Mother abadonning some babies?

[narattah]

My Syrian hammy just gave birth to 15 litters, but she seems to be abandonning like five of the babies. Is it because there are too many babies that she could nurse? Will she finally collect and gather them all into her nest? Or should I try moving the abandonned babies to her nest? as I could rub my fingers on the bedding to mask my scent before touching the babies. What can I do to help at all? Thanks.

[booklady]

odds are if she isabandoning them it iis because there are too many, or there is something wrong with them...i suppose you could try moving them, but she'll probablly move them out again, and you risk possibly upsetting her enough that she'll abandon or kill the rest of them too...
if she hasn't come back for them, theyr'e probablly a lost cause, though you could possibly try hand raising them (though they rarely survive) i understand that kitten forumla is used for trying to save rat/mouse babies
good luck

[TiaMaria]

15 babies? Well she will abandon and kill most, she will generally keep 8 babies or lower, in a big litter mostly males live, she will kill off most of the females, but is a small litter mostly females will live. She will abandon the sickly and ill babies who wont make it, its sad really..the only thing you can do is feed the abandon ones yourself:[reference i found on google]

MILK/FORMULA

I used a very small dropper to give him little drops of whole milk or Whiskas CATMILK Plus every hour or so, while holding him. Milk should be room temperature. I would warm his milk like you would a baby bottle. I let the bottle sit in some hot water until the chill was off of it, but it was not hot. I let some drops of milk run down my fingers, so he could lick them. I would tip him upside down and lightly dry his nose with tissue. I also rubbed his whole little body with tissue after feeding to be sure he was not wet. I would put him in between the tissue and just lightly roll and rub.

FREQUENCY OF FEEDINGS

I fed him every hour if I only got a drop or two of milk in him, but every 1-1/2 to 2 hour feedings if he seemed to do well. I had to wake him to feed him. Then I would hold him until he went back to sleep, and then I put him back in his cage. I gradually increased the time between feedings, so that when Will was 17-20 days old, the feedings were about 3 to 5 hours apart. Around that time, I also went back to whole milk.

MILK/WATER BOTTLE

I bought a small animal water bottle and tried everyday to see if he would use it. I put his little nose up to it, but not in it, so that I did not get his nose wet. Some days he was not interested in it, and other days he really tried. This is how I gave him his milk once he got the hang of it. I still had to hold him in one hand and the water bottle in the other. I placed the bottle in his cage and would hold him in my hand up to the water bottle. After a couple of days, I slowly moved my hand until he was drinking by himself.

ELIMINATION

After I fed him, I would rub his tummy with my finger or a cotton ball. Also, I would use the cotton ball and wipe him when he had bowl movements to help him with elimination (later as he got older he would curl into a little ball and eat his bm). I also had a glass plate, on which I put a paper towel, and I let him waddle around on it after I fed him to see if he would pee (make sure you don't let him run off the edge of the plate). Seeing the hamster pee is very important; if it stops peeing, you are not getting enough fluid into it. I saw Will pee only a couple of times the first day, but at least 4 times a day, once we did better with the feedings. He might have gone more times in his cage (they squat when they pee).

OTHER FOODS

I gave Will tiny pieces of bread (7 and 12 grain wheat bread) soaked in milk every hour or so. I also fed him small dry pieces of the wheat bread. I gave him small pieces of boiled egg for the protein. I did not leave any moist food in his cage to avoid spoiling. I cooked mixed vegetables - he liked peas and green beans. I would mash them in my finger and give him small pieces. Apple is one of the foods that I think helped. I cut very small slivers and let him chew on it (or try to until he actually got a small bite off). I held Will in one hand and held the food for him. The milk soaked bread I would put on my finger and he would lick it off. It was days before he was stable enough to hold his own food. The food I gave him was very, very small for about a week, until he seemed to be able to handle it. If the hamster gets too much food at once, it will look like it is choking. Then I would stop feeding and give him milk drops until the food was swallowed.

I bought a hampster mix from our local pet store, and since Will was so small I put some in a plastic soda cap, level with the bedding in the corner of his cage. I put it in the cap, because this was small enough for him to get the food out of and he did not lose it in the bedding. As he grew, I used a bigger dish, but I scatter it some days just to give him something to dig for. He eats a lot, so I refresh his food daily, because he has certain things he seems to like more than others, so I want to be sure he gets enough of what he is looking for.

OTHER NOTES

"I made Will a tissue paper nest. I shredded the tissue into small pieces and packed some down in the corner of the cage, and I put shredded pieces loosely on the top as a cover. I also cut the tip off a sock and used that for him to crawl in and out of.

"I held him in my hand numerous times in the day, wrapped in a couple of tissues to help keep him warm. I also held him against my chest, so he could hear my heart beat. I know this may sound odd, but think about it, If you are laying under a mother hamster, you would hear the heart beat."

A new hamster baby is like a human baby - a lot of work and seeing what works for you. But he was worth it.

[narattah]

Typo, yes I meant 15 babies, not litters heh.

It seems like the mother herself tries moving the babies back to her nest many times, but sometimes they are still left behind and she has to go from one sopt to another spot to nurse them.

Thanks TiaMaria, for a very thorough info on raising hammy babies on your own. It does require your full attention. It would be hard for me since I do not have that much time on my hands to spare, but I'll try my best in helping the mother out possible. Providing more tissue bedding, keeping the room warm, give the mother as much protien food as possible etc. I just hope they all make it as it is very sad to see suffering ones.

Here are some pictures of the babies, though you can not see all fifteen of them as some have been covered by the mother.

http://img235.exs.cx/img235/9369/imgp29617ax.jpg
http://img235.exs.cx/img235/6716/imgp29627hk.jpg
http://img235.exs.cx/img235/2267/imgp29660vm.jpg

[booklady]

she might also be setting up seperate nests so that she can make sure that she gets them all fed.. withthat many it would be hard to do all in one nest.. if she is going back and forth regularly between teh two, just keep an eye on them and be prepared to loose a few. I'm sure she wouldn't mind fostering a few on you if she can.. though if you can, postpone that as long as possible so they can get as much time as possible being fed by mom...

[TiaMaria]

Yea i totally forgot about that booklady, she mgiht build 2 nests to feed...my friends syrian did that when she popped out 21 babies..we though she was going to explode, only 18 survived, but it was better then losing all of them!

[narattah]

That's one smart Syrian your friend got there and 18 survived? just wow... I got home from work tonight and I see my hammy covered her babies so I don't know if any babies are missing. I hope all 15 survied. I'll feed her some vegetable and raw tofu so she will come out to hoard the food while I take a quick peek at the babies heh

[Ann Vole]

Look for the white area on the babies' tummies which is milk in the stomich. They should all have white if mom is nursing them all. I would suggest you have some sort of containment method set up so mom can have two nest areas and an area for herself to get away and eat/drink/ run on the runwheel without babies. I would try small cardboard boxes with a hole in the side with the bottom of the hole about 2 or 3 inches (5 to 8 cm) up and the hole just big enough for mom to squeeze through and fill those two boxes with toilet paper.

If you touch the babies, handle the mother alot so she smells more like you then her babies do.