# I have 10 Newly born Hamster Babies.



## Dirky47 (Oct 20, 2009)

Hello everyone.. I'm so happy to inform you that I got 10 newly born hamster babies. I love it.

But incidentally, 3 of them already died. 

Can anyone here give me an advice on how to take care of these babies? 

I'm a newbie here. :


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## HelloKittys (Apr 16, 2009)

hiya  congratulations,
Ive had hamsters all my life but ive never had babies but ive found this for you,hope it helps 

How do you look after newborn hamsters? - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers


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## deb53 (Jun 4, 2009)

Congratulations Hun on your lil ones :thumbup:

Just a quick question as I have never kept hammies and always wondered......

They say a Hamster has to live on its own otherwise they will fight (think they are Syrians maybe wrong though) ...the biggish "normal" ones you see.

So how do you know they are ready to mate if in different cages and not going to fight?

DOH....this reads back as a real Dumbo question but have always wondered!!


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## HelloKittys (Apr 16, 2009)

i got my last two from pets at home and they were from the same cage thats prob why mine didnt fight?!?!


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## Guest (May 4, 2010)

firstly do Not disturb the babies or the nest or the mother will abandon or kill them, you have to wait till they come out of the nest and their eyes are open before you can even think about touching them, the mother will need high protein foods like scrambled egg,tofu,boiled chicken also porridge as well as her ordinary food. 



are they syrian hamsters?


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## Starlite (Sep 9, 2009)

ooh congrats, never bred hamsters


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

deb53 said:


> Congratulations Hun on your lil ones :thumbup:
> 
> Just a quick question as I have never kept hammies and always wondered......
> 
> ...


The female shows signs that she is in heat, one of the most obvious is that she will raise her back end when you touch her on her back. You still have to be cautious and introduce them in a neutral area. My syrians all seem to quite like each other through the bars where their cages meet but I wouldnt like to risk any of them meeting face to face without the bars there. The dwarfs love each other and have shown no signs of fighting but sometimes they can suddenly turn on each other.


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## Dirky47 (Oct 20, 2009)

Oh... my little brother keep on touching the babies.. another wrong thing we did was, this morning, I cleaned their cage  I feel so guilty to my self.

Now, the hamster's mother is killing her babies. What should I do 

I don't want them to die.


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## Acacia86 (Dec 30, 2008)

Dirky47 said:


> Oh... my little brother keep on touching the babies.. another wrong thing we did was, this morning, I cleaned their cage  I feel so guilty to my self.
> 
> Now, the hamster's mother is killing her babies. What should I do
> 
> I don't want them to die.


Is she killing her babies now? Or do you mean the 3 that passed away?


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## Dirky47 (Oct 20, 2009)

Acacia86 said:


> Is she killing her babies now? Or do you mean the 3 that passed away?


She's killing her babies now. There are 6 babies left. 1 was eaten by their mom.


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## _Sara_ (Aug 15, 2009)

Dirky47 said:


> She's killing her babies now. There are 6 babies left. 1 was eaten by their mom.


To be honest there is nothing you can do  apart from the extreme measure of hand rearing the babies. Move the cage to a quiet dark place, make sure she has lots of nesting materials and see if she calms down. Good luck!

Have you thrown out the old bedding? if not put some of that back into the cage.


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## Acacia86 (Dec 30, 2008)

I agree there is nothing you can do now :frown: :frown:

The babies should never be touched nor the cage cleaned so soon.

I am not being mean, i promise you i am not, but all this should have been researched before allowing your hammies to mate. This is also for any new people wanting to breed.

You could hand rear?


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## Waterlily (Apr 18, 2010)

OMG poor babies  surely your common sense would have told you not to let your little brother play with them, You need to either take them out gently and rush to a vet for a dropper and food etc or let nature take its course and not breed them again


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## Aurelia (Apr 29, 2010)

Acacia86 said:


> I agree there is nothing you can do now :frown: :frown:
> 
> The babies should never be touched nor the cage cleaned so soon.
> 
> ...


