HELP!! Dwarf mom is acting weird

[XeroOmega]

Ok my mom is acting weird she ahas a almost 3 days old litter, she just went into her nest exposed it all and took one of the babies, now shes running with it in the weeh, carrying it in her mmouth. I don't want her to eat the baby, it looks very healthy, i dont understand why shes carrying it. Could someone please help me, im going to keep a close eye on her and sif she trys to eat im going to take it from her
please help quick

[XeroOmega]

Ok the mom put it back in the nest, but is still acting a little weird, i have a crittertrail X cage and she dropped all of her food in the wheel so if you know the cage you can imagin how weird this must look because shes running and its dropping on her, she had nesting and lots of seeds. Her pee i noticed it on the outside of the wheel it was kind of thick, like a syrup is this normal. Im kinda freaking out here because ive never seen her act like this, she is VERY energetic right now. she has been sleeping with them all day. Also to get to her wheel she climbs up the cage extremely fast then flops on her back to the staircase to the wheel. Is this normal behaviour of a mother hamster. I noticed the hamster she piced up was also darker in color, the skin is darker.

[XeroOmega]

Now ive noticed shes left all of her litter exposed ontop of the nest, and the nest isnt very big as it was earlier, its shallow and reviles the bottom of my cage. Should i take sugar(the mother) out of the cage and let her run around in the ball for a little while or is that a bad idea?

[XeroOmega]

Ok panic attack is mostly over, she has ran in her wheel for i don't know how long and she has assumed her normal role of motherhood, does anyone know why she would outbirst like that? Im wondering cause i would much like to avoid it in the future because im sure the babies would not like to be picked up and dropped several times. I know its ok though because its squiggling and now through much peering through the bottom of the cage i see that they are all drinking milk. As i just looked over now sugar has gone back to her wheel, and is running fast but now im not to concerned, The babies are whining but i think they just want milk cause they are all awake now.

[riegfinnid]

first of all, take the wheel out. too many accicents happen when babies and wheels are together. and she needs the energy for RAISING the babies, not working out...

second, it sounds like she doesnt feel secure...try putting the cage somewhere you or other people are not passing it much or cover it with a towel or something like that for 'privacy'

[FemaleCheetah]

I own the crittertrail X and what I did when my hammie had babies was I took the wheel off and put something heavy over the hole so that she didnt get out. Also you want to give mama pieces of cheese and boiled egg because these contain protein and it will help her while she is nursing the pups. I have had about 5 litters so I pretty much know what the females like to do... my female hammie also tried to put the pups in the wheel and build a nest up there so I had to take the wheel out because it has poor air circulation for the little hammies. Also I had to block the area off that leads to the petting area because June (mama) always took her babies up there and when they would crawl around they would always fall so I blocked it off until the pups opened their eyes so that they wouldnt get hurt.

Hope this helped!

[FemaleCheetah]

NEVER touch the nest or the pups, this could cause the female to eat her pups. Leave the cage completely alone for 2 weeks, dont clean it or anything. Just give sugar food and water. Here is a timeline so you know what to do...

Day 1 - Day 7 -- leave cage alone!!! Only to give sugar food and water.

Day 8 - give babies cut up carrots... dont touch them though

Day 9 - Offer sugar snacks and take her out of the cage for some rest from the babies.

Day 10 - offer the pups more soft fruits, fruits contain water and this helps keep the babies hydrated.

Day 11 - lower the water bottle for the babies, well in your case add a small lid with water in it for the pups but not so its deep enough that they can drown in it...I had to do this because I have the crittertrail X as well and I couldnt lower the bottle.

Day 12 - let sugar out of the cage/offer more fruits to the babyes.

Day 14 - clean the hamster cage out

Day 15 - make sure all the babies are eatting solid food.

By Day 19 the babyes are ready to go to a new home as long as they are eatting... by this time they are fully weaned.

Good luck!!!

[riegfinnid]

no way, at 19 days old they're still a little young to go to homes, even if they're eating solids.

[FemaleCheetah]

Not if they are fully weaned they are able to head off to knew homes... believe me I have dealt with many hammie litters and when they are weaned they are ready to be swept off to their new homes unless of course you want more pregnant hammies. Its best to seperate them into two seperate cages at 3 weeks... males and females. Otherwise you may have inbreeding on your hands. I have dwarf hammies still from previous litters and I keep males and females together but they dont breed... I think they know that they are bro and sis. All of my hammies are of breeding age too but I think they know not to mate.

