HELP- unexpected babies!!!

[Nikkigrace]

So my two robo girls Autumn and Winter have turned out not to be 2 girls at all!!!

About half an hour ago, I could hear squeaking from the cage, and as one of my other hams is currently ill with cold/sneezing, I thought that is what I could hear. However, in lifting up the arch that one of the robos was under, I caught a very slight glimpse of a baby! I immediately put the arch back down and left them alone as I know nests should never be disturbed!

I am in total shock and this whole post will probably be very rambled but I need some help...

Firstly- mum is now stressed and running around the cage going crazy, running in her wheel and jsut all over the place, meanwhile i can hear the baby/babies (?) squeaking in the nest but she isnt going to them...will she calm down?

Should I remove Dad straight away??

Should I take the wheel away from mum?

I will probably continue adding questions here as I think of them...

Any help would be a god send!!

[souffle]

I think you should turn out the light and leave the room in darkness and quiet until she calms down. If she has already had the pups and they do often mate again after birth then the deed will already have been done so try and not fret. Peace and quiet is the most important thing. She she is chasing the male away and fighting with him then you may need to scoop him up in a jar and separate but for now don't rock the boat and let them settle down.
Have a read here and hopefully someone with experience in robos will be along soon
Oak Farm Rabbits and Rodents

[shiny]

I hope an experienced breeder will be along soon with advice. In the meantime, I know not disturbing them is the main thing so I would turn out the lights, keep everything very quiet & do nothing. Hopefully mum will calm down. It's not your fault you disturbed them so don't feel bad, after all you thought you had 2 girls!

As a side note, you might still have 2 girls but one was pregnant when you got them, how long have you had them?

ETA sorry for repeat - posted same time as souffle

[Nikkigrace]

She was chasing the male yes, so I have taken him out. Luckily I had a spare cage incase they didnt get along living as a pair. I think him being in there was making her more stressed. Light is off and nice and quiet for her. She seems to have gone back in the nest now and the squeaking has stopped,...I hope for a good reason.

I have had them for 3 weeks...I had them from someone on gumtree who was unable to look after them due to a house move. He told me they were mum and daughter?!! But definitely one is a boy :-/

[HollyHamster]

First of all, remove the male hamster as he will mate with the female again and impregnate her whilst she is still caring for her current litter. After all, back to back litters take a great toll on the female's body and will make her very frail and sick. It also helps eliminate unwanted/unexpected hamster pups from cropping up again.

Leave the mother and her pups where they are, as handling the pups, or her, will stress the mother out and she will cull them. Make sure that the cage is in a nice quiet and somewhat dim place in the house the mom can calm down and get back to nurturing the pups.

Remove the wheel so that when the pups begin to become mobile, they don't wind up on it and hurt themselves while mom is using it.

I would also offer the mom some extra protein and calcium rich foods, as she is producing milk to sustain several mouths now. porridge/oatmeal and whole grain bread soaked in something milk like are usually good.

Above all, try and leave the cage as undisturbed as possible for the next week or two, save the daily necessities of water/food and such. The bedding will get pretty nasty during this time, but whatever you do, don't change it. This will just stress the mom out and she will feel compelled to cull the pups.

Wait until the pups are fully furred, and eyes are open and they are moving around outside of the nest without the mom bringing them back into it every minute. Then you can clean the nest out, but leave the rest of the bedding in the cage as is.

You'll need to learn how to sex them when the time comes (I want to say 4-5 weeks but I could be wrong) so I would be looking at pictures of male and females of their species so you'll have some sort of idea. Males will usually have a larger gap between their vents than females and sometimes a noticeable bulge where there scrotum/testicles are. Females will be the only ones who have nipples so if you see those on a pup, its most likely a female. An easy way to sex them is to just put the hamsters into two groups depending on how they look compared with one another. If you're in doubt, take pictures and post them on here so we can help you out. The more eyes that can see the bits the more likely and faster they can be identified as male or female.

I know it won't be easy sexing a litter of squirmy and tiny hams, but it needs to be done. You can use a clear glass or plastic jar to help you look at their bits without having to deal with all the squirming and such.

Keep them in two separate groups, male and female. Just so we don't have another litter or three cropping up. Dad can be with his sons, while Mom can be with her daughters.

[shiny]

Oh dear, at least you know now & have taken dad out. There's quite a few other threads on here about unexpected litters with good advice in them so it might be worth having a read through. Pompoms is the expert on robo breeding on here, hopefully she could have some tips for you

[HollyHamster]

I almost forgot to mention her!! Yes, Pompoms is downright sage-like in her knowledge of breeding and caring for robos. She shouldn't be long.

[Nikkigrace]

Originally Posted by HollyHamster

First of all, remove the male hamster as he will mate with the female again and impregnate her whilst she is still caring for her current litter. After all, back to back litters take a great toll on the female's body and will make her very frail and sick. It also helps eliminate unwanted/unexpected hamster pups from cropping up again.

Leave the mother and her pups where they are, as handling the pups, or her, will stress the mother out and she will cull them. Make sure that the cage is in a nice quiet and somewhat dim place in the house the mom can calm down and get back to nurturing the pups.

Remove the wheel so that when the pups begin to become mobile, they don't wind up on it and hurt themselves while mom is using it.

I would also offer the mom some extra protein and calcium rich foods, as she is producing milk to sustain several mouths now. porridge/oatmeal and whole grain bread soaked in something milk like are usually good.

Above all, try and leave the cage as undisturbed as possible for the next week or two, save the daily necessities of water/food and such. The bedding will get pretty nasty during this time, but whatever you do, don't change it. This will just stress the mom out and she will feel compelled to cull the pups.

Wait until the pups are fully furred, and eyes are open and they are moving around outside of the nest without the mom bringing them back into it every minute. Then you can clean the nest out, but leave the rest of the bedding in the cage as is.

You'll need to learn how to sex them when the time comes (I want to say 4-5 weeks but I could be wrong) so I would be looking at pictures of male and females of their species so you'll have some sort of idea. Males will usually have a larger gap between their vents than females and sometimes a noticeable bulge where there scrotum/testicles are. Females will be the only ones who have nipples so if you see those on a pup, its most likely a female. An easy way to sex them is to just put the hamsters into two groups depending on how they look compared with one another. If you're in doubt, take pictures and post them on here so we can help you out. The more eyes that can see the bits the more likely and faster they can be identified as male or female.

I know it won't be easy sexing a litter of squirmy and tiny hams, but it needs to be done. You can use a clear glass or plastic jar to help you look at their bits without having to deal with all the squirming and such.

Keep them in two separate groups, male and female. Just so we don't have another litter or three cropping up. Dad can be with his sons, while Mom can be with her daughters.

Thank you so much for this great advice. I have removed Dad and left mum and pups in my bedroom where it will be very quiet and dark majority of the time.

I just hope I haven't stressed mum so much tonight that she culls them...I had absolutely no idea otherwise I wouldv'e never gone near the nest.

I only saw a glimpse of one baby, but I guess there could be many more! The squeaking that was coming from there didnt sound like there were many though, maybe a couple of babies I'm not sure.

Mum went back in the nest once I removed Dad and she hasn't come out since. The squeaking from the pups has stopped....I hope because they have mum there now, and not because of anything worse

[HollyHamster]

Robos generally don't have very large litters. I think the average is 5, but again, I could be wrong. My knowledge of hamsters is more syrian based than robo based. Let's hope the babies are being quiet because they have mom now. Keep things positive, right?

[Petite1]

AWWW hope everything goes well thinking of you, im not able to give advice on litters, only single syrians, thinking of youx