All about newborn hamsters

Small rodents, which include domestic hamsters, are extremely prolific animals. Their puberty occurs early enough, already in the second month of life, and the offspring brought by the female in one litter can be very numerous. It often happens that after buying one hamster, soon a whole flock of them appears in your house, since the female was pregnant at the time of purchase.

The birth of babies is a joyful and amazing event, but it often happens that the mother is not ready for the birth of babies and refuses to feed them. In this case, taking care of the babies completely passes into the hands of a person. What to do and how to cope with such a difficult mission, we will tell you in this article.

In one litter, an adult sexually mature individual can give birth to 3 to 15 cubs. It all depends on how well the female is provided with food, whether she is healthy, what breed she is. Animals are born very small (only 2 or 3-5 grams in weight), while they have no fur at all, their eyes are closed and do not see anything, through the translucent thin skin, blood vessels are clearly visible, babies do not have hearing at this time - that is, they are absolutely helpless little creatures. For the first 8-10 days of their life, newborn hamsters cannot navigate the world around them.

From the moment of birth, hamsters have very weak physical activity, babies stick together to maintain warmth, forming a single living lump. Their innate sense of smell helps them find their mother and find nutritious milk.... After a couple of weeks, hamsters' sense of smell begins to intensify more and more, which makes the little ones touch and crawl the territory of the nest, and then the space behind the nest. By the end of the second week of life, babies begin to open their eyes, hearing is activated, the fur begins to break through.

Hamsters literally from birth have the ability to make squeaking sounds. With this signal, they inform their mother that they have become cold or hungry. This sound is not loud at first, you may not even hear it, but over time it can become shrill.

Often there were cases that the owners of the hamsters found out about the offspring only during the cleaning of the cage or when the grown babies themselves crawled out of their nest. At the age of 4-5 weeks, small hamsters can already be distributed to new owners - by this time they are completely independent and can already begin to mate.

Young females, especially in their first litter, may not know what to do with newborn hamsters - this happens for the reason that their maternal instinct is not yet fully formed. If you notice that the female does not show interest in her offspring during the first day, then babies who are 2 days old can already be considered abandoned.

You will have to take full responsibility for caring for newborn hamsters. If there is an opportunity to add droppings to another female who has enough milk and a well-developed maternal instinct, this will be the best way out of the situation, but it will work only if if you have not yet taken the babies in your hands and have not left your smell on their bodies.

So that the failed mother does not accidentally injure the babies or even eat them, the female and the cubs need to be seated in different cages. Now it is very important for you to be patient and try to keep the entire offspring to the maximum. For the success of your actions, you can follow the instructions below.

• The cage with newborns must be clean - it is necessary to rinse the pallet, replace the bedding, and also for the safety of babies, all things must be removed from the cage - toys, objects with sharp edges and corners, containers with water.
• Babies should be put in a makeshift nest. - a box or plastic bowl with small pieces of paper towels. You can heat the crumbs with the help of small bottles with warm water, the backlight is made with ordinary fluorescent lamps. The optimum air temperature around the clock should be at least 21-22 degrees.
• Purchase a special dry substitute from the pet store mother's milk for hamsters. If you cannot find it, then use powdered infant formula as a replacement. Dilute the composition with warm water according to the instructions, while strictly observing the rules of hygiene.
• You need to feed babies with milk formula temperature not lower than 37 degrees, you should always wash your hands thoroughly before feeding.
• When feeding, the hamster is taken in the hand, drop a drop of milk next to him, bring his nose to this drop and let him lick it off. You can make an impromptu nipple - for this, a hole is made in a rubber pipette tip with a thin hot needle, and then milk is poured from a syringe. The feeding interval for the first 7 days is 1 hour, the second 7 days - 2 hours.
• After the baby has eaten, he needs to lightly stroke his tummy to improve digestion. This should be done for all hamsters and after each feed.
• From the second week you need to introduce additional complementary foods, consisting of porridge cooked on chopped grains, and small pieces of vegetables. After the hamsters can open their eyes, milk feeding can be reduced to 2-3 times a day.
• Upon reaching the age of two weeks babies in their cage need to make a drinker with a spout, from which they can drink themselves if necessary. If the hamsters cannot use the drinker, then put a piece of fresh cucumber or celery in their cage - by eating it, the hamsters will be able to provide themselves with the necessary supply of moisture in the body.

For grown-up hamsters, if you left them for yourself, you need to continue to look after them as adults. The main food of these animals is dry food. It should contain cereal grains, chopped grass, dried fruits in small quantities, peeled sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, nuts, pieces of fresh vegetables or fruits.

The daily food ration for rodents should be made up of a variety of components, but keep in mind that a hamster can eat only 1 or 2 tablespoons of food per day. If the feed is left unfinished, it must be removed in order to replace it with a fresh portion the next day.

A piece of boiled egg can be added to the diet weekly as a protein and vitamin-mineral complex... The egg can be substituted with a teaspoon of yogurt or whole cow's milk. If it is difficult for you to compose a balanced diet, ready-made feed mixtures are sold in pet stores, but they cannot replace complementary foods with vegetables and fruits.

By the age of two weeks, the female, as a rule, has already lost interest in her babies and can be taken in hands without fear. If you took care of the crumbs instead of the mother from their very birth, then we can assume that your hamsters are already tame. At two weeks, the babies have already grown over with fur, they see, hear and run pretty quickly on their little paws. Handling hamsters is required so that they get used to people and respond appropriately to them.

It is worth remembering that contact with a small hamster must be very careful - try not to cause him discomfort with squeezing or awkward movements. The baby's bones are still very soft, fragile and, through negligence, it can easily damage the paw or break the chest. A young hamster is very active and mobile - it can slip out of your hands and fall to the floor. To prevent this from happening, be very careful.

On about the 20th day of life, hamsters can already use toys - climb a slide, run in a wheel, play with each other. Toddlers love to play with cardboard paper towels or toilet paper rolls, climb stairs, and climb into small boxes.

To teach a young hamster to hand, you need to be patient, kind and act in stages.

• If you bought a hamster from a store, you need to give him a few days to get used to new conditions for him, this period is called adaptation. It is best to leave the baby alone and let him get comfortable in a calm environment.When you notice that your pet is calmly eating and drinking from the drinker in your presence, it means that you can start taming it.
• Take a piece of nut or dried fruit, place it in the palm of your hand and bring it to the hamster to take the treat. It is possible that he will take the treat right away, or it may be so that the baby will not approach you. Then just leave the treat in his cage and step away. Have your hamster eat the treats in peace. If you do this regularly, he will soon realize that these gifts do not pose any threat to him and will feel more confident.
• When the hamster gets bolder hold out the treat again in the palm of your hand and give the animal the opportunity to sniff your hand. Do not pull it away or shout. Gradually, over and over again, accustom the animal to your smell and reward this action with a treat. After several such activities, the hamster gets used to it and already quite boldly climbs into your palm.
• Try to give your hamster an empty hand. - he will come up to you, sniff and climb onto your hand. Thank him with a treat and pat him on the back. Now your animal is not afraid of you and you can play with it.

In the process of training, the hamster, as befits rodents, will want to taste your palm - do not be afraid and shout. The possible bite will be light, it is likely that the baby himself will be frightened of an unusual object for him.

The safety rules for caring for hamsters are detailed in the video below.