HELP my hamster has 3 legs

[benjy]

can someone please help, i brought a hamster 4 weeks ago and it turned out to be pregnant. 2 weeks later it had 8 pups but ive just seen two pups and they ony have 3 legs. one seems to have a good stump with what looks like a scab on the end. but the other one has a stump with a huge black scab and it looks sore he's also alot smaller than all the others. also the other pups keep trying to nibble on his stump. should i seperate the 2 pups with 3 legs and put them in there own cage or are they to young as they are only 2 weeks old.

[Fidgetthefirst]

erm, well im no expert whatsoever, the baby is to young to leave their mom, its about 4-6 weeks when they should leave her, maybe you could hand rear the baby? You would be taking him away from his mom, its sounds like he is the runt of the litter - im sorry but the hamster will probably die anyway, but you might as well try, i looked up on the internet and found this.

Question
On the 28th I started hand rearing two 5 day old baby syrian hamsters. One has died and the second one is now 10 days old. I have been feeding her watered down milk, water, baby food(apple), mashed carrots, tofu and crackers. She has eaten a small piece of the tofu and the carrots and crackers were turned into a liguid. I'm not sure if I should be feeding her solids yet. She squrims a lot when I feed her, is there any way I can control this? What foods should I try feeding her? Also it looks like she has air in her stomach and parts of the inside of her stomach look yellow. What is this from? Last night her stomach also looked flakey so I searched and found that I should give her salt and suger water.Is there anything else I can do without taking her to a vet or buying any medications?

Answer
Hi Kristi,

At 10 days old the baby should be starting to eat the smaller pieces in the hamster food mix. Also start giving her hard boiled egg (about 4-5 pieces a day), this will give her the extra protein she needs. You can stop with the hard boiled egg when she reaches 4 weeks of age.
The yellowing could be from some sort of back up (urine or feces). When hand rearing babies they need to be stimulated so that their bodily functions work properly. This is done after every feeding by gently rubbing the baby's lower back side, near the bottom area. Do this until she is 2 weeks old.
I would suggest stopping the apple baby food. To much of this could give her diarrhea and she does not need that at this young age.
The baby cannot maintain body heat, they are highly dependent on Mom for this.
Keep the cage in a very warm location, no less than 70 degrees, use a heat pad if need be (place it under the cage on the lowest setting) up until 3 weeks of age.
From what you have wrote, it seems that you are doing a great job in taking care of her and I am hopeful that she will survive.
If you have anymore questions, please write again.

Thank you for writing and best of luck!


You will need proper milk from the vets, and a syringe' for it,but just wait and see if there are any new answers - as im not an expert

[souffle]

Hi benji
Deary me poor you. This is not an uncommon occurance in over zealous mothers who may damage a pup when picking up or cleaning. I have several breeder friends who have three legged hamsters.
The pups are too young to separate from mum just yet. They need her to feed them still and keep them warm and clean.
Three legged pups do very well with a one level flat cage and limited wheel time or no wheel at all just other toys.
You should not attempt to hand rear these babies as it is a full time job and it is not just a case of feeding as you need to maintain a constant temp and also feed every few hours all night, wee and poop them and clean them up. It is a major undertaking.
If you take the pups out that have three legs mum will not take them back and she may possibly cull them or the whole litter. This is natural as mother always knows best and knows that something is wrong. The pup with the healed stump should be fine but I have my concerns about the other one as it sounds as if he has an infection in the leg. Weighing up the pros and cons if this was my pup I would risk taking it to the vets. You need to put it in a box with a warm water bottle and keep handling to a mimimum. The vet may recommend that it is given rest if the infection is bad. If he thinks it could be treated then when you take it back you need to rub it all over with bedding, even from the wee corner then occupy all the babies with food whilst you slip it back in.
Your babies are nearly ready for handling, when the eyes open, so you are close with them to make this less risky.
Here is a link to what you should be feeding the babies and the care you can give.
Good luck
Breeding Syrian Hamsters - Advice & Guidance