tube now so I just used a teaspoon to move the other one in there (while Bruce was elsewhere in the bin). Luckily I have some new hamster houses I bought yesterday so I'll put one of those in there. I was actually planning to move Bruce to a new cage tonight!! Just as well I didn't go rushing into that one.

I've taken out the Silent Spinner - although Bruce doesn't seme pleased about that - is that the right thing to do?

The babies are completely pink. No signs of any brownish tints from what I can see but they've bee mostly lying on their backs when I've seen them.

[Bunsey]

yes, removing the wheel is the right thing as a baby could be hurt if it climbs in by mistake.

they sound like brand new babies

[Tammy22]

Yes, sorry, should have said before that you should immediately remove the wheel.

I think you were right when you said she had them last night - they sound very young - probably just a day!

I dont think i would like the idea of any of mine having a litter in a tube - try to fill one of the new houses up with fresh, clean bedding to entice her to go into it with the babies - if she does go into it and take the babies with her then i would remove any tubes - just to be on the safe side - i would guess it would be difficult for all of them to get fed in a tube!

If not, dont worry - it is best to just let her do her own thing!

Tammy x