I think my hamster may be pregnat

Question
Hello, i had hamsters over the years but this is way differnet i havd a short haired syrian hamster femals and to night i decided to stay up and watch her and i noticed that she made a nest with only clean bedding and diggs a lot drinks a lot of water and hides food in the nest she does not wake up in the moring and likes to stay in her nest but i'm not able to see niples and her belly is wat bigger than when i brought her on friday. i think she could have got pregnat in petland because she was caged with males. please respond quickly please and she burries her self and she acts strange

Answer
Hi