QUOTE(kokifung @ Nov 2 2007, 09:02 PM)
hi there, i just interested in this thread.. there just so cute..
anyway.. first congrate ya Hun..
erm.. wat is cannibalized.. ?
means the mama eat the baby?
erm.. last time i have pet hamster too.. the mama born baby, but dunno y she eat some.. it that means cannibalized ??
sry been noobie, and sry if i hurt ur feeling..

Ahh... thanks for the congratz.
Cannibalized means eating up the same species.
Why cannibalized? Here are the reasons:
1) Baby born dead, so instinct tells the female to eat up the young so won't leave a rotting body to attract predators
2) The female wasn't fed properly during pregnancy, so after the babies are born, she feels that to keep alive, she must eat one of the babies for protein to keep herself healthy for any remaining baby. Sometimes eat a few, sometimes eat all the babies.
3) 1 of the babies born is cacat.... or sick and unhealthy, so as to not waste her energy to take care of a cacat baby, she will kill it.
4) Stress, new mothers when they are stressed, they would neglect their babies... and once the babies become weak or die, instinct tells the mom to eat the babies to do clean up of the nest.
If we touch the babies before 2 weeks old, our smell would be on the babies but the mom would not kill them... she would neglect them only and not feed them so in the end also die....