^^^ This. Why would you breed them without researching first?

I think it's probably best to let be what will be in this case, it would be extremely difficult to hand rear hammies hon. Please research properly if you intend to breed again.


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## Dirky47 (Oct 20, 2009)

Sorry mates. It's been a long day for me that I couldn't noticed that my little brother plays with the babies. Another fault here is lack of knowledge about hamster breeding. I will take this as a lesson in taking care of these pets. 

I will update you about my hamsters.


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## Guest (May 5, 2010)

OMG poor babies and all this could have been prevented if only you'd done a little research, tbh i think breeding is best left to those who know what they're doing i would just enjoy your hamster as a pet and keep her well away from your little brother unless he is being supervised with her.


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## Waterlily (Apr 18, 2010)

Dirky47 said:


> Sorry mates. It's been a long day for me that I couldn't noticed that my little brother plays with the babies. Another fault here is lack of knowledge about hamster breeding. I will take this as a lesson in taking care of these pets.
> 
> I will update you about my hamsters.


I am sorry if I came off harsh, and I am just glad that at least you care enough to acknowledge your mistake  Good luck with the rest of them and mum.


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## niki87 (Nov 18, 2009)

Hey...what did you decide to do? Leave them with mum or hand rear? xx


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## ....zoe.... (Jul 8, 2009)

hand rearing baby syrian hamsters under the age of 7 days is pretty much IMPOSSIBLE ! 

you are best of just leaing nature take its course and then just enjoy your hamster/s as they are, breeding is not as easy as most people think and you need to really research and have everything prepared for anything that may happen (e.g. mum dies, babies ill ect...) 

also you shouldnt breed from pet shop hamsters (if yours are) as many of them have een interbreed, and you have no idea of their back round (parents, genetic disease/defects) 

really not trying to sound horrible or offensive but its diffucult to say in a nice way. im just glad youve realised your mistake and will take it into consideration the next time breeding comes into mind. 

hope all goes well


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## srhdufe (Feb 11, 2009)

Why the hell do stupid people have animals??? 

If you dont know anything about hamsters and their young, then dont breed. Its that simple :cursing:

I have been told to go easy on you but why should i??? 

Poor hamsters  I HOPE you have learned from this but i very much doubt it


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## Dirky47 (Oct 20, 2009)

a Little update about my baby hamsters:

What I did is, I separate the babies with their mom about 1 hour. I just wait for the mother hamster to calm down then I decided to bring it back to her...

Immediately, she feed her babies and luckily, she do not harm them.  

I feel so happy about what have happened. Sorry for my mistakes. I made a research now about breeding these small pets. 

Right now, I'm preparing for her food suggested at the resources pages I've read.

Thanks for the worries and support. It was a big help.

I will post pictures here If I have time. Your replies are well appreciated - Good or bad.

-Dirky


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## niki87 (Nov 18, 2009)

Wow....would never have taken babies away...but am glad it has worked. If I were you now I would make sure mum has regular food and water...but leave for a few days otherwise...basically don't touch mum or nest or babies!!

If they survive...you'll have to show us pics!! xx


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## Louise_81 (Mar 5, 2010)

Please DON'T take photos now it will only stress mum out, which is something you should certainly be avoiding. Take photos at 3 weeks once their eyes are open and they are toddling around, and can almost live without mum.

Personally I would cover the majority of the cage with a towel or sheet, certainly the nest part and put her in a quiet room, so not to disturb her any more. 

If there is any old bedding put that in.

Giving her food once a day. Making sure there is enough protein (Chicken, pasta, rice, runny milky porridge) in addition to her normal hamster food, so she can sustain herself and make plenty of milk for the babies. Make sure she has plenty of water available.

Once the babies are out and about make sure there is plenty of food for all. you can use jared baby foods to help them along, make sure the water bottle is low enough for abies to reach, you could also supliment them with cubed cucumber to help with hydration.

