Update on Batman and Rellen's litter :)

[Rellen]

Okay.
Today when I changed her water and gave her food, I got a glimpse of her babies as she came out to visit me.

So yesterday I put the runt back in.. and sadly, I can't see it
But, what I can see is 7 healthy hamsters
There are 2 sables,
4 creams (not sure if they're REC or BEC, I didn't get close enough to look)
1 mink

I'm excited for them..
and sad for the runt
I can't help but think that it might have been my fault, but it was super runty.. it looked smaller than my 7 day old babies and yesterday it was 11 days old. It was half the size of the others, and super frail and skinny with a little bloated stomach

Next; I fed batman. (batman is a she.. I adopted her from a family who didn't want her anymore.. where the mother told the son that batman was a male..)
She is an umbrous golden and the father is a sable.
She is an AMAZING mother.
I've never seen anything like it!
She stays in her nest 24/7, and even when she eats, she just piles it in her pouch and goes back to the nest.
There are atleast 10, and there appears to be no runts at all!
8 of them look to be goldens, 2 of those maybe being lighter?
and then 1 random black-eyed cream.. which is exciting.
and maybe a mink or sable? not too sure yet, as they are still young

But I am extremely excited for day 15 when they will possibly open their eyes and I can handle them

also, today I'm taking Anchovy to the vet because of his diahrea... as soon as my mother wakes up.

[Spuds Mum]

Sorry to hear about the runt Rellen, it most probably would have passed on anyway, so dont blame yourself, just learn from the experience as we talked about yesterday

The other litter sounds as though its doing really well.

Hope Anchovy is okay too.

Best wishes to all of them, Mums, Pups, and Anchovy

[Gust0o]

Sorry to hear about the runt; but this is the way nature works, and you have to respect that. I wouldn't focus on blame, but on learning from events.

Good luck Anchovy, fingers crossed!

[sarahh]

Sorry to hear about the Runt. Sounds like maybethe runt wasn't well maybe due to the bloated stomach. It could have been anything. These things happen and mum kills them off. Glad the rest of the litter is doing well also the other litter. They sound like good mums.

Sarah x

[Rellen]

Thanks guys

Good news!
Anchovy doesn't have wet tail, just mild diahrea, most likely caused by stress (says the vet, since we just got him home)

But the vet says that if it continues I'm to come see him again.. & not to feed it vegetables, just his mix.

So I just put him back in his cage and gave him some extra mix, and he seems to have gone back to sleep

I'm soo happy

[Spuds Mum]

thats good news Rellen, hopefully he will be right as rain soon as he settled in.

[souffle]

That sounds very positive Rellen. Sometimes it is better not to know what is going on in the nest as then you never fret over what might have been. We don't look in the nests at all unless we suspect some major problem with mum or a dead pup which has not been removed by mother. That is how we work, respecting the mums decisions. Only they can raise such small babies and they always know what is best. Keep up with the good feeding and leaving them quietly and I am sure the emergence of some beautiful babies will compensate a bit for your loss. Good luck till then and we will all see the little cuties when they have their eyes open and are out and about

Delighted to hear about anchovy too Follow the vets advice and let him be quiet and calm for the next 3-4 days before you start your taming. Give your mum a big hug and make sure she knows how much you appreciate her taking you to the vets. I think a hand with the housework is in order here. Well done Rellens mum

[Gust0o]

That's fantastic news, and I'm glad the worst has been avoided - but I hope you see the importance of making provisions for vet care now

[sarahh]

Hi Rellen glad Anchovy doesn't have wet tail. I thought maybe it was just stress. You could start him on Pro C Prrobiotic from P@H for a week or so just to build him up and help with the stress like I have done with alot of my hams just to help them through. Also used it for when I bought a ham he had pneumonia and was touch and go but he had the probiotic aswell as an antibiotic and he's fine now just have to be careful of dust with him so he is on Carefresh.

Definatly avoid vegetables with him at the moment because thay will give him more diaheorria. Just his mix will be fine.

Glad you got him check out though. Better to be safe than sorry.

Sarah x

[Rellen]

Yes, I will take them to the vet from now on; I put aside a couple hundred for them for vet charges in the future