Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello, unfortunately we had an accident and my hampster had fallen on the ground were my dog attacked it. we were able to get her away from the dog before she died. we took her to the vet were they assured us everything would be fine. but sadly a few hours later she was dead. Now just 9 days before this she had surprisingly given birth to 5 little ones. i know that after 5 days they begin to eat solid foods, but from what i saw they were still drinking from her. what should i do????? how do i take care fo them?????

Hi, thats a darn Shame. Be careful of the doggie !

Here is a site, that may be of help to you.
Your right, unfortunitly you have to raise her kids now. Thank goodness, they are as old as they are, you have a good chance with them.

Please let us know how you make out, I wish you and them the best !

ORPHANED PUPS

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Eve

Eve,
Thank you soo much for showing me that site, it will come in real use. We have been using KMR milk to feed them by soaking it in bread and putting that in the cage, as well as feeding through an eye dropper. we had also been rubbing them to make sure they go potty. thankfully they are doing very well with that without us having to rub them a lot. They are also eating lots of dry food, which makes me feel good about them survivng. We have also been putting in celary to help them stay hydrated. A problem i have though is about keeping them warm.. they dont seem cold, and at night i put a towel over the top of the cage ( its a wire cage, so im not suffocating them) to keep in the heat. ive been told to put a heating pad under the cage, but we live in arizona, were its really never cold, especially now in summer, and the heating pad we have can get pretty hot even on low. im too afraid to use it because i dont want to burn them. what should i do? now i also read that we need to clean the cage. i havent because i thought it would be better for them to still have as much the same as when mom was still there. im too afraid if i change it they might get stressed out. they seem to be doing very well though. what do you think?
They have hair and are wiggling and walking around fine. They all bundle together which makes me think they are using body warmth, If they are even cold. Maybe they just really like each other. Im sorry this is soo long but if you could could help me out in any way with the questions i have or any other advice i would really appreciate that. thank you again.

-stephanie

Hi, Sounds as if you know what your doing! If they are doing well then keep things the way you have them. If your worried about stressing them, then leave the cage alone.

I would just clean any mess they may make, ( you would not want it wet in there.)

And you know better than anyone what your temperature is there, if its warm, then don't use the heat pad. I would also be afraid of burning them unless it was well wraped in some kind of cloth or something.

Sounds as if they are doing well, getting fur , walking around, eating, hey keep up the good work !

Just keep them hydrated , as long as they are taking their milk and nibbling food, sounds like they should be okay!

Sure hope so!

Keep the updates coming, I'll check everyday,

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Eve

hi,
Everything is doing good. They are still taking the milk and eating food, they love to munch on celary. now i had thought that they were only 11 days old today, but they all have there eyes open, i thought that started at 14 days? So i was thinking they may have been born, but that i may have found them a few days after the birth. i thought the squeaking i heard was from the mom. Also i was wondering if it possible to over feed the babies? im sure that if they werent hungry they wouldnt eat but they eat soo much i dont want to accidentally be forcing them. i have another question. (sry) but do you need to help them find the water bottle, ive already lowered it, but is there anythng special we need to do to help them, or will they find it on there own? also i read that you need to put pedialyte in the water as a suppliment. but they seem fine on nurishment, and they dont look skinny or anything. they look nice and "plump"< would be a good word for them. i really appreciate having someone to ask all these annoying questions to, thanks.

-stephanie

hi again, one more question, i have a 2 story wire cage. Now today one of the babies discovered the upstairs. are they going to try to escape? and since they are tiny would they be able to fit through the wires?

I don't know how wonderful my advice is, as I have not had any hamsters in YEARS, everything else though. LOL I used to raise them years ago.

I think your on your way, if they have their eyes open and are getting around, thats awesome.

As far as the water bottle, I would make sure they drink what YOU give them for now.
When they get a little more active and walk around more then you could hold the bottle to there mouth and make some water comes out, if you know what I mean, to get them started, in knowing whats in there, I think in time they will find it if you have it low.

And If there was ONE thing I remember BEST about raising hamsters was YES, they are escape artists. The adults escape.

I can't see your cage, but if the wire is wide enough they will get out. So that question you will have to answer by looking at them and the size of the wire openings.

Just keep your eye on them, if you notice one wriggling through, get yourself a cheap aquarium with a screen lid for the time being. Or something escape proof!

Oh isn't it fun having little ones, hahhahahahha, make ya crazy hunh? Watch those little cute stinkers, hehehhehe

Thanks for the update, see ya tomorrow!
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Eve

hello,
Well your advice is better than anything. Now at leats i have a place to get answers, some of those website lack a lot of answers im looking for. and at least you DO have experience.
Unfortunately you were right, and those hampsters are little escape artists. one got out and fell off of the desk i hade them on. i found the baby when my dog started sniffing around, i pulled him back really quick just in case there happened to be one on the ground. and there was. i found him and put him in a separate box and rubbed him and talked to him, but sadly he didnt make it. im going to get an aquarium today, even though ive taken out the second story. i dont want anything else to happen to "my" new babies. but eh others are doing great, walking aorund alot and they have discovered the water bottle. they arent really drinking from it, i dont think they have the mouth power to push that ball to get the water out, but occationally i tap it so its moist and they know where to go. talk to you later.

-stephanie

so i just put them in the new tank, and they were flipping out, like running around and being all weird..... is this normal? i put new bedding in as well as plenty of the old stuff, so i dont get why they would be freaking out. i didnt want them to have a stroke or something so i put them in their old cage. so now just to be safe we were thinking of putting up card board around the cage. not too high that they cant see anything. but just so they cant climb on the wire. and it would be on the out side so i dont think they could eat it. do you think this is a good idea? thanks for sharing your advice.

-stephanie

Well, this is just my opinion, I would let them get used to the tank, just long enough that they are FAT enough not to be able to fit through the wire.

They may jump around and act a bit different, but if you do as you said, put some of their older smelly stuff in with them set it up almost the same way, they should settle down within hours (I think)

Just put water in a small shallow plastic lid, off a jar (peanut butter type lid) something simular. OR hold the water bottle for them , but that will be time consuming ?????

I say this because it is better they get use to that(and stay SAFELY contained) then maybe working or chewing their way to the floor and being killed by the fall or doggie.

But hey thats my thoughts. Glad the rest are doing well.

You seem to be very caring, just do what you think is the BEST thing for them, hehehhehe ,

talk later!
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Eve

hello,
well everyone is doing fine. i waited a little to put them in the tank, but i put the cage in a box, it was kinda of short, but wide, so that if they did try to get out they would fall in that and not be able to go anywhere else. it worked until they actually did start to get through the cage ( but no one escaped the box)then i decided it was definately time to put them in the tank. they acted a lot better this time then they had the ast. they werent freaking out as bad. they are all well adapted now, and still eating like crazy! they found the water bottle just fine on there own and were allready using it. i had to get a new one that would fit in the tank, but they found that and are already using that fine. i tried to sex them, i know that the boys have a longer space between the 2 holes than the girls but its still hard to tell, i think they all look the same down there. but im not sure if that means they are all girls or are all boys. i heard that the boys butts will be more round because that it were their scrotum is, but they all look like girl butts, but have a longish space between the two holes. so im not sure which is which! and i dont have the mommy to compare to. im thinking about taking them to a pet store, but im not sure how well they actually know that stuff.

- stephanie