How do i know if my dwarf hamster is pregant???

Question

i cant tell if she is pregant or not!!!! i also need some tips on pregant hamsters! please answer!!!!!

Answer 1

It is very difficult to tell if a hamster is pregnant and when she will deliver from the size of her belly.The reason being her size won't increase until the last 3 days before delivery. I have even had one dwarf that never got significantly fat but went on to deliver a litter of 4!

Some clues include when she may be building a bigger nest, hoarding a lot of food in the nest, will eat and drink water more than usual and sleep a lot more if she is pregnant. In the last 4 days before delivery, she will look big in the belly and teats would be prominent. When my hammy was pregnant, she had big fights with my male dwarf who was in the same cage and I had to separate them so that she had the cage to herself.

Are you sure she mated with a male hamster and do you have an idea of which day she mated? Then it is easier to calculate when she would have her babies. For dwarfs, the gestation time is 18-21 days from the mating date.

Some tips to take care of pregnant hamsters -

Make sure you give her 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. Try to put the cage in an area where she has the least disturbance from noises and activities.

Clean out her nest 2 days before her delivery and put in lots of fresh bedding (only aspen shavings, no pine or cedar and no scented shavings please) and also lots of unbleached / untreated toilet paper for her to make her nest. Put lots of food in the cage. After that 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 because if you touch them, their scent changes and the mother would kill them.

If you have any more queries, feel free to email me.

Answer 2

your hamster will stop moving around so much and will just lie there for multiple days.