Okay to leave babies in with dwarf hamster mom?

Question

I took in a pair of dwarf hamsters from a shelter that had a litter of babies with them. (Stupid shelter..) Took dad out, but mom had a second litter.

The second litter (The first one is all in their new homes, except the ones I kept) is almost 3 weeks old so I'll be separating them from mom soon. I was wondering if there was a chance she could learn to get along with some of her daughters? I feel kind of mean making her live alone the rest of her life, so I thought about keeping one of the daughters to stay with her. But I don't know if she'd just end up fighting her and I should go ahead and remove them all now, or just let the girls stay in with her?

Answer 1

Keep as many of the girls as you have room for.  She will get on with them okay because dwarf hamsters are sociable.

Answer 2

yes but the father might kill them.

Answer 3

Among dwarfs, the girls can definitely get along with the mother. I have had a high success in keeping the girls with the mother and they have all lived peacefully in the same cage. Just keep a sharp lookout though - since some dwarfs can have a "dominating" behavior and that can cause fighting though it is very rare among dwarfs from the same litter and with the mother also in the same cage. So go ahead and do it but just be ready to put them in a separate cage if (very rarely) they fight.

One way to reduce squeaking & playfighting among dwarfs is to provide each one his/her own food dish, water bottle and exercise wheel so that they do not fight for resources constraints or when each want to do the same thing at the same time.

It was wise of you to separate the dad. Among dwarfs, only campbell dads are known to help the mother with her babies and even taking care of babies but why they are separated is becoz they can mate again and another litter is not good for mother's health.

Dwarf hamster fathers are not cannibalistic like syrians (again a few rare cases have been seen) however all hamsters are known for killing the weak pups since they know that the survival of the pup is very difficult.

Answer 4

Leaving it's babies with the mom is alright. Just make sure that you leave a good amount of water, food, and hiding space, for the hamsters to share. If you don't then when they get a little older, then they MAY fight, depending on the type of hamster. As anyone else would probably say, don't keep the dad with them. they will for SURE fight.

Answer 5

the father may kill, i had hamsters that had babies. the father i took out and kept all the females together. they all got along fine.

Answer 6

Separate the father.

Answer 7

i too got a male and female dwarf hamster. the mother had one litter. three girls and one boy. i keep the three girls with the mother and they do just fine. they don't fight and they are all very healthy, but their cage is extraordinarily large, they have plenty of room to get away from one another.