Dwarf Hamster Mom & Babies NEED URGENT ADVICE TONIGHT! PLEASE!

[OldsGal]

Ok I am a rat person.  Ask about Rat care and I can answer ya.  I have never in my life ever owned hamsters before.  I know nothing about them at all.  Well I am set up as a Volunteer Foster Family for my local humane society for rats and they just called me a few minutes ago and said they had a hamster dropped off who just surprised them with babies.  They asked if I would be interesting in fostering them until they could be adopted out.  Well I can't say no so I agreed.  So bring it on.  What do I need to know first of all about the care of dwarf hamsters and then second of all about newborn and nursing mommy hamsters.  If you have any great links that would be good.  I am getting them tomorrow after work. 

I would do some research on my own but I am at work now and can't.  Tonight after work I am getting Ojai rats in and will be busy and then tomorrow I have work and then BAM...I get hammie babies. 

GAAAAHHH  what am I getting myself into  LOL

Staci

[DolciLady]

Congrats on hammies!  I've never had a dwarf hamster...and the only hamster I've ever been bitten by was a dwarf.   Dwarves are more social (with each other) than my kind (Syrians), so the girls can often stay with girls, boys with boys. 

Hamsters require quite a significant higher amount of protein than rats do.  2018 is ok, but 8604 is even better.  So supplement mama. 

All my hamster baby/breeding experience applies to Syrians, so hopefully dwarf mommies will help.

But oh my gosh, if you thought rat pinkies are cute...wait til you see the teeny little kidney beans!! 

Robin

[OldsGal]

Ok so I searched around a bit and found some information out there.  I don't know if it is good information or not.  Mostly you care for them much like the ratties but I need to know how to care for a newborn litter of hammie erasers.  I am reading mixed information.  One site says to put mom and babies in a dark quiet room and leave her be for 3 weeks and DO NOT touch them or even change the bedding for 3 weeks or she will cannabalise the babies.  Other info says that I should be handling them.  So which is it?  I know hammies kill their babies a lot more often then Rat mommies do.  I just want to do whatever I can so that these survive.  I am picking them up tonight after work and bringing them home.  Heck I am worried the car ride alone will stress momma enough to start killing them off. 

Thank you thank you thank you for helping me!

[Marybelle]

When we got a pregnant dwarf hammy from the petstore, we followed the "don't touch them" advice.  We didn't start playing with the babies until they had their eyes open and started to roam around on their own.  They weren't in the dark and quiet (on hubby's desk), but we didn't pester her any more than necessary.  She had 5 babies, and all of them lived.  So, that worked for us...

[OldsGal]

Ok thanks Marybelle!  I Just needed some reassurance of what to do.  I have her in a quiet room but not in the dark and only disturb her to feed her and check on her.  I will leave the babies alone then until they start to move around on their own.  I just want to make sure they are will socialized since I have to give them back to the shelter to be adopted out.

[Marybelle]

We kept the girls from our litter, and they lived out their lives with mom.  They were fairly sweet and social, as far as hamsters go, so there was no permanent damage to their sociability from not handling them from day 1, as near as I could tell.  And I try to go by the "better safe than sorry" policy when it comes to hamsters, as they tend to be a bit more unpredictable than our ratty friends.

[ShadowDancer60]

These might help:


CritterScoop Website http://critterscoop.com/
CritterScoop Forum and Syrian Hamster FAQ on Critterscoop
Dogwood Hamstery http://critterscoop.com/dogwood/index.htm

I know dwarf hamsters are different from Syrians, but still might have helpful advice. Good luck

[LittleRatBaby]

it is true that the mother will cannabalize the babies if you handle them.  yes, keep them in a quiet area and do not disturb them for three weeks, not even to clean the cage, be as uninvasive as you possibly can when changing the food and water.

give them lots of toilet paper squares for nesting and snuggling.

a very good forum is www.hamsterhideout.com

[LifeInCircuit]

I agree that you should err on the side of caution, but they won't always eat their babies if you handle them. I've worked in two pet stores. Both sucked. I handled many, many hamster babies in order to clean their cages, and they were rarely eaten. So, if it is an emergency or something, I wouldn't flip out with worry too much if you do end up needing the handle them.

[kalijo]

when i was younger i had an unexpected litter of hamster babies and i played with them all the time (thinking they needed to be handled if i wanted them to be friendly) ....then the mom and babies all started eating eachother  . I called my cousin (who had been breeding hamsters for a very long time) and asked why she would do that, come to find out if the babies have any other smells on them (ie. your scent from touching them) the mom will eat it and the babies usually. so dont touch the babies no matter how tempting it is another reason for her to eat them is if they have any health problems because she knows if they are going to die or not so she might as well get it over with and not have to waste her milk on a baby that is not going to live long.

[Dawn Rae]

I came across this post while looking for info on dwarf hamster b/c I am in a similar situation.  A local rescue received a WHOPPING 43 dwarf hamsters  last night and I will be fostering some (don't know how many yet)

Oldsgal, how did things turn out for you?  Any advice 5 months later?



 

[OldsGal]

You know it was actually pretty easy.  I just made sure there was a thick layer of bedding for her to burrow into in the tank.  I cut up some stips of papertowels for her as well.  I put a small little igloo in the cage.  I put the tank in a very quiet room of the house so she would not be disturbed and left her alone for the most part.  Once she had the babies I did have to take out her wheel as she decided that running on her wheel was much more fun then taking care of those pesky babies.

She ended up having 3 babies.  Again after they were born I checked on them breifly just to make sure they were alive and to see how many she had.  Before I checked them though I cornered momma off from them by putting the tank cover inside the cage as a divider.  I then left them alone and did not handle them at all until they opened their eyes.  Once they opened their eyes and started adventuring out on their own I would start to handle them to get them socialized.  Then after it was time to sex them and split them up I took them back to the humane society to be adopted out.  It really was not hard at all to foster them.  They needed very little work.  Maybe a tad more socializing then I had time to do for them but otherwise it was good.

Staci

[sawyer_gota_gun]

If you need more info or help visit hamster hideout forum  .

[Randomrat]

yes definatly the best hamster website out there^

And you shouldn't handle hamster babies it cna really stress the hams out.