Hamsters eat there babies???

Question

i know that hamsters eat there babies but..

how often do they do that

how can i prevent that

why do they do that

and how many babies would they eat

HOW DO YOU PREVENT THAT FROM HAPPENING

Answer 1

Not all hamster eat their babies. I had two litters of Russian Dwarf hamsters and the mother was just fine with sticking to her usual non-hamster-baby diet.

I've heard gerbils eat their babies more often, and that feeding them dog kibble can help prevent it.

They may eat all the babies, or just one. Just DO NOT TOUCH the babies until they are AT LEAST two weeks old at the very least. This means cleaning the cage BEFORE the mother has her litter and spot-cleaning it until she has her babies. Be careful trying to spot clean after, she may attack.  

Answer 2

First of all, the best way to prevent that from happening is not allowing your hamsters to breed.

Anyways, hamsters will eat their first litter usually. After that, they will eat the babies that are ill or have any physical deformities. So, it's impossible to know how many they will eat.

There is no way to prevent it. It's nature. It has nothing to do with touching the babies and getting your scent on them, it has nothing to do with how well trained your hamster is. The mother will decide which babies are healthy enough.

On a side note, don't breed your hamster. That's the best way to prevent it.  

Answer 3

I have a hamster and the why to prevent this is to separate the male with the female. during the day leave the mother with the babies and at night put the mom i a different cage but not with the male.

Answer 4

A female hamster will eat her babies, if she feels threatened, if she can't produce enough milk to feed them or if they are ill or deformed.

If she can't produce enough milk, she will eat a baby to save it dying slowly and painfully of starvation and to provide her with enough protein to feed the other babies, if its ill or deformed she will eat them to save them suffering later on in life, an ill or deformed hamster would die anyway in the wild trying to find food and would be at a disadvantage when it comes to predators. So in a way she is being quite humane, its just mother natures way of cutting short suffering and making sure that only the strongest survive.

It really depends how often and how many.

Will your hamster is pregnant you might want to feed her scrambled or boiled egg to give her extra protein in her diet, also keep her in a quite place so she won't become so stressed. Once the babies are born, don't touch them at all, don't put your hands anywhere near them. If you get your scent on the babies she will kill them, because she won't recognise that their hers.

Thats all you can do really. If she does eat them, you can try to rescue them, but they are very hard to hand rear and often don't survive.

Good luck, I'm assuming your hamster is pregnant, so everything goes well :)

Answer 5

you cant prevent it from happening because the mothers since when something is wrong so they will eat there young if they feel threatened or if there is another sent on them so dont touch them until there eyes open! and she will also eat them if they have some health problems or if she is to young to cope with all of them, or if she is to old to acept a new friend!

Answer 6

that only happens when you don't wash your hand beofre touching the newborns. and it only eats the ones you touch. to prevent it from happening i advise to you wash your hands before you touch any of them.