Is it necessary to seperate the hamster babies from the mother?

Question

The hamster babies are about 3 weeks old. I cleaned the cage once, I put them all in the other cage I have and the hamster mama went crazy, running around, picking them up and trying to get back to the 2nd cage - so i had to move pretty fast. It says online you're supposed to seperate the babies, but I'm worried Mama will freak out, have a heart attack or something and keel over. So... do I seperate the babies from the mother to preserve the food consumption? do i put the males and females in seperate cages? (there is no papa) or do I just leave em be and watch at how 1 mama and 7 babies eat their food so fast!!! ha. help please.

Answer 1

I would call a Petstore but I would guess you leave them with the Mother.We had Pet Rats and when she had Babies she cared for them til they were old enough to eat on there own but even then they stayed together.

Answer 2

Maybe wait a little longer but in a few days separate them... the mother hamster will calm down after a while :)

Answer 3

I'm not sure, but if the hammies are at sexual maturity then you need to at least remove the males. I don't think she will freak out, she's probably just protective. You can leave the girls in with her, but if the boys are in there past the age of sexual maturity then they will breed with their sisters and even their mother! You will need to remove the boys before they can breed. They may be able to breed now, so remove them before they can breed. They may be fine, but the breeding age for rats is 5-6 weeks onwards and hammies are smaller than rats and they may develop quicker! REad guide books breeding information websites. Good luck!

Answer 4

Hamster don't become sexually matured until 5 weeks old and that's when people normally seperate them. The mom is freaking out because you put them in a new area and that doesn't make her feel safe. Put her and the babies back in the old cage as soon as possible and also add old bedding if possible, even at 3 weeks if you stress the mom out she'll eat the babies because the mother instinct is still there.

Answer 5

If the mother is the biological mother it should be fine. Do not touch them a lot. This could cause the mother to dis own them.

Also if the mother hamster feels that 1 of the babies is sick she will kill it so if you do choose to put the babies in with the mom watch aggresion.

Answer 6

Are they syrian hamsters? If so, they will each need their own cages as syrian hamsters are highly territorial and cannot be kept with others. At the very least the males should be separated from their female siblings and mother soon.

They wean at 3-4 weeks and hit sexual maturity at 4-5 weeks. Make sure the genders are separated by four weeks of age.

Answer 7

yeah. i'd wait only a few days more. let her calm down some. i'm not sure what kind of hamster  but some i think you can leave the girls with mom. separate the boys, at least, and make sure they're eating and drinking and all that. if you don't separate the boys, they can potentially breed back to mom and their sisters. we don't want that =)

Answer 8

I would separate into male/female cages about five weeks, otherwise you will end up with many inbred babies.