Accidental litter

Pastacat · Feb 8, 2026

Last month, I opened a thread about my sister's hamsters that have been living under some abysmal conditions. Ever since then, things got so much worse. The two hamsters were indeed male and female and they reproduced. There are now five 3 weeks old baby dwarf hamsters in with their parents.

Last month I wanted to separate them and bought a large cage, but the website cancelled the order and the money was refunded to me. I wanted to order it from another source, but some things happened in my life and I got really broke, so I am hesitant buy a large cage since there are my and my pets' expenses.(Besides Topaç, I also have two budgies)

Recently, my cousin managed to convince my sister to rehome all of the hamsters except one, which we havent decided yet. My mother wants her to rehome the mother and all the babies except one of the babies. I want to rehome the babies too, but apparently they can be rehomed at 6 weeks old. If we put an advert now, people would want to adopt them now, and we would tell them to wait until they are 6 months old and then the advert would get buried under all the other adverts that get posted daily. We put a rehome advert of the father hamster on a local pet adoption site, so at least that's out of the way. I'm hoping someone adopts him as soon as possible.

In the meantime, what can I do? The hamsters have been moved to my room, because of my niece's allergies and I do almost all of their care and buy all of their food. I tried to convince my sister to buy a large enclosure and move the father hamster into that, but she just refuses to do that.

Maz · Feb 8, 2026

This is very difficult. The babies need sexisng and separating - males in one bin or cage - the female babies can stay in with the Mother but the Father needs removing first. Dwarf hamsters can get pregnant again the very day they give birth, if the Father has been left in there, so she could already be pregnant with another litter again. And the Father and boy babies can also impregnate the girl babies if they're not separated soon enough. So now is the time to remove the boy babies and keep them separately. It can be difficult to sex them correctly as well. If there are any "not sures" then they need to go separately on their own. So you will need a few bins. Eg something like an Ikea Samla storage bin. One for the boy babies, one for the Father, until he is rehomed. And extra ones for the odd single baby if they're too hard to separate it. Three weeks old is the time to do it.

The Mother needs to be on pregnancy watch now.

The babies need to be six weeks old before they can go to a new home. It doesn't matter if it takes a bit longer to find new homes, as long as the males and females are separated. There is a very good guide to how to sex them on this site, linked below. Some will clearly be female, some clearly male, any that are "just can't tell" need to go in a bin on their own.

So you will need to make space for at least two bins, possibly 3 or 4

Identifying Gender — Hamster Society (Singapore)

With this article, we hope to help pawrents identify their hamsters’ sex/gender more effectively. Of course, the anatomy of each hamster might differ, but we hope to cover as many variations as possible so that you can be sure if your hamster is a boy or a girl!

www.hamstersociety.sg

Socks' Mum · Feb 8, 2026

Pastacat said:
Last month, I opened a thread about my sister's hamsters that have been living under some abysmal conditions. Ever since then, things got so much worse. The two hamsters were indeed male and female and they reproduced. There are now five 3 weeks old baby dwarf hamsters in with their parents.

Last month I wanted to separate them and bought a large cage, but the website cancelled the order and the money was refunded to me. I wanted to order it from another source, but some things happened in my life and I got really broke, so I am hesitant buy a large cage since there are my and my pets' expenses.(Besides Topaç, I also have two budgies)

Recently, my cousin managed to convince my sister to rehome all of the hamsters except one, which we havent decided yet. My mother wants her to rehome the mother and all the babies except one of the babies. I want to rehome the babies too, but apparently they can be rehomed at 6 weeks old. If we put an advert now, people would want to adopt them now, and we would tell them to wait until they are 6 months old and then the advert would get buried under all the other adverts that get posted daily. We put a rehome advert of the father hamster on a local pet adoption site, so at least that's out of the way. I'm hoping someone adopts him as soon as possible.

In the meantime, what can I do? The hamsters have been moved to my room, because of my niece's allergies and I do almost all of their care and buy all of their food. I tried to convince my sister to buy a large enclosure and move the father hamster into that, but she just refuses to do that.

