Baby Hamster

[hamsterhaven]

My female dwarf hamster had one baby 13 days ago (April 15th). :stork-boy He has been in the nest since she had him. Every now and then I have flipped up the lid to get a little peek at him, but I haven't touched or handled him. Lately, I have seen him trying to get out of the nest. He seems very active. Today, when I saw him, he looks like a big furball and his eyes have been open for 2 days. He is soooo cute!

I have several questions:

1. When can I start to handle him?

2. I have lowered the water bottle, will he instinctively be able to find it and drink from it?

3. At what age can he be taken from mom?

4. Since he is male, can he be put in the cage with dad, or will dad feel like it is an invasion of his territory?

Thanks in advance for your advice. :D

[riegfinnid]

1. if the mom is not agressive or overly protective...you can start handing him...maybe rub your hands in the bedding so the baby doesnt smell TOO much like you that way mom wont be as stressed out
2.yes he will find the water bottle himself, you can give him fresh fruits for extra liquids too. my hammy babies liked tomato and apples a lot
3. i dont know about dwarfs, but with syrian you seperate them from mom at 3 weeks of age
4. well dwarfs can live together but i'd still be VERY careful about it and maybe give the little guy some time to get bigger before putting him with a big dad hamster lol

[hamsterhaven]

Thanks for the advice. I think you covered all the basis. :D Mom seems to be pretty good about me having my hands and stuff in the cage most of the time. Anything has to be better than the way she was when she was pregnant. I couldn't even look her way without her acting like she wanted to bite my head off. Most of the time I let her get in her ball before I go looking at the baby.

One more question...When can I clean her cage? It desperately needs some attention.

[riegfinnid]

well generally by the time the babies are two weeks old it ok to clean the cage BUT its recommended not to touch the nest...basically clean AROUND the nest. thats what i did. i didnt want to risk stressing mom out too much and then her kill the babies because she was freaking out.
i didnt disturb the nest, and mom was happy to have fresh clean material to use for the nest

[hamsterhaven]

Thanks again. I just put some fresh apple pieces in the cage. Mom came right up to my hand and ate some. I put some right on the outside of her nest and the baby came out some and ate a little and then ran back in. I hope he comes out far enough that I can get a picture of him. He looks exactly like his mom, just smaller.

[riegfinnid]

oh if the mom is leaving the cage, then its more or less ok to touch the baby...my hamster was SUPER agressive when she had her babies. i couldnt even look in her direction for the first 2 weeks without her trying to attack me through the wires and she would always stand between me and the nest IF she even left the nest. lol
whats funny is by the time the babies were 3 weeks old she was so sick of them, she was actually HIDING from them and was trying to escape from the cage at every chance she got lol

[hamsterhaven]

That's funny. I just got a couple of pictures of the baby. I am going to download them here in a minute and post them on here so you can see him.

[hamsterhaven]

Here are a couple of pictures of baby and mom. Mom was keeping a close eye out for him. This is his first time out of the nest. The first couple of times he came out, mom ran him back in. She finally loosened up and he came out and went to the food bowl. He got a piece of food and carried it back to the nest.

EEEWWW!! Sorry, that first picture is real blurry. The second one is much better.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91/Lilschroeder26/Hamsters/BabyHamster-Day13008.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91/Lilschroeder26/Hamsters/BabyHamster-Day13004.jpg

[riegfinnid]

oh he's adorable.
suggestion-remove the wheel...baby is way too young and not very coordinated right now...too many accidents happen when there're young babies around and mom is in the wheel...

[hamsterhaven]

oh he's adorable.
suggestion-remove the wheel...baby is way too young and not very coordinated right now...too many accidents happen when there're young babies around and mom is in the wheel...

Thanks. How old should he be before I can have a wheel in there? I had just put it back today, because he was moving around. I didn't realize how much mom missed it until I put it back, but I am going to take it out right now. What can I do so that mom gets the exercise she needs and doesn't get bored?

[riegfinnid]

i dont think mom need to exercise at all right now. pregnancy and taking care of babies, even if its just one takes a lot out of them. she needs to regain her health and all the vitimins (remember, she's still producing some milk)...she needs all the nuitreins right now, no need to work out.

i think baby hamsters need to stay away from wheels until they're about 7 weeks old, but thats MY opinion.

[hamsterhaven]

i dont think mom need to exercise at all right now. pregnancy and taking care of babies, even if its just one takes a lot out of them. she needs to regain her health and all the vitimins (remember, she's still producing some milk)...she needs all the nuitreins right now, no need to work out.

i think baby hamsters need to stay away from wheels until they're about 7 weeks old, but thats MY opinion.

OMG!!!!! I went in there to take out the wheel and the baby was making all this kind of noise, squeeling and squeeking. It was in the nest, so I couldn't see much. When it didn't stop, I picked up the nest and realized it had something wedged in it's mouth. I got him out and he had one of the dehydrated peas from the food bowl stuck in his mouth. It was so wedged that I had to squeeze each side of it's mouth to get it out. I went through the rest of the food bowl to get them out. Is there anything else that I should worry about in the food bowl, since he is getting out and eating from it. Should I change the food I give them right now?

