What age can i handle them at?

Question

my dwarf hamster is having babies, what age can i take them out and hold them without mother eating them? how long can the babies stay in the same cage as mom?

Answer 1

Don't handle the babies until they are moving about on their own.About 3 -4 weeks.Once they begin to grow their hair they are past the mom will eat me stage.But they are still to young to be safely handled.Generally they can stay with mom until she starts fighting with them.The males should be removed at about 7-8 weeks.By the time they are 16 weeks they can breed and you will end up with malformed babies.Also don't let the siblings mate for the same reason.

Answer 2

Do not touch them until they have fur and their eyes have started to open. Some moms will not let you touch them until they are weaned. I'm not sure about dwarfs but most hamsters must be separated after weaning so that you don't wind up with multiple young mom's and possibly fighting.

Answer 3

All of my rodents have been handled since birth. I was holding my baby rats while the mom was delivering their siblings. If I had waited until they were two weeks they'd never have been tame and I'd have been bitten. The idea about mother rodents eating their babies is a myth for most animals. I've never bred hamsters but I'd assume their babies are even more aggressive if they aren't handled early. Just wash your hands and use a spoon if you can to get them from the nest, its easier if mom is a biter. Try it with the runty baby first. If she eats the baby, wait to hold the rest. Runts usually die anyway.

Answer 4

The gestation period for dwarfs runs between 18 and 30 days, with 21 days being the average for all dwarfs besides the Roborovski which is normally about 30 days long. With all dwarfs, there is always the possibility that the pair will mate again within a period as short as 24 hours after giving birth to a litter. Other pairs have been known not to mate again until the litter is weaned.

Just prior to giving birth, the female Siberian, Chinese dwarf and Roborovski will chase the male from the nest for a few days of bachelorhood. It isn't very long however before he becomes a valuable contributor in assisting with the little ones.

The Campbells male, however, interacts from the time of birth and doesn't get these few days of rest and relaxation before being called upon to help with the young. According to a study conducted in 1998 by Katherin Wynne-Edwards at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, "Djungarian (Campbells) hamsters are paws-on dads.". Canadian scientists have observed the Campbells males helping tp pull babies from the birth canal of the mother, l**k off birth membranes, open the pup's airways and then "share a snack of afterbirth with the mother". The report also states, "Djungarian fathers have hormonal fluctuations similar to the mother's around the time of birth. Estrogen and cortisol levels rise before the birth, and then fall away afterwards as testosterone levels rise. This does not happen in the closely related Siberian hamster."

Although most dwarfs are from the same geographic area, Campbells dwarfs are found in a harsher desert environment. As a result, it is believed that males remain in the burrow at the time of birth to help keep the female and young warm enough to survive. "We have hypothesized that becaue of the early hormonal changes, Djungarians would show the full range of paternal behavior," says Wynn-Edwards. "They did. Not only were they exemplary midwives," she added, "we saw the mother and father both holding the afterbirth with four little paws, sharing it fifty-fifty".

Pups!

Newborn pups don't have any fur, their eyes are closed, and they are still cute. They can't see, can't hear, but they can smell and move themselves around with the help of their front feet. If a pup does stray from the nest, the mother will scoop him up and return him. You should always resist the temptation to pick a pup up, the mother will not like it and can even cause her to abandon or even worse, canibalize the handled pup. It is much better (and safer to the pup) to just watch them and wait for about two weeks before handing. At two weeks, the pups will have a soft fur coat and will be running around raising havoc in the cage. At three weeks the pups will begin leaving their mother for longer periods of time to explore and search for food on their own. They will rarely fight and they'll begin to burrow and hoarde their food. Yep! Their hamsters all right! Read our section on RAISING PUPS for much more information on raising your young hamsters.

They should be placed into sexed groups at around 5 weeks of age. The females should stay with mom and th males with dad.  

Answer 5

once they get fur usually     good luck with the new litter

Answer 6

i am going ot make this short and simple:

You can take them out when they start to eat solid food (never touch them when there pink, if theres a human scent on them the mom will eat them)