The pups are fertile at a very early age, just a matter of weeks, so it is important to house them individually as soon as you can. Some sources say as young as four weeks. If you are not sure of the hamsters' gender, just separate them and keep them individually. You may need to rig up small bin cages for this. The most important thing is not to let them breed again.

Maz · Feb 8, 2026

Three weeks. By four weeks the girls can get pregnant. 3.5 weeks separation at the latest.

Socks' Mum · Feb 8, 2026

Its going to be quite difficult to tell the gender at such a young age. They will probably all look like girls unfortunately.

Socks' Mum · Feb 8, 2026

Maz said:
Three weeks. By four weeks the girls can get pregnant. 3.5 weeks separation at the latest.

Goodness, yes, you are right. A bit of a nightmare

Maz · Feb 8, 2026

Socks' Mum said:
Its going to be quite difficult to tell the gender at such a young age. They will probably all look like girls unfortunately.

Itr can be difficult. The link above should help. One way of getting a good look is to pop the hamster in a glass jug and look at the underside through the glass.

Pastacat · Feb 9, 2026

I ended up buying another small cage of the same brand and we put the father and the boys into that cage. Sexing them wasn't difficult at all. Their testicles were very prominent. The enclosures are pretty bad though. I attached a picture of them below. I hope whoever adopts them gives them larger and more enriching habitats.

Maz · Feb 9, 2026

Well done. Are they chinese dwarf hamsters by any chance? They have particularly noticable testicles. Do you have a photo of one?

Mum will still need to be on pregnancy watch for about 22 days. Also watch out for any of the boys fighting. They are usually ok in together but after six weeks they definitely all need separating or to go to new homes. If any of them do you might need to remove the odd one.

I hope you can find good homes for them. Also is there a hamster rescue anywhere near you? They sometimes take litters and find homes for them.

Pastacat · Feb 11, 2026

Maz said:
Well done. Are they chinese dwarf hamsters by any chance? They have particularly noticable testicles. Do you have a photo of one? Mum will still need to be on pregnancy watch for about 22 days. Also watch out for any of the boys fighting. They are usually ok in together but after six weeks they definitely all need separating or to go to new homes. If any of them do you might need to remove the odd one.

I hope you can find good homes for them. Also is there a hamster rescue anywhere near you? They sometimes take litters and find homes for them.

No, they are Russian dwarf hamsters. They have very short tails and round bodies. Chinese hamsters are not in the pet trade here. I attached a photo of the mother and one of the daughters and as well as of the father back when he was in the old cage. It is difficult to get a photo of them, because they are always moving.

Socks' Mum · Feb 11, 2026

They are nice looking little hamsters. I hope the mother isn't pregnant

Pastacat · Mar 13, 2026

Update and bad news: the mother was indeed pregnant, I think. There have been several weeks since the new babies were born, but I am not sure how many. We were able to rehome the father and the two male hamsters from the older litter, but the girls and the babies were still in the same cage, since we werent sure who was the mother of the new babies(we would sometimes see girls from the older litter carrying the babies in their mouths to the hides).

Anyway, the last time we were too late at separating them and I don't want this time to be like that, so I want to ask if the babies look old enough to be separated. I have attached some pictures of them below. I sometimes see some of the babies chasing each other and try to sniff their behinds. Is this mating behaviour? Does this mean the ones chasing are male?

Maz · Mar 13, 2026

Oh no! It's hard to tell how old they are from the photos, but they are usually about two weeks old when their eyes open and often don't emerge from the mother's nest before the eyes are open. It is likely the same mother that was pregnant.

They need sexing and separating by 3 to 4 weeks old - 4 weeks old max. So maybe you can work out how old they are from when their eyes were open? They look pretty furry already. I don't know about the behind chasing behaviour - they do all sorts. The only real way to tell which are the boys is to sex them. So the ones that are obviously girls can stay with the mother, the ones that are obviously boys need to be moved to a separate enclosure together. If there are any "not sures" they need to be on their own in another tank. Hopefully there won't be more than one "not sure" or you'd need quite a few tanks.

If you really have trouble sexing them you could take them to a vet and ask them to do it maybe.

