Have a female hamster who had 16 babies this morning or late last night,was just wandering if this is a normal

Question

Have a female hamster who had 16 babies this morning or late last night,was just wandering if this is a normal

Answer 1

make sure your hamster does not eat them they will offten do that

Answer 2

normally hamsters can have up to 18 babies. my jellybean had 13 and  never killed any. they all lived. do not touch them  or disturb the cage for 2 weeks as the mother will  put the babies in her pouch until the threat goes away,and if it doesnt then she may suffocate them by accident.after a while they are so cute to watch. make sure at about 4 weeks you remove them and arrange for homes. they will start to breed shortly after this.

Answer 3

16 is a fairly large litter, but still within the range of normal.  According to the Guinness Book of Records, the largest litter for a hamster was 26!

Be aware, however, that infanticide is fairly common among hamsters.  It usually occurs because of stress; avoid handling the mother for about 10 days after birth and make sure she has plenty of bedding material, food and water.

Answer 4

16 babies in a litter is fairly normal though above the average of normal litter size. Whenever a hamster gives birth to a big litter, you should be prepared for her killing and eating some of her pups. Though it sounds gross to us, hamsters are trained in the wild to eat their weak pups so that they have nutrition and they also maximise the survival of the healthier pups by making sure that they get all the focussed attention from the mother hamster. So don't get thrown off if you see such behavior from the mother hamster.

However you can minimise the risk by making sure the mother hamster is given a peaceful and stress free atmosphere and healthy food so that she can concentrate all her energies on the baby caring duties. Some tips are -

Make sure you give the mother hamster lots of clean food and water and supplement her protein intake by giving her hard boiled egg whites and little quantities of skimmed milk. Also supplement her regular food with pieces of fresh vegetables like carrots. Throw away any stale food after a day.

Put the cage in an dim lit area where she has the least disturbance from noises and activities since any sudden noise or activity can stress the mother hamster and think she and the babies are in danger.

Put in a roll of unbleached / untreated toilet paper for her to make her nest and bedding for the 16 babies.

Leave the cage undisturbed for 2 weeks (except to change the food and water) after the babies are born since any disturbance can irritate the mother and cause her to hurt her babies. Remember never to touch the babies for two weeks from the day they are born.

Apart from that, leave the mother to take care of her litter without any interference for the next two weeks. She knows what is best for her babies.

All the very best and congragulations on the little bundles of joy.

Answer 5

its normal. some may die because of how many she had.

Answer 6

Your female hamster had babies? Thats not normal! If she had babies you should defiantly get her to the vets ASAP it mean she suffering from stupid-owner-itus!