I have not bred from my hamsters yet but I have done a lot of research into it before I go anywhere. Please if you plan to do this again research for a few months, ask questions on reliable forums, at hamster shows and read up on genetics. Some pet shops use large hamster farms to supply pets to their shops, only looking for profit. While I see hobby breeding as a good thing, It really should be done with carful planning, pedigrees and knowledge. 

Breeding hamster is not without its pitfalls, as you can see, but these are the really easy mistakes that could have been avoided, the genetic ones are more difficult but just as important, you don't want to end up with a blind litter of white hamsters for example, after breeding 2 hamsters carrying the white bellied gene. You don't want almost bald hamster by breeding two satin coated hamster. 

PLEASE read around before doing this, for your hamsters sake more than any.


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## niki87 (Nov 18, 2009)

Louise_81 said:


> Please DON'T take photos it will only stress mum out, which is something you should certainly be avoiding.


Sorry I did say if they survive...meaning in the future!! I agree with everything else which is why I said leave them alone now!!!

Still you have given great advice here!!


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## Louise_81 (Mar 5, 2010)

niki87 said:


> Sorry I did say if they survive...meaning in the future!! I agree with everything else which is why I said leave them alone now!!!
> 
> Still you have given great advice here!!


Sorry I was just clarifying a time scale, OP could have thought if they survive the night, week etc. 

It just saddens me to see this posted. Granted mum, assuming she is a first time mu, could have culled the litter anyways, but having touched the litter and cleaned her out, this was more likely to happen.

OP she could still reduce the litter, so please take the advice I have posted leave mum to it, no unnecessary movement, noises, and not matter how pleading she is with you to come out, leave her there at least for the next 7 -10 days.


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

Louise_81 said:


> Giving her food once a day. Making sure there is enough protein (Chicken, pasta, rice, runny milky porridge) in addition to her normal hamster food, so she can sustain herself and make plenty of milk for the babies. Make sure she has plenty of water available.


Can hamsters have milky porridge?, Ive always either made their porridge with water or used baby porridge in jars as I thought they shouldnt have dairy.


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## Louise_81 (Mar 5, 2010)

Some hamsters are lactose intolerance, and some breeders/owners will not risk milky foods, just in case. 

It could be made with kitten milk, which is sold in the supermarkets, if you didn't want to risk it. or made with mainly water then a few table spoons of milk to cool it down and thin it out. Or it could be made with goats milk.


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## deb53 (Jun 4, 2009)

Gosh have just caught up on this thread.

Its so sad that people take on breeding without research, knowledge or a mentor.

I just hope that the remaining babies are allowed to flourish and Mum is left in peace to rear her litters.

It saddens me that your young brother (how old???) was allowed access to the Mum and her babies. Did no one think to move the cage or at least sit him down and explain to him why he is not to touch the cage. Even young children can understand importance of things if told properly.

Anyhow, although I hate to say it, things have been done, and now I hope and pray the remainder are left alone and Mum is allowed to enjoy her young.


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## Dirky47 (Oct 20, 2009)

Let us stop blaming. What's more important now is they are alive and we all learn from one's experience especially at my side.


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## Louise_81 (Mar 5, 2010)

yeah, but she would have happily had 10 babies had you have not distressed her twice, but making such simple mistakes, by not researching in the first place, areas which are widely written about on MANY hamster forums, and are quite often 'stickied' to the top of breeding threads.

4 animals died because of those errors, human errors, not animals errors, so yes there is blame there and rightly so.


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## Waterlily (Apr 18, 2010)

Louise_81 said:


> yeah, but she would have happily had 10 babies had you have not distressed her twice, but making such simple mistakes, by not researching in the first place, areas which are widely written about on MANY hamster forums, and are quite often 'stickied' to the top of breeding threads.
> 
> 4 animals died because of those errors, human errors, not animals errors, so yes there is blame there and rightly so.


yes it is tragic and yes he made a massive error, but he accepts that and already feels terrible about it. At least he actually asked for advice whether it be too late or not. Most people dont even care enough to do that. Hopefully it wont happen again.


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