Prego hamster?

Question

I just got a new hamster. i think she may be pregnant. Its a fancy hamster and she sbeen making little den holes the whole time. I picked her up and her stomach is very hard and not soft like my old hamsters. What are other symptoms?

Answer 1

if she is very bulgy around the waist but not really fat around her legs and head. when you feel her stomach, does it feel like there are small lumps, or just hard fat? if it's lumpy, those are probably babies. if you just got her and don't want to deal with babies, take her back to the pet store. if you want to keep her and let her have the babies with you, make sure she has plenty of bedding to nest in, and plenty of food and water. I would start giving her a vitamin supplement. If she does have babies, keep an eye on her - a very young hamster mother might eat some of them (gross, i know, but that's nature). She will nurse for a few weeks before they start to move around and eat on their own. Good luck!

Answer 2

The gestation period for dwarf hamsters is 18-21 days from the mating day and for syrians is 16-18 days.

It is very difficult to tell if a hamster is pregnant. The reason being her size won't increase until the last 4 days before delivery. 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.

Whether she is pregnant or not, treat her as though she is pregnant for the next 25 days. Make sure you give her lots of clean food and water and supplement her protein intake by giving her bits of hard boiled egg whites, bits of unsalted cheese 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.

Read up on the internet on how to handle pregnant hamsters and hamster babies so that if she delivers a litter, you would be confident about how to handle the situation.