[hammy]

Is your hamster about to have, or just had babies. It has been known on many occasions that people have bought hamsters from the shop only to find days later that the hamster has given birth.
Whether it is a planned pregnancy, accidental, or one that you are not aware of. The babies will need proper care and attention. The first and foremost golden rule is that the nest should not be disturbed, or interfered with in any way whatsoever, for at least 10 days. So really there is not much caring for “you” to do, as mummy hamster knows what is best for her and babies, so just leave her to it. The only caring that you have to do is looking after the mum.

Make sure she has “plenty” of food, and water, for herself during the lactation period. (Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands, the process of providing that milk to her young, and the period of time that the mother lactates to feed her young.) If it is a planned pregnancy, during the pregnancy it will be beneficial to your hamster to feed her a high protein diet of, eggs, scrambled or boiled, cheese, cottage cheese, whole meal bread, veggies, tofu, tuna in oil, unsweetened yoghurt etc;
If it is an unexpected birth then start feeding her a high protein diet as soon as you have discovered any babies.
When the babies are about 7 days old they will start to eat solid foods. From here on make sure there is enough food (as described above) to feed all. Mum will take it to the nest for the babies to feed on.

Over the next 5-7 days as the baby hamsters grow the skin pigment will change. Fur will start to grow, the eyes will darken, and the ears will start to show.
At 10-12 days, although eyes still closed, the hamster pups may start to wander around the cage, and will start to forage for food. Leave plenty of dry hamster mix lying around for them to munch on. Place the water bottle low down in the cage so babies can access it.

At 16 days the eyes should now be open, and will be looking now more like hamsters. Now is the right time to clean out the cage for the first time since the birth.
Wash your hands, handle mum first, taking her out of the cage, followed by the pups.
This will be the first time you have handled the baby's, and are still a little fragile, so please take a little extra care,

At 28 days old they can be taken away from mum, but as they are capable of reproducing at this very young age should be separated into their own same sex cages.

This video was taken about 2 months ago. At feeding times, over a period of 7 days, it can be seen how quickly the babies develop.
Mum has the food store hidden under the wheel, that’s why most are in the corner feeding. Some bonny little babies here.
http://funshare.netatronix.com/feedingtime.wmv