Accidental litter

[Pastacat]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[Socks' Mum]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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