# Dead baby hamsters



## alexd289 (Sep 30, 2009)

Hello,

My brother is looking after some hamsters for a friend. A few weeks ago they gave birth to 3 babies. These babies are OK - however my brother did not seperate the mother and father hamster. I moved in with my brother a week ago and 3 days ago the mother gave birth to 2 more babies. The father threw the babies out of the nest but we put him in a seperate cage. We then took the older babies out into a seperate cage.

The new babies were out of the nest but my brother managed to put them in by scooping them onto some newspaper. We don't know anything about hamsters but we thought it was unlikely these babies would survive. They survived a few days but unfortunately they died today. The mother has not eaten them - they're buried under some sawdust but are definately dead.
My main question is should we remove the dead babies now? We know very little about hamsters and we're not sure if the mother would be more distressed if the bodies were left there or taken away.

Also, will the mother be OK by herself now without any babies or her mate? Another question - the older babies are about 3 1/2 weeks old (although we're not sure). We're going to sell them soon and they seem to be surviving OK but does anyone have any advice for making sure they're OK?

Thank you very much for any help - it would be really appreciated if anyone could get back quickly. We feel bad for knowing so little about hamsters but my brother was lumbered with them a couple of months ago and has done the best possible for them.

Thank you

Alex


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## Nonnie (Apr 15, 2009)

What kind of hamsters are they?

And yes, you need to remove the dead ones.


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## alexd289 (Sep 30, 2009)

Thank you - we knew we would have to but weren't sure if it was too soon just a few hours after they'd died. Also, I won't clean them out because I really can't deal with dead animals and my brother has said he will do it tomorrow but I'm not sure if that's too long and going to distress her.

I don't know, sorry. To me they just look like regular hamsters (but quite small) - as I said we know very little about them! They're a browny colour with white tummies.


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## Nonnie (Apr 15, 2009)

alexd289 said:


> Thank you - we knew we would have to but weren't sure if it was too soon just a few hours after they'd died. Also, I won't clean them out because I really can't deal with dead animals and my brother has said he will do it tomorrow but I'm not sure if that's too long and going to distress her.
> 
> I don't know, sorry. To me they just look like regular hamsters (but quite small) - as I said we know very little about them! They're a browny colour with white tummies.


If they are syrian hamsters, then they cant live together.

I dont know much about breeding, so hopefully someone will be along soon. Does the owner know they have had babies?


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## alexd289 (Sep 30, 2009)

From pictures I am going to guess that they are Roborovski Hamsters. I really don't know though. We live in Beijing if that makes any difference - maybe some hamster types are more common than others here??


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## alexd289 (Sep 30, 2009)

Yes he knows. Quite simply, he is an idiot who bought some cute looking hamsters then got bored of them and forced them on my brother. He didn't even tell my brother there was one female and one male - if we'd known it may have saved an awful lot of trouble


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## toddy (Jan 24, 2009)

They certainly sound like robos from your description.
You really need to remove dad or he will just keep breeding and breeing with mum which is not good for her.
Remove the dead babies and dad and let mum have a well earned rest.
You alsp need to seperate male and female babies.
Just google sexing robo hamsters andyou will be able to find good diagrams for sexing them easily.
How old is mum,do you have any idea?


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## alexd289 (Sep 30, 2009)

Dad was removed immediately.

Ok I will try to seperate the male and female babies - really don't want any more pregnancies!

I have 2 more questions:

Are this species OK living by themselves? The mum lives in a veranda which she shares with a rabbit. They seem OK together - just want to make sure that's OK.

Also, the hamsters run like maniacs u and down the room - is this just them getting exercise or is there something wrong?

Thank you very much for the help!


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## toddy (Jan 24, 2009)

Yes mum will live fine on her own.Just make sure she has plenty to keep her occupied.A wheel and lots of things to chew on should cover that.
As for the running around I would say thye are mad little things but do need a lot of exercise.Have they got an exercise wheel as well?


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## alexd289 (Sep 30, 2009)

Thank you very much for all the advice. My brother does not have any hamster wheels so I am going to get some for them.


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