what the heck do i do? my hamsters just had babies!?

Question

omg. what am i supposed to do?

Answer 1

for the 1st three weeks, let the mother and babies alone;
if you touch a baby during that time, the mother will not recognize her smell on it anymore and will kill the baby, considering it to be some insect that crawled into the nest x(

after about two weeks, the babies will start crawling around in the cage and putting on gloves, you may be able to take everybody out (mom & kids) put then into a bucket and clean the cage, preferably keeping some of the nesting material.

after three to four weeks, the mother will start to show that she doesn't want the babies around her anymore; if you plan to bring them all to a petstore, put then in a bucket with some nesting material & some food & get on your way; if you plan to have friends or relatives come along, you'll have to get them in a separate cage a couple more weeks when they'll be old enough to be cute little hamsters, on their own :">

at the very latest after 6 weeks you need to separate boys and girls, otherwise they will mate and the girls are most likely to die. (females should be @ least three months old before they have pups)

if you were able to take good care of the mom and following a few simple rules, you should be able to take care of the mom & her kids

DO NOT think about keeping them all, thus don't get too attached to the kids; keeping more then one possibly two hamsters is too much trouble (noise, cleaning aso.)

o, and btw... get dad & mom separated...

good luck!

Answer 2

Do NOT touch the babies, the mother will eat them! Only give them food and water, never handle the babies or mother! I'm hoping you seperated the male and female before the female gave birth....otherwise they could end up having more babies really soon! If you didn't seperate the male and female it's too late now.....don't touch them at all!! If you want them get more cages, if not call a pet store near you! Now you're a hammy grammy, or grandaddy!:) Have fun and good luck....loook stuff up on line....there's lots more you need to know!

Answer 3

Many independent pet shops will buy hamster babies from you for them to sell. Also, if you dont want anymore babies, separate the mother and father. Even a son will mate with his mother if left in the same cage after he matures. Also separate the male from the litter and mother as he might hurt the babies.
http://www.petsyclopedia.com/hamsters/baby.xml
That is a good page for info. Goood luck!

Answer 4

I'm guessing the pet store told you they were the same sex. Find a vet that's open on Saturday and call them for advice or check out some vet or pet websites...veterinarypartner.com is run by vets, or this site is one i just found.
http://www.petsyclopedia.com/hamsters/baby.xml

As soon as the parents and babies are old enough, take them in to get fixed or you'll have more hansters than you know what to do with.

Answer 5

DO not touch the babies!! She may eat them if she smells you on them. Just keep the cage clean and fresh food and water. She'll take care of the rest. Also, make sure you seperate the males from the females after they have weaned so they wont have MORE babies.

Answer 6

First thing is separate the he's and the she's to keep them from producing more! Then contact the pet store for care info. Maybe they will also take some of them off your hands. Lots of luck and congrats, Grandpa/Grandma!

Answer 7

give them away or to the pet shop cause u dont want them all they r a pain when u have 12 or 15

Answer 8

Well, once they are done nursing, you really need to be sure to separate them. (Yes, my niece discovered, in the hamster world, sister & brother WILL mate, no one has told them it's weird!)

Answer 9

buy another cage!! congratulations!!!

or just give it to pet shop (sell it) or give it to a friend/relative

Answer 10

here is a good place to start:
http://www.hamsterific.com/RaisingPups.html
...jj