Steps when your ham has just given birth.

1) Put them in a quiet place of the house.
2) Do not disturb them except for refilling food and water.
3) Do not change the bedding no matter how smelly it is for the next 21 to 24 days.
4) Remove the male. If not you'll have another batch of pink wriggly things in approximately 20 days.
5) Add protein rich supplements such as:-

-Fresh veggies -> Broccoli, alfalfa sprouts, carrots, watercress, choy sum etc. Make sure washed well. Avoid onions, garlic.

-Fresh fruits -> Apple, banana, papaya, honeydew, pear, mango etc. Do not give avocado and citrus fruits.

-Other protein rich stuff -> Wheatgerm, japanese soft tofu, hard boiled egg white, crickets, mealworms etc. Do not give milo or anything containing cocoa.

6) DO NOT TOUCH THE BABIES. If you really want to peek, wait for at least 3 - 4 days, then use the end of a pencil or brush, rub it in the bedding before gently prying a little to see the pinkies.

Reasons to why most or all the babies do not survive or disappear.

1) The mom feels that she does not have enough nutrition to suckle so many babies. She will cull the weakest one first.

2) The mom feels scared or threatened, so her instinct tells her to cull the babies so that she will have the nutrition and get away in order to be able to have another batch of babies in the near future instead of just leaving the babies to the predator/threat. In the wild, if she thinks that the predator is so darn near and gonna eat her any minute, she'll make a run for it. Leaving the babies without a choice.

But as pets, they don't have that option.

3) The baby is sick/injured and/or dying. She will instinctively kill it so that it hasn't a chance to pass whatever that made it sick if it's an infectious disease, and/or eat it to regain lost nutrition.

NOTE: If the baby dies, most ham mothers WILL eat their babies because if she just leaves it, the stench of rotting flesh will attract unwanted company.

4) She's not a good mom. Though most hams are good mothers, there are bound to be a few that will not suckle their babies and probably just step on them a lot. This will need extra attention to spot so that the unattended pups can be given to a foster mother.

Do not confuse this behaviour when seen in the first few hours after birth. It's normal, especially for first time moms, to ignore their pups for the first few hours. Just leave them be and they will usually know what to do.

A few clear rules

1) All pregnant females should be given their own cage each to nurse and have the pups grow. Do ensure there is enough room for them to exercise and run about.

2) DO NOT KEEP A PAIR TOGETHER FOR THE SAKE OF HAVING A PARTNER. A single sex pair is sufficient for that purpose.

3) Syrian hamster matings MUST be supervised. Syrians are SOLITARY, meaning they cannot live together.

4) Do not breed if possible. Breeding is not a FUN thing for them. It's a burden that will shorten their lifespan, nothing more.

This post has been edited by Reanne: Apr 9 2007, 04:50 AM

haha..mebi lor..i oso did not know that i have 1 male and 1 female robos lor until suddenly the small one giving birth lor

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Added on April 9, 2007, 8:51 amso cute-cute wan lar..reminds me to my robos and the 5 little rascal

This post has been edited by anizarina: Apr 9 2007, 08:51 AM

LOL...its ok. so u planning to keep the baby? or u maybe put them on adoption..i think many guys here want to adopt some...including me

waa...can shorten their life span erk?so after this have to seperate the male and female lor..

if keep on breeding non-stop, will shorten lifespan la... but if after breed few months then breed again ok lah... must let her recharge her battery and become horny again ma....

hey..now the little rascal start to run here and there..no more shaking2..haha..oso start to conquer the mama's fav sleeping spot..haiyaa...the mama oso did not give chance to her babies laa..the babies so noti2..so kesian laa the mummy..kenot rest at all..the pups love to steal food from mama and if not enough..will find themself..haiyaa before this the mama will fed them but now, they will sniff2 at mama mouth asking for food..and last nite i did break the youghurt chips into small2 piece and those litlle rascal and the mama did berebut2 pulak..haiyaa..now if there are nyit2 sound..i know that they r not crying for milk but fighting for food pulak.. ..last nite all of them rebut 2 to sleep on the toilet the mama's fav sleeping spot..then..when mama wan to sleep..kacau the mama ..asking for milk pulak..so kesian to look the mama sleep like i do know how to describe..they r quite big and all have it on the same time..the mama oso sudah malas nk layan..hakhak

thanx again to all of you..hey..i did change the bedding..but not all lar...like as recommended..make sure left some of the old bedding..

Solution: give more food lor

ya, must give enuf food. U'll find them looks funny as they fully stuffed their cheek pouch. Body looks small, but the head BIG..........

yalor... thats the time where the mama has most headaches.... she cant attack the babies, and must let them be like that.... try make a higher platform unreachable by the pups for ur mama hamster to sleep lor... she needs some privacy... last time i also did a higher platform... when the babies wanna feed for milk and the mama dun wanna give, she climb up the platform and sleep.... haha...

haha..oredy seen it..so cute..the head looks BIG coz full with food..oredy put xtra food but still want to fight..i oredy put 2 bowl but it seam they keep fighting for food.. ..

the cage oredy have 2 platform ..there is a small house on the upper side ..sometime i saw the mama go up and sleept there but her fav sleeping spot is on the ground floor which is currently conquer by the little rascals..so noti2..when mama want to sleep laa they want the milk..so the mama i think very exausted did sleep like i dunno how to describe..just imagine 5 of them surrounded the mama for milk and i oso saw some of them did try to search for food from the mama mouth..haiya..i fell so kesian to the mama..she oredy malas to take care where did her babies sleep or play..

Even if you have her rest between litters, it will still shorten their lifespan.

I had 2 female pudding wws that I got at the same age. The one that had 3 litters before hand looked very old and she just passed away last week. The sister is still doing very well and looking good.

Pudding can be bred without harm? What will the colours of their offspring look like?

Ah, this deserves to be in the 1st page

Will puddings have any health / genetic complications?? I thot puddings are not standard WW or RC ?!

the baby i wana keep them all ..hehe it's my first time having baby hamsters

i'll give more fresh fruits n veggies n mealworms...

reanne..u angry ar?? >.< i tot it was a female lehhh

Yes, they can. Breeding a pudding with a pudding will give you puddings.

Yes, they are not standard. We classify them as WW hybrids so we do not cross them with normal, pearl or sapphire wws.

I though you said you thought it was a male? :confuse:

Not angry, just a lil annoyed.

Well... they are hybrids, not standard WW or RC but they do have a standard of their own. Puddings generally store fat faster than any RC or WW... they become very round when old age or give too much food. Also, they colour will fade. First you will see orange but as time passes, it will become lighter and lighter till is very light cream.

The puddings sold at petshops like Petsmore has no quality. Some of them at PW also are miscoloured.... I have not seen from PS but then got some with aggression problems....

Sometimes when breed 2 puddings together, you can get 1 sapphire pup... but mainly pudding pups.

where did you buy that tank??
and how about the price??
right now do a survey for seeking the best price..
haha..

yippie ... jz back from campus and i see little pinkies in the tank . I dunno inside got how many pinkies as I only saw one pinky under da tummy. Dun dare to kacau the mommy - sked she cannibalise them all ... . HOpefully there're 3 - 4 little pinkies.

talking about pinkies..
yesterday my RC hamster just gave birth 6 pups..