Baby hamster photo diary - THE END!

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rhapsody

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2010
Messages
1,288
Location
California, U.S.
The Backstory:

Soooo, last Friday TheRatQueen shot me an email to make sure I was still alive - seriously, since we've moved to the new house, its like I dropped off the face of the planet (I'm either too busy or too tired). Anyhoo, she mentioned that she was picking up three possibly pregnant hamsters from a nearby shelter (they were dropped off in a container with two males), and that the lady who would normally foster them was out on vacation. Naturally I jumped at the chance to foster them during their gestation watch, and help out with the babies if there are any ... without seeking the hubby's approval first.

The next day, we successfully smuggled the girls in, and I dubbed them Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Merryweather was definitely preggers, but uh, I believe she gave birth soon after her arrival and er, ate her entire litter. Not long after, Fauna ballooned and in the wee hours of April 5th, popped out a large litter. Flora fortunately did not become pregnant.

As luck would have it, Fauna, built her nest right in the open, and I can snag photos without disturbing her and her little ones - grrr, unlike ratties, you can't touch them til two weeks. I'll try to update this daily so you can all see these ittybitties grow. Oh, and of this posting, the husband still has no idea these hammies are in the house ...

April 3rd: Fauna is ready to pop!

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April 5th: ZOMG BABIES!!! They were born sometime between 1:30am and 10am

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April 6th: Day 2 - Babies are starting to squeak!

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Awww little momma was HUGE! I cannot get over how small hamsters are as newborns. When those dwarf hamsters had those litters here it was crazy tiny. Cant wait to see what colors they have!
 
One of my hamsters had babies when I was a kid, and I can't remember if we knew not to touch them for two weeks. She had 14 but ate 7 of them. We must have handled them - otherwise how would we have counted them? Hmmmm....
 
April 7th: Day 3 - Fauna is pretty good about covering up her kiddos if she has to move elsewhere about the cage. She must have been in a rush this time though, and made do with just a banana chip.

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I Have had baby guinea pigs but never baby hamsters in fact I have baby guinea pigs right now 7 of them and I am loving every minute of it good luck with your mama and babies :congrats:
 
April 8th: Day 4 - The fur is starting to come in, and you can see hints of what the colors/patterns might be. You can also spot teeny tiny teeth, and I caught a baby in mid-yawn. And holy moly, these babies are loud! Every time momma shifts position, they all start squalling in protest.

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When little cybil sheperd had her babies we had no idea what they looked like or how many she had till they came out of the nest. It was a killer waiting. She is a mean girl so we couldnt look at her babies at all.
 
When little cybil sheperd had her babies we had no idea what they looked like or how many she had till they came out of the nest. It was a killer waiting. She is a mean girl so we couldnt look at her babies at all.

I'm actually really surprised how trusting Fauna is of me, considering how traumatic the past month must have been for her. She doesn't mind me popping my hand in the cage to clean up her potty spot. And when I want a quick peek at the babies, I just need to chirp to her and she'll emerge from the pile of bedding and give me a couple minutes before covering up the kiddos.
 
That makes it better. We somehow managed to wait the two weeks till the babies started to come out of the nest for both litters. With Diva I was able to mess with her babies somewhat well peak at them but the fear of them eating them LOL kept us from touching them even slightly. Right before the round of litters started here, they killed the pinky that came with them and I did not want to go through that again at all.
 
Some good news for poor Merryweather! She finally bounced back from the loss of her pups last night. Up til that point, she was obviously not feeling well and spent her time hunched in her igloo. But yesterday she emerged with her ears all perky and renewed interest in her surroundings. She even had a nice run on her wheel. So this Saturday, I'll be dropping her and Flora off at the adoption outpost and they'll hopefully find their forever home soon.

Now on to the baby update!

April 9th: Day 5 - Grr, I apologize for the poor photo quality, but the silly hubby was hovering yesterday and I could barely sneak a quick shoot in. Speaking of which, the hubby has finally seen the babies ... but only because I forgot to close the photo editor on my laptop when he borrowed it. Fortunately he thought I was looking at pictures from the rescue, and hasn't realized that the hammies are actually in the house ...

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i am also loving the updates with regards to the hubby and his severe lack of observation skills :p

So far he's failed at the vision test (seriously, the cages are kinda out in the open) and the hearing test (boyo, the babies really squeal). I'm currently waiting to see if he also fails the smell test - you're not supposed to disturb the nest (aka. clean the cage) until the babies' eyes open, and its starting to get rather stinky in that general area. And the worst part is that there is still another week before I can clean it ...
 
April 10th: Day 6 - Hehe, the babies have started "swimming" through the bedding and are becoming more mobile (although its mostly to chase after momma when she's taking a break from nursing). Fauna has been so good with her little ones, and its wonderful to watch her interact with them. She did however ask for out-time last night, and I happily obliged.



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:fishbeat: Hello earth to hubby!!!! That's too funny! We had a lot of mice as kids - my sister loved them and well her Minnie turned out to be a Mickey and well, I guess I really don't have to explain the rest..... Anyway, we did clean the cage, but only around the babies - however, you have to make sure the little ones are no where near the bedding you take out. So basically we only cleaned half of it. If you can stand the smell though the safest thing I suppose is not cleaning it. Those little ones you have are so cute!!
 
ARGH, we jinxed it!!! Hubby just called after finally noticing the fosters - didn't sound happy at all. And of course, its the day before I give two of them back to the rescue. I was sooooo close to getting away with it. GRRR!
 
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