Baby hamsters are born deaf, blind and hairless, and they need proper care as early as possible in order to stay alive. If your beloved mother hamster is pregnant, you need to learn how to care for the mother hamster and the babies. With the right steps, from pregnancy to weaning, you can help ensure the safety of your baby hamsters and find a safe and comfortable home for them.
Step
Part 1 of 3: Birth Preparation
Step 1. Find out if your hamster is pregnant (article in English)
Although it is true that female hamsters will gain weight during pregnancy, weight gain alone is not necessarily a sign of pregnancy. Some signs that your hamster is pregnant include nesting behavior, the possibility of hoarding food, and aggressive behavior that follows the development of the gestation period.
Step 2. Understand the hamster life cycle
Hamsters reach sexual maturity quickly. Some hamsters are able to give birth at a fairly young age, which is four weeks. However, it's generally recommended that you (or your hamster breeder) don't mate your hamsters until they are five to six months old.
- The gestation period in hamsters varies, depending on the variety. The Syrian hamster (Syrian hamster) generally has a gestation period of 16 days, while other dwarf varieties have a gestation period of 18 to 21 days. Roborovski hamsters can have a gestation period of up to 30 days.
- Female hamsters that have been able to reproduce will mate once every four days.
- A few days before your hamster gives birth, his stomach will swell enormously. Unfortunately, the swelling can also be an indication of a more serious condition. Swelling of the abdomen can be an indication of a tumor, heart disease, liver cysts, or (rarely) Cushing's disease. If your hamster's stomach is swollen, it's a good idea to have your hamster checked by a doctor to find out if your hamster is pregnant or has a more serious health problem.
Step 3. Clean your hamster's cage (article in English)
It is very important that you understand that your hamster should give birth in a clean place. To keep the place where your hamster gave birth, clean the cage two weeks after your hamster becomes pregnant (or when you find out that your hamster is pregnant), and put in a new bedding.
- It's important to know that, because mother hamsters don't like to be bothered by the day of her birth, you can't clean the cage towards the end of her pregnancy. Cleaning the cage 2 or 3 days before the day of delivery can be quite annoying for the mother hamster, so that when the babies are born she will reject them. Therefore, cleaning the cage as soon as you confirm that your hamster is pregnant may be a better option.
- After you clean the cage during pregnancy, do not clean the cage until 14 days after birth.
Step 4. Change your hamster's diet
Pregnant hamsters need foods that are high in protein and fat. If possible, prepare a hamster food that has 18 to 20 percent protein and 7 to 9 percent fat. You can also provide your hamster with dairy foods to provide extra calcium and encourage milk production.
Give your hamster nutritious treats such as carrots, beans, hard-boiled eggs, cheese and leafy greens. You'll need to provide extra food in your hamster's cage as he will start to stockpile food for the babies (and he himself will eat more than usual). However, be careful with foods that can rot (stale) because if your hamster hoards them, they can get moldy. Therefore, it's a good idea to provide dry food and offer perishable foods as snacks to increase the chances that your hamster will finish the food you give him immediately instead of hoarding it
Step 5. Remove the hamster wheel and other toys from your hamster's cage
This is important to prevent accident or death of baby hamsters after they are born.
Step 6. Separate the hamster daddy from the cage if you haven't already
Female hamsters can act aggressively towards male hamsters when they don't want a mate.
Some hamster fans say that dwarf hamster dads are actually really helpful in raising baby hamsters. Try talking to your vet or hamster specialist at the pet store first if you want to try keeping your hamster daddy in the cage
Step 7. Provide a smooth nesting material for your hamster
One of your hamster's reactions when she is pregnant is that she will build a nest in which to give birth to her babies. You can help smooth this process out by providing a few sheets of toilet paper that your hamster can tear and use as a nest.
- Clean facial or toilet paper towels make good nesting materials. Its smooth, liquid-absorbing texture makes it easy for your hamster to tear and arrange them.
- Avoid giving long and heavy materials as nesting material to prevent baby hamsters from getting entangled or suffocating.
Step 8. Prepare a shelter for the baby hamsters
You only need to do this if you don't plan to keep the babies after they are born. If you're having a hard time finding friends who will pet a baby hamster or two, try placing an ad on Craigslist or another advertising site. You can also ask the teachers at your local school if they would like to keep your baby hamsters because hamsters make great class pets.