They are very sweet, but you don't want any more to have to re-home. Also the mother could probably do with a rest.

So the original mother, if she is the mother, should be looking after them - ie picking the odd one up and moving it and they may snuggle up to her if they're still teet feeding. If they seem to be teet feeding from a female from the earlier litter, then she is likely the mother. It is possible though that the older girls might help the mother with the babies so then it could be hard to tell.

They stop teat feeding at about 3 weeks old but can start on solids at about 10 days old.

I would say they are at least 3 weeks old looking at them, but it's hard to tell.

Pastacat · Mar 13, 2026

Maz said:
Oh no! It's hard to tell how old they are from the photos, but they are usually about two weeks old when their eyes open and often don't emerge from the mother's nest before the eyes are open. It is likely the same mother that was pregnant.

They need sexing and separating by 3 to 4 weeks old - 4 weeks old max. So maybe you can work out how old they are from when their eyes were open? They look pretty furry already. I don't know about the behind chasing behaviour - they do all sorts. The only real way to tell which are the boys is to sex them. So the ones that are obviously girls can stay with the mother, the ones that are obviously boys need to be moved to a separate enclosure together. If there are any "not sures" they need to be on their own in another tank. Hopefully there won't be more than one "not sure" or you'd need quite a few tanks.

If you really have trouble sexing them you could take them to a vet and ask them to do it maybe.

They are very sweet, but you don't want any more to have to re-home. Also the mother could probably do with a rest.

So the original mother, if she is the mother, should be looking after them - ie picking the odd one up and moving it and they may snuggle up to her if they're still teet feeding. If they seem to be teet feeding from a female from the earlier litter, then she is likely the mother. It is possible though that the older girls might help the mother with the babies so then it could be hard to tell.

They stop teat feeding at about 3 weeks old but can start on solids at about 10 days old.

I would say they are at least 3 weeks old looking at them, but it's hard to tell.

I see. Their eyes are open and have been open for a week at least. What's strange is that their eyes werent fully open when they first emerge from the nest, but they would try to crawl out of the hides or from under the wedding, before being carried by some of the older hamsters.

I haven't really seen them snuggle up to the mother. The siblings sometimes huddle together in a corner, though.

Then, if they are 3 weeks old, I can separate them tomorrow, right? I really hope we don't get more babies, but I am also worried that they could still be nursing when I don't see them.

Maz · Mar 13, 2026

Yes their eyes are often not yet open once they emerge from the nest, but usually shortly after that their eyes are open. Their eyes are open from about 2 weeks to 2 and a half weeks. So they should be 3 to 3.5 weeks by now so you should be able to sex them yes. If they are 3 to 4 weeks old already then they are probably weaned. Assume you've been giving them solid food and veggies for a while?

Pastacat · Mar 14, 2026

Maz said:
Yes their eyes are often not yet open once they emerge from the nest, but usually shortly after that their eyes are open. Their eyes are open from about 2 weeks to 2 and a half weeks. So they should be 3 to 3.5 weeks by now so you should be able to sex them yes. If they are 3 to 4 weeks old already then they are probably weaned. Assume you've been giving them solid food and veggies for a while?

Yes, they eat hamster food and veggies I give them.

Socks' Mum · Mar 14, 2026

Yes, they can be separated now. They are all looking nice and healthy, but you really don't want any more litters. I hope all works out OK

Pastacat · Mar 14, 2026

We ended up placing the female hamsters into a bin enclosure without a lid and left the single remaining baby in their old cage. He is looking quite lonely in there, but if I put him with the others they would breed and now I feel bad

Maz · Mar 14, 2026

Aw. So you could sex the females but you weren't sure about this one? Or is he definitely male? He'll be fine - give him some distracting chews and treats and maybe talk and interact with him more.

Pastacat · Mar 14, 2026

Maz said:
Aw. So you could sex the females but you weren't sure about this one? Or is he definitely male? He'll be fine - give him some distracting chews and treats and maybe talk and interact with him more.

He's definitely male. I am still a bit worried about the possibility of him not being fully weaned yet. I tried scattering some food in his cage, but he wasn't really interested.

Accidental litter

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