by Lily Renee

Created on: February 07, 2007   Last Updated: November 04, 2010

I kept hamsters from age 11 until about age 15, and this included a surprise pregnancy and also I bred several pairs as well.

Based on my research at the time and my experience, I would recommend several things. Firstly, a hamster's gestation period is only 15 days. Once you suspect that a female is pregnant it is best to give her a cage on her own. The kindest thing is to provide a nesting box or 'house' where she can feel safe and secure to give birth. Remember that hamsters originate from the desert where they would have created burrows, so this is where they feel safe. You can buy little houses or nest boxes made of wood or plastic (although they can be known to chew these...make sure you provide gnaw sticks to chew on) You can also buy a variety of soft bedding for them, there are various types of custom made bedding or you can provide shredded paper (good for recycling if you shred your bills etc!).

It will probably become obvious when a female is pregnant as she will begin bulging out a lot at the sides of her abdomen. Handle her with extra care and as little as possible.

Expect anything from about four to twelve babies in a litter although I'm sure there are exceptions. Our biggest litter was ten.

If you think the mother has given birth, keep an eye on her, but the best thing is to LEAVE her in PEACE as if she becomes stressed, she may kill the babies and unfortunately they can sometimes kill (and eat) babies for no apparent reason. This can be upsetting but it is just a fact of their life. I only had one occasion when this happened. Our very docile and lovely hamster Magic killed one baby. However she went on to become a good mother to the rest, perhaps the baby had something wrong with it that we did not know about.

If you do happen to see any babies soon after they are born, they look like small, pink jelly babies and are blind to begin with.

Keep cleaning of the cage to an absolute minimum for the first couple of weeks after birth. Just keep the water bottle topped up with fresh water and the food bowl clean and do not disturb the nest. After the first couple of weeks, if you must handle the babies to get the cage cleaned, make sure you handle them all so that they all smell the same. Remember, the mother will be feeding the babies, so will need a lot more nutrients. Make sure she has plenty of food, and also some fresh fruit and veg. Just remove any uneaten fruit so it doesn't go off.

Remember that the babies will be weaned onto solid food within

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