Dwarf hamster baby care is very enjoyable. Starting a dwarf hamster family requires a lot of effort and responsibility on the part of the owner. If you plan on one, make sure you are ready for it – financially, physically and psychologically.
When your dwarf hamsters are mature enough to breed, you can simply put the males and females together and they will breed without a fuss. Gestation period is about 20 days and litter size varies, from 1 to 10.
As soon as the babies are born, here are simple tips you can do to help and ensure the safety and health of the litter.
How do I stop my hamster from eating her babies?
1. Make sure their home is not made of wires as the little ones can easily squeeze themselves in between them, and you do not want baby dwarf hamsters all over your house.
2. Leave them at the care of their mother for the first 10 days, literally. Dwarf Hamster Baby Care You should not touch their abode during this period because doing so may upset the mother.
Not only that, if you touch them, their scent will be affected and this could confuse the mother, and possibly make her think the babies are not hers. The danger if this happens is she will refuse to care for them and at this time, the babies are still completely dependent on her.
3. After the 10th day, you can go ahead and clean their cage on a weekly basis. If the mom is not so protective, you can touch the young ones for short periods otherwise, you may not do so. Moreover, at this time, you can already feed them some oats, oatmeal, bird seeds, tiny slices of cucumber and red apple, and wheat germ.
Hydrating them through water-enriched food like cucumber and apple is recommended because at this age, they are still incapable of reaching water bottles, due to their size and the fact that their eyes are still closed. If they are dehydrated, this could be extremely dangerous for them.
4. You can place some wood shavings on the flooring of their ‘home’ as the babies can be very jumpy until their 4th week, and they are quite prone to injury. Make sure however that the wood does not contain oils as this can be toxic to dwarf hamsters.
5. As soon as they are about 20 days old, you can already take them away from their mother and place them in another cage. Make sure you separate them, i.e. all males and all females. They are already capable of having babies of their own as soon as they are a month old.
As an additional note, you should not sell or give babies away until they reach 4 weeks of age as this could be especially unsafe for them.
Our previous article Types of Hamster Food -Which One Is the Best ? Our article titled best hamster food, hamster food ve types of hamster food about information is given.
Seeing Jin sad is really upsetting. Poor baby. I cried like a baby when my dwarf hamster passed away last year.