Do not mate your hamsters unless you can find a place to live for them or provide a cage for them
Step 9. Know the approximate time it will take to give birth
The birthing process usually lasts one to two hours, with a gap of 15 to 30 minutes between the births of one baby. Give the mother hamster enough space and time and don't disturb her during or after delivery.
Part 2 of 3: Caring for Baby Hamsters In The First Two Weeks
Step 1. Do not disturb the baby hamsters in the nest
For approximately two days or so after birth, leave the mother hamster alone. She can feel pressured and become aggressive in order to protect her nest from threats or disturbances, so it's a good idea to leave the mother hamster alone. Mother hamsters can also feel very restless after giving birth to their babies. As much as possible don't let the mother hamster be disturbed or she may leave the babies or, in fact, kill them.
Step 2. Don't hold your baby hamsters for (at least) two weeks
You don't want to disturb the hamster's nest and leave your smell on the baby hamsters. Otherwise, the mother will either abandon or kill them. The mother hamster can also become very aggressive if you try to hold the babies and may attack your hand.
If you really need to move a baby hamster for serious reasons, use a spoon. This is done to ensure that none of your scent is left on the baby hamster's body. However, you probably don't need to make such a move, because if a baby hamster leaves the nest, the mother will immediately put him back in the nest
Step 3. Do not clean your hamster's cage in the first two weeks after the birth of the babies
While it may seem odd for you not to clean the cage, you should never disturb or alter the hamster's nest for the safety of your baby hamsters. Do a cage cleaning two weeks after the babies are born.
- If you notice a very wet area or bottom of the cage, you can clean the area. However, make sure the area that has been cleaned will not disturb your hamster's nest.
- Keep your room temperature around 21.1 degrees Celsius.
Step 4. Provide plenty of food and water for your baby hamsters
You should check the cage at least twice a day to make sure there is enough food and water for your hamsters. When your baby hamsters are one week old, you can start spreading food around and around the cage floor. The mother will walk and collect the food for the babies, and the baby hamsters will start to go around and find their own food.
- Make sure you feed your mother and baby hamsters food that is high in protein and fat.
- Do not use a bowl for hamsters drinking water because baby hamsters can drown if they fall into the bowl. Instead, use a small container like a saucer.
- You need to make sure that your hamster's trough is low enough to allow small hamsters to reach its lips and drink water from it. This usually occurs after 10 to 20 days.
Step 5. Take care of your baby hamsters if the mother dies
Sometimes, baby hamsters lose their parents due to complications that occur during childbirth. If your hamster is 12 to 14 days old when the mother dies, they will have a better chance of survival. Place a heating pad (a kind of electric heating pad) under the cage and set it on the lowest heat level to replace the mother's body heat. Cut the toilet paper into small pieces and make your own nest for the baby hamsters. Make sure they get enough food to keep them well nourished. The height of the hamster's water bottle must also be adjusted so that the babies can drink from the bottle.
- When baby hamsters are born, they are born hairless and blind. Don't be surprised by this appearance because all hamsters are born that way.
- In the first week after birth, your hamsters will gain weight and the hair on their bodies will begin to grow. His ear canal began to develop. They will start walking and foraging in the middle of the second week.
- Use Lactol, an animal milk substitute formula, to breastfeed your baby hamsters. Use a dropper or dropper to feed the baby hamsters. Lactol is available at most pet stores. If you can't get Lactol, try using infant formula. Take a small amount of milk using a pipette and touch the mouth of the pipette to the baby hamster's mouth. Do not squeeze or press the pipette rubber. Let the baby hamster suck and lick the pipette to get the milk out of the pipette.
- Keep in mind that baby hamsters are still not able to adjust their own body temperature. Keep the room temperature within 21.1 degrees Celsius, or use a heating pad on the lowest heat level if needed.
Step 6. Find a surrogate for your orphaned hamsters who are 12 days old or younger
Clean all the remains of the nest or dirt during the birthing process so that the new mother does not know that your baby hamsters are babies belonging to other mothers because of the smell of the original mother. For this reason, you may want to wear rubber gloves during this process.
