Is it common for a mother dwarf hamster to eat all of her babies?

Question

She had 12 babies we removed the father and did not touch the babies or anything in the cage she has had plenty of water and food and nursed them for the first 3 days i thought they were fine left for 2 days came back evrey single one is gone nothing left of any of them she ate all 12 is this normal?

Answer 1

if shes a first time mother yes.



mine did the same thing. :[

Answer 2

The mother will eat some, sometimes all of the babies, because she feels like she can't care for them all,also you may have moved the father too late,or by moving him you left some of your scent in the cage,or may have accidental brushed against one of the babies whilst removing the father,any scent what soever in a cage or threat of danger a mother will kill the babies.

Answer 3

maybe they escaped if they re all gone????

Answer 4

Whaaaa!!!! THATS SO SADDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 5

Well, yes.

She could have felt threatened for whatever reason- if you were looking too much, making noise etc.

She also could have thought they were ill, or they could have been ill.

She also could have felt stressed by that honestly huge litter and eaten all of them to cope.

She could have been a bad mother and it was for this reason.

So whilst it isn't too normal for her to eat all the babies, it's nothing to be concerned about.

Answer 6

Yes, if they feel they cannot handle them they will eat them. Plus, eating them well some is good for the mother to clean out her system from birth.  

Answer 7

Yes, it is possible for the mother to eat all her babies though it is not very common.

There are multiple reasons why a mother might kill or eat her babies:

1.STRESS – Many things can cause stress in a new mother hamster, including:  disturbing her and her babies, age of the mother (she’s too young), or leaving a Syrian (non-dwarf) hamster father with the litter.  In the last case, the mother or the father might be responsible for the babies’ deaths.  

2.NUTRIENT DEFICIENCY – If the mother hamster is lacking nutrients, such as protein, she might eat the babies to fill that dietary need. That is why pregnant hamsters' diet are always supplemented with extra vegetables and milk or low-iron infant formula. This is especially important if there are a lot of babies.

3.BIRTH DEFECT/INJURY – Hamster moms have a sixth sense about their babies and seem to innately know if something is wrong.  In that case, she my kill the defective baby as a natural instinct.  Also, if a baby is injured and bleeds, even an originally healthy baby, she may respond to the smell of blood and kill the baby by instinct.

4.SANITARY NEEDS – A hamster mother will often eat a dead (or dying) baby to prevent having a rotting body around her nest.

However there is nothing you could have done about this since the mother hamster would behave as she deems right and we cannot control what goes on in the mother hamster's mind when she decided to kill all her babies!

Answer 8

This is quite common and usually happens because the mother has felt threatened in some way, so maybe she was disturbed or frightened in some way. They normally eat any babies they think are weak or unlikely to survive or to keep their litters to a manageable size. 12 babies is a really large litter, the average is around 6 so she possibly panicked herself about being able to sustain such a large number of babies. I think (but I might be wrong) this is more common in first litters. Also, dwarf hamster fathers usually stay with the mother to help raise the litter. I can't remember where I saw it (on TV somewhere), but I've seen film of the father rushing round the litter picking the babies up and putting them back in the nest and things like that. Of course, the issue then is that they can mate again really soon afterwards which means more babies. Anyway, I'm sorry about the babies, but yeah this is quite common.