[riegfinnid]

5 litters is not 'many litters'

19 days old is a little young, yes, you should seperate them by gender at that time BUT they still need to be kept a little older in order to learn hamster interactions and behavior. If they're taken away too young they'll never be tame and may fight with other dwarf hammies.

[FemaleCheetah]

I have had more than 5 litters, but I have only had 5 litters with this female hammie in particular. I have seperated my hammies at 3 weeks and given them away by 3-4 weeks old and they are tame and friendly.

[riegfinnid]

you made one female hamster have 5 litters?? are you crazy.

[XeroOmega]

Alright well, I took out the wheel and the staircase today and she seems to be not freaking out, shes a little confused as to why the hole is plugged and why she doesnt have stairs, but other than that shes good. And i also bought another crittertrail X for the male and hes doing much better, hes very happy and running around, mom im going to go make a scrambled egg for her right now and see how she likes it, i think im going to take out the other food in her food dish and see how she likes it and then when shes done with all that ill put some hamster food back in, and no im not giving her the whole egg, i think she would over eat knowing her and stuff she likes. Thank you for all of your help iu will follow your advice and leave the litter alone. And as for the missing baby, i have no idea, its probabally buried somewhere in the bedding and if not then the mother ate it and if not that then its just plain gone. ill keep an eye out as sugar moves her nest around.

[riegfinnid]

I'm glad she's calming down.
post pics when you can

[FemaleCheetah]

Yeah I made one female have 5 litters... because I didnt want to seperate her from her mate... now she no longer gives birth which is great!!!

[FemaleCheetah]

glad everything is going great for you!!!

[XeroOmega]

Ok yea now shes ignoring all of the babies completely since i took out the wheel, the stairs are there and she can go into the petting zone if she wanted to but then she went up there to sleep so i closed it off, now shes roaming around the cage like the babies dont exist. Shes currently climbing the cage and biting the outside be it plasic or metal. Any advice to get her to pay more attension to the babies? maby i should put the wheel back in and see how that goes? and when the babies open their eyes later in life i should take it away again and just let her run aorund in a ball intill shes satisfied?
I don't know im just thinking of idea's if anyone could help it would be much appreated

[XeroOmega]

Ok i restored everything in the cage back to normal, the wheel and all, its been cleaned but she trusts me anddoesnt seem to mind. She is currently running in it. Im going to wait for her to get tired and see if she goes back to her nest with the babies or trys to make another one. ill keepo everyone posted and as for the pictures they are in my gallery, of the babies and of the mom. the dad is very fast and wont let me take a picture later im going to try in reguardless
Also the babies arnt squeeking but they are squiggling so as of right now i think they are fine. Im going to moniter them closly, if the mom continues to neglect the babies for another couple hrs im going to start considering taking the babies and feeding them and keeping them healthy myself. if anything that could be of any help big or small im open to it. Thank you all who are helping me.

[XeroOmega]

Well ok, i gave her a little bit more scrambled egg, she loves the stuff but i wont give her too much, anywho after that she scampered around for about 5 mins now she is laying happily ontop of them letting them drink, also it is hot in my room, but i know that they arnt supposed to be in direct wind what should i do to cool them down? i think that might be one of the reasons sugar is moving places, trying to find somewhere cold because she went into the petting zone and then under the water, maby she is just hot. But so far no cannibalisim on her part and she other than acting weird and really high energy every now and then shes pretty good.

[luckynkentucky]

Why didnt you buy two females or two males. I am suprised she is healthy. 5 litters is too many for a hammie. 2 should be the max. for any hammie because they need breaks inbetween the litters. True she may not be able to have litters anymore but thats because her hips or whatever fuse after they get so old but she can still get pregnant and it can kill her. (I am pretty sure thats right if somebody knows that its not right please tell me because thats what I have read in other posts here)

[luckynkentucky]

FemaleCheetah: Yeah I made one female have 5 litters... because I didnt want to seperate her from her mate... now she no longer gives birth which is great!!!


i was refering to femalecheetah not you XeroOmega in my last post (just thought i would clear that up)

Oh yeah congrats on your litter and i hope your momma hammie gets back to her normal self.