The Hamsters

[Kiarra]

Since one just wasn't enough, I now have three Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamsters.

Trinket, my new mother. I bought her a week before she had her babies, knowing full well she was pregnant. I just didn't know HOW pregnant. She had them a week to the day after I bought her. There are seven of them.

Here's Trinket. Both of these photos were taken the night before she had her young.

And some of the 3-day-old babies (taken with as little disturbance to the mother as possible):

Cricket, my first hamster. She's rather strange. She's perfectly tame, except for about things that the other hamsters don't mind...like me looking at her belly. Soon as I try that, she grabbed onto my flesh with her nasty little teeth and won't let go. With most other things, she's perfectly fine. And I try to be gentle...but pretty much no matter what, she bites me when I look at her belly for daily hamster health checks.

And Wicket, the male of the bunch. He has never bitten me. All he does is lick, which tickles like mad.

 

[cometcattle]

Cute hamsters!

The pic with the cat "observing" Wicket is great.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Good pics, but do you already have homes planned for the baby hamsters? They are going to be mature and capable of breeding with each other in 3weeks time, heres a very informative link i think you should read on raising the babys;

http/www.petwebsite.com/russrearing.htm

Try not to disturb the mum and baby hamsters for the first 2weeks of their lives and definatly do not clean out their cage or house/bedding no matter how dirty it looks or smells as the mum will almost certainly reject or cannibalise her litter if you do this!

 

[Bloo]

Ahhh they are lovely indeed! . Be prepared to spend lots of time handling the young as they grow up and start running around the cage. I think it's vital to have young hamsters as hand tame as possible if they are they have happy lives. People who can't handle their hamsters tend to spend less time with them which leads to neglect
But have fun watching the young pups grow up - they always gave me hours of fun just watching them

 

[Skylar]

I know you didn't ask for any suggestions, advice, etc but the wheel is made of mesh which your hamsters' legs can easily get through and break.. A good alternative is to cover it with colored duct tape and put bedding on the sticky side.
Just a suggestion.


I love Wicket!!

 

[Bloo]

I know it's all personal choice as to what's best for each individual hamster, but I actually like that wheel a lot and they are "supposed" to be a lot safer than the straight bar type wheels. I've kept hundred of hamsters over a period of 10 years and never had problems with that particular type of wheel.
But that's not to say I'm right at the end of the day it's personal preference.

 

[OrkyBetta]

LOVELY dwarf hamsters. I had one, Freebie, that I got, you guessed it, for free at my lps. Looked a lot like your wicket. He was free because he was 'viscious.' But I recently gave him to a friend because my rents spazzed about me having two hamsters. (I kinda snuck him in)

Those wheels, the hamsters really can't get their legs stuck in. They have more problems with the straight bar ones. Covering it in duct tape would actually be worse, as hamsters are curious as the day is long. They would gnaw on it, and eating duct tape is not good. I find the best wheels are the solid plastic ones, but these too are gnaw objects.

The biting thing when you turn the hamster on it's back is normal, because hamsters feel very exposed on their backs. Predators usually flip them over to tear open their soft bellies. Buy a thick pair of gardening gloves to handle him for the daily checks, woks like a charm.

 

[Skylar]

Using gloves is a very odd way to go about it. Tame your hamsters, pick them up, let them run over you in the bathtub, get them used to you, then attempt to flip them over while gently talking to them. This will ease them and the gloves will not be needed.

Actually, althought duct tape has no nutritional value , in small amounts it won't harm them and hamsters generally only nibble at it two or three times in the first week.

OrkyBetta, If your hamster gnaws that much, it is bored. Hamsters do not gnaw excessively. Gerbils gnaw alot, not hamsters. Take it out in a hamster ball or outside for a run (in a supervised area where no pesticides have been used and under CLOSE supervision) in a pen.

 

[willtang3000]

the cat looking at the hampster weirdly lol i wonder why *cat plotting plan to eat it lol*

 

[Kiarra]

I'm one of the few people who did all her research before she ever bought hamsters, never mind a pregnant one (as I knew quite well that she was indeed pregnant), and already had multiple homes lined up, and a reputable pet store to take the babies. Soon as I can handle them, they will be handled, and all will be going to much better homes than the average hamster gets.

I have actually been to nearly every website google could provide (I stopped at about the tenth page, actually, when my head started to hurt) on the care of hamsters of any age, even babies, before I even got a single hamster. The food is good, the wheels came recommended (and not by some twit at a pet store), and the hamsters are quite tame and quite happy. The babies have not been touched, and will not be touched until their eyes are open. At which point, they will be handled and tamed.

I'm glad the biting is normal, and rather figured it was. But I also desperately wish she'd just quit it. Wicket and Trinket will let me stare at their bellies all day long if I want to. But Cricket just gets really aggressive about it. I've tried everything I can think of with her, including all kinds of strange bonding techniques like letting her pretty much run all over me. I talk softly, and I stroke her ears (where she loves to be rubbed). But soon as I get her up and her belly exposed, there are teeth embedded in my flesh. And she has much more nasty teeth than Trinket.

 

[Bloo]

But soon as I get her up and her belly exposed, there are teeth embedded in my flesh. And she has much more nasty teeth than Trinket.

sorry I know I shouldn't laugh. But it sounds like you are just going to have to get used to it. Some animals (cat's in particular) can be pretty vicious about their tummies. It's very unlikely (by the sounds of it) that it will get any better.
I've had a few hamsters like that too, and have to say the garden glove is a bad bad thing indeed. I've seen hamster cower in fear (ears back and teeth wildly chattering) when I introduced a glove into the cage. It was just not worth the aggro and very stressed hamster.
It sounds like you've got it all sorted. Enjoy the babies growing up !

 

[Kiarra]

I would never use gloves for that very reason...I'd hate to traumatize the poor girl. I suppose that, eventually, I will figure out something, but I have one very, very sore thumb right now from those nasty little teeth having punctured the edge of it all the way through...twice...in a row...just because she THOUGHT I was going to look at her belly.

Never the less, I don't really blame her. She just thinks she's protecting herself. She's just lucky she ended up in a home with someone who understands "problem" critters (I have 5 wild Mustangs...I'm used to all kinds of strange, unpleasant, and dangerous behavior until they learn their manners), and not in some place with kids, where the parents would kick her scrawny little hamster butt the moment she bit the kids.

 

[b.c.f.c]

your hammys are great and i want more hamsters (expecially dwarfs) but me mum wont let me.well about turning her over and checking her belly i would think it will never change as all hamsters have different personalitys and areas on there body that they dont like to be touched just like all animals and even humans.take for example my sister hates her feet being touched and goes mad when u do i know it sounds strange but she does and my cat as some body else pointed out she hates her belly being rubbed but my other cat loves his being rubbed.any ways good look with the pups and hope they go to great new homes.

 

[Clear_View]

Aww how adorable. I loved them all