Suspected hamster pregnancy

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Yeti

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Yesterday I took in a pair of Russian dwarf hamsters that were being housed together in a small bin. I immediately separated them & got them both in large, enriching enclosures.

One of them is looking pudgy & pear shaped. She weighs 53 grams and in her old bin she was sharing a 4" wheel with her roommate and had bad nutrition. Its possibly she's just had a lot of snacks and no opportunity to exercise.

I don't have experience sexing hamsters and neither were cooperative but I believe one is a male and the other female so probably got a pregnancy situation.

It's certainly possible (and preferable) that I'm wrong about this but I'll be proceeding as if she's pregnant for the time being.

Which leads me to my questions

- why do I need to remove the wheel and sanbath during the pregnancy? I've heard different things like they could be dangerous if the pups try to use too early or that she may ignore her pups in favour of running. But in that case couldn't she keep them until she gives birth?

I've been reading a lot of hamster pregnancy resources but if anyone's got any good ones to share I would appreciate it.

Tomorrow I'm going to put a camera in her cage and remove the wheel & sand bath if needed. Then I'm just going to leave her alone except for adding food, water and nesting materials. I won't try to take pictures or check the sex again for fear of stressing her out at this stage.

Wish us luck.

Here's a video of hamster and also photos of her old set up (280 square inches) and current set up (800+ square inches). Pregnant?

https://imgur.com/a/elrMb5k
 
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What a beautiful hamster & a lovely video of her exploring.

If they are male & female then there is a very good chance she is pregnant but it will be a bit wait & see I think, 53g isn’t that large for a Russian hamster so it may just be her normal weight, some can tend to look quite round too.

As far as the wheel & sand bath go I’m not expert on pregnancy but I think you only need to remove the wheel during the later stages when the pups may be coming out, not sure about the sand or why that would be an issue.
I would definitely leave them in for now, if she shows signs of making a big nest & stops coming out except for food then she may well be having pups but for now I would just treat her normally, give extra nesting material (lots of shredded toilet tissue) & keep a watch on her behaviour.

Keep us posted, hopefully she’s not pregnant but it sounds like she’s in good hands with you & will be getting the care she needs either way.
 
Thanks for your reply! I'm definitely not confident that I've sexed them correctly so we will see how it goes.

I don't think I'd notice if she were making a big nest since she's set up in the multi chambered hide and I'm not going to open the top to check since that could stress her.
 
If you keep putting lots of nesting material in you might notice if she’s making a big nest, I think they tend to take a lot more of it if they’re expecting pups but just leaving her to it & not interfering is the best thing & about all you can do for now.
There is an article here on accidental litters I forgot to link to that you might find helpful.

www.thehamsterforum.com

Accidental litters - how to handle this

New hamster owners often get landed with an unexpected litter. Sometimes they have bought a Syrian only to find out the Syrian is not male, it is female and pregnant. And don't even realise until the babies are born. Other times people buy a pair of "same sex" dwarf hamsters, only to find one...
www.thehamsterforum.com www.thehamsterforum.com
 
You are such a wonderful person for rescuing these two hamsters. She really is adorable. I will keep my fingers crossed that she is not pregnant.
 
She's gorgeous :) Well done for getting them sorted into new cages. Gestation is 18 to 22 days for a dwarf hamster, so yes it sounds a good idea to keep her on pregnancy watch. I would leave the wheel for now. If you sense something is happening and she is acting oddly, then maybe remove it. She needs to settle into her new surroundings as well, so good you're not going to be disturbing her sleeping area. You can easily go two weeks without needing to clean anything or spot clean and that will give her settling in time. After that just spot clean. I would put lots of nesting material out, as Elusive says - a pile of torn up strips of plain white toilet paper. And plenty of food. If she is pregnant she will be eating and hoarding more.

It can be very hard to see if a dwarf hamster is pregnant, even in the later stages - so the first sign you might get is babies appearing. And that might not be for about 5 weeks if she gives birth in 22 days time!
 
Omg she had pups!!!

I just saw one zooming around!!! I took out the wheel and sand bath.

So there's a water bottle and also one of those niteangel fuji water bowls in the enclosure. I worry the water bowl is a hazard. Should I replace it with a little terracotta saucer that I use as a water bowl? Just worry then it's pretty easy for a baby hamster to walk right through and then get wet and cold.

Please advize!!!
 
Goodness! Maybe just have two water bottles and no bowl. Put plenty of food out!
 
Yeti said:
Omg she had pups!!!

I just saw one zooming around!!! I took out the wheel and sand bath.

So there's a water bottle and also one of those niteangel fuji water bowls in the enclosure. I worry the water bowl is a hazard. Should I replace it with a little terracotta saucer that I use as a water bowl? Just worry then it's pretty easy for a baby hamster to walk right through and then get wet and cold.

Please advize!!!
Click to expand...
Congratulations!
 
I took the water bowl out, will stick to bottles. I put some diced cucumber in a little terracotta saucer for hydration and I saw a pup sitting in it - so definitely filling it with water would have been a bad idea.

So far I've just seen 1 pup (I have a camera in the enclosure).
 
Good idea to take the bowl out.
If the pups are out and about now you could put some soft foods out for them, baby food & tofu can be given in the very early stages, a little bit of porridge should be ok too.
 
3 pups!!!

Momma hamster let's them run around sometimes and other times drags them back to the nest. I am having a great time watching them on the camera. I definitely didn't want her to be pregnant, but I can't pretend this isn't extremely exciting and cute.

There's lots of food in there. Seed mix, diced vegetables including cucumber, and plain cooked chicken. I've seen the pups munching on chicken and vegetables.
 
Oh my goodness. I didn't even get my "4 pups!!!" post up before another one surfaced.

5 pups!!!

Fortunately I have a lot of connections with animal enthusiasts in my city from volunteering at different animal rescues / wildlife rehab and have contacts at the vet college so I'm confident I'll be able to find good homes for everyone.
 
Yeti said:
There's lots of food in there. Seed mix, diced vegetables including cucumber, and plain cooked chicken. I've seen the pups munching on chicken and vegetables
Click to expand...
The soft/wet foods are important for hydration as the pups begin to wean, they probably won’t be using the water bottle for a while.
 
They should still be getting milk from their Mother until they're about three weeks old so should be ok for liquid :) However I'm not sure how old they are at the moment! As they don't appear/leave the nest at first - so they could to 10 days to two weeks old already.

Once their eyes are open they'll be about 3 weeks old. Best not to handle them before their eyes are open. Then you can start handling them. They'll need sexing and separating at 4 weeks old. The girls can stay with the Mother and the boys need separating from the Mother and girls but can go in a cage together. So you'll need one spare cage getting ready for now.

They should be able to start using a bottle when they're 3 weeks, if it's low enough. If it's one that drips it might be better to get a different bottle so the pups don't get wet. (two bottles). You'll need water bottles in anyway, for the Mother.

Sounds like you're doing all the right things - plenty of protein and green veg.
 
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Apparently not green leafy veg - but cucumber, carrot, raw broccoli is fine and hamster seed mix, scrambled or chopped hard boiled egg, chicken, tofu for protein. What seed mix do you have?
 
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