- Carefully wrap the baby hamsters in a clean towel and gently rub the towel over their bodies to stimulate their blood circulation, so they get warm. Find a surrogate mother who has babies who are a few days older or younger than your hamsters. Take a little nesting material taken from the nest made by the surrogate mother and wrap it around your baby hamsters. This is to make your baby hamsters smell the same as their surrogate mother. Distract the surrogate with a treat, then put your baby hamsters in the nest the surrogate made with the surrogate's baby hamsters. Try to distract the surrogate long enough for your baby hamsters to curl up in their new nest and be exposed to the surrogate's scent.
- Always keep an eye on the surrogate mother for your baby hamsters. If he senses something wrong or different in his babies, he can kill the babies.
- It may be difficult for you to find a female hamster that is breastfeeding when you need it. Therefore, be prepared because you may have to take care of your baby hamsters yourself.
Part 3 of 3: Caring for Baby Hamsters After the First Two Weeks
Step 1. Clean the cage once your baby hamsters are over two weeks old
At this time, the mother hamster won't be as protective of her kittens, so you can take something out of the cage and clean it after two weeks. Clean the cage as usual, but put a few sheets of toilet paper in the cage after you've finished cleaning as the mother hamster may want to build another nest.
Step 2. You can start holding your baby hamsters once they reach two weeks of age
By holding baby hamsters at a fairly young age, you are helping them get used to human touch. The mother hamster will also have no problem with your smell on her babies at this stage of hamster development. Keep in mind that baby hamsters can move very quickly, so it's a good idea to take precautions so that your baby hamster doesn't run away when you hold it.
Step 3. Wean your baby hamsters when they reach four weeks of age
Hamster babies will continue to suckle on their mother until they reach 26 days of age. After that, the baby hamsters must be weaned.
Step 4. Separate the baby male hamsters from the baby hamster females
You will need to check the sex of your baby hamsters and separate the males from the females into separate cages. They must be kept in separate cages from the mother because at this stage, the mother hamster does not want to take care of the babies anymore.
- About 40 days after birth, your baby hamsters are able to mate and reproduce. Therefore, it is important that you separate the male hamsters from the female hamsters before they mate.
- Syrian hamsters are solitary animals and each Syrian hamster needs to be kept in a separate cage after six to seven weeks post-birth. This type of hamster has a tendency to dominate an area and can become aggressive if he feels that his territory is under threat.
- Dwarf hamsters can live in same-sex pairs or colonies peacefully. They often play, like they are fighting, when they can open their eyes. This is normal, but by the time he's 12 weeks old you can see that some real fights are possible. If you see hamsters fighting, immediately separate them into separate cages. If a fight occurs between the dwarf hamster living in the colony, separate the hamster being bullied in the colony into a separate cage.
- If you don't separate your hamsters, your hamsters will likely mate with each other, so you will have lots of hamsters in a few weeks.
Step 5. Treat your hamsters as you would adult hamsters
After reaching five weeks of age, your baby hamsters grow into adult hamsters. Play, feed and love your hamsters as you would adult hamsters.
Tips
- If your baby hamsters can't seem to learn how to use a water bottle quickly, put some celery sticks (with the thin fibers peeled off) or cucumber (with the seeds removed) in the cage. Both types of food can be useful as food ingredients that keep the body fluids of your hamster babies.
- Your hamster's cage should be (at least) 0.23 square meters. For a nursing mother hamster and her young, the cage needed must be even larger. If you feel that your hamster gave birth in a cage that was too small, move your hamster and babies to a new, larger cage, two weeks after the birth of the babies.
- Make sure you check out a potential new home for your baby hamsters before you let them go. Of course you don't want your baby hamsters to have bad luck, such as being eaten by snakes or being in an unattended cage.
- Breastfeeding hamsters need more food. In addition, add types of high protein foods such as cooked eggs, tofu, or bread that has been soaked in milk.
- Make sure you check the sex of your baby hamsters at different times until they are four weeks old to make sure you don't misjudge the gender.
Warning
- If you get a suspicious-looking baby hamster from a pet store, you should be more careful because there is a possibility that the baby hamster was born prematurely.
- Some mother hamsters are too young and have not been trained to care for their young. Therefore, be prepared to find a surrogate mother for your baby hamsters.
- If you touch your baby hamsters before two weeks, your smell will stick to their bodies and can confuse the mother, causing the mother to kill or abandon the hamsters.