[riegfinnid]

oh poor baby....you know it has never happened to me and my baby hamsters where stuffing their cheeks at 11 days old

what could you change the food to? i mean, he is going to try and stuff anything resembling food into his cheeks, thats what they do...i think it was just a freak accident

[hamsterhaven]

oh poor baby....you know it has never happened to me and my baby hamsters where stuffing their cheeks at 11 days old

what could you change the food to? i mean, he is going to try and stuff anything resembling food into his cheeks, thats what they do...i think it was just a freak accident

I didn't know if there was something that had smaller pieces in it. I know they stuff their cheeks, but this was more like me sticking a baseball in my mouth and not able to close my jaws. (OUCH, I just pictured that). lol

[riegfinnid]

lol i know what you're talking about. my baby hamsters would try to stick sun flower seeds in their cheeks...and those sunflower seeds are almost the size of their heads lol you cant stop them from doing it....when they're THAT small, anything can get stuck theoretically

[hamsterhaven]

lol i know what you're talking about. my baby hamsters would try to stick sun flower seeds in their cheeks...and those sunflower seeds are almost the size of their heads lol you cant stop them from doing it....when they're THAT small, anything can get stuck theoretically

Allrighty. Thanks for all your help. :D I have probably tied up enough of your time today. lol. Sorry.

[riegfinnid]

lol nah...i[m bored at work so i'm just sitting here reply to almost every post lol

i wish this place had a chat room

[hamsterhaven]

lol nah...i[m bored at work so i'm just sitting here reply to almost every post lol

i wish this place had a chat room

Yeah, that sure would make it easier. Where do you work? I do medical transcription at home, so I am always on this computer, and don't have a boss looking over my shoulder.

[riegfinnid]

i work in a medical office...as office manager/dr's assistant...i have my own office so i dont have to worry about someone catching me online either lol

[hamsterhaven]

i work in a medical office...as office manager/dr's assistant...i have my own office so i dont have to worry about someone catching me online either lol

Well, that's pretty cool. We are pretty much in the same line of work. What kind of doctor do you work for?

This conversation would probably be better over IM. LOL. Everyone else is learning all about us. LOL

[riegfinnid]

ortho surgeon.
and we have chiro, physical therapy and acupuncture here too

[hamsterhaven]

ortho surgeon.
and we have chiro, physical therapy and acupuncture here too

Even neater. I do most of my work for Chiropractors and ortho surgeons. WOW. I can't believe how much we have in common.

[riegfinnid]

lol i know. when i'm at home i should add you to my AIM

[hamsterhaven]

lol i know. when i'm at home i should add you to my AIM

Do so. I am going to add you to mine if you don't mind. You could be a lot of help to me...hamsters, medical terminology...lol. Just joking, but I would enjoy talking with you.

[riegfinnid]

lol yeah feel free to add me. i'm not going to pretend to know everything about hamsters or what not, but i think i know enough to be somewhat helpful

besides, i could use another person to talk to about animals...all my friends are sick of it and roll their eyes when i say 'guess what so and so did last night ' lol

do you have other pets beside the hammies?

[hamsterhaven]

lol yeah feel free to add me. i'm not going to pretend to know everything about hamsters or what not, but i think i know enough to be somewhat helpful

besides, i could use another person to talk to about animals...all my friends are sick of it and roll their eyes when i say 'guess what so and so did last night ' lol

do you have other pets beside the hammies?

Right now we just have the 2 hamsters and the baby. My son has some fish and used to have hermit crabs, but they all decided to eat each other and the only one left must have gotten sick from eating his friends.

We had 2 dogs. One was a cross between a rat terrier and a chihauhau (however you spell that) and we also had a cocker spaniel. Neither one were very smart. They would dig under the fence and play with the cars. We live on a rather busy highway and no matter what we did they kept getting out. I couldn't bear for one of them to get hit and the kids find it dead, so my brother-in-law has them. They are much safer there and for some reason they don't even attempt to dig out there. Go figure.

I would love to have a cat, but my son has had several eye surgeries and cannot be around the hair. So all we have is the hamsters. I never thought I would like hamsters. They are to close to rats, but I have really enjoyed these little guys.

[riegfinnid]

oh you dont like rats? if you like hamsters you'll love rats...they so super curious and friendly...they're more like little dogs than rodents...beg for food, want to be petted, always want attention and so on lol they're very social animals so they make good pets.

[hamsterhaven]

oh you dont like rats? if you like hamsters you'll love rats...they so super curious and friendly...they're more like little dogs than rodents...beg for food, want to be petted, always want attention and so on lol they're very social animals so they make good pets.

I have heard that about them. I guess all I can picture of them is the one I found in the trap at my house. He had gotten into my utility room and tormented me for a month. I think he knew he scared me. He was the biggest thing I had ever seen. He was bigger than most of them I see at the pet store. I know they are not the same, but I haven't got past that yet.

[riegfinnid]

rats are nothing to be scared of. wild one are more scared of you t han anything else lol
rats are actually less likely to bite than any other rodent, including hamsters......i've actually never been bitten by any rat...

ok i'm going to lunch now. i've been working so hard lol

[hamsterhaven]

rats are nothing to be scared of. wild one are more scared of you t han anything else lol
rats are actually less likely to bite than any other rodent, including hamsters......i've actually never been bitten by any rat...

ok i'm going to lunch now. i've been working so hard lol

Allright. Enjoy lunch. Don't work too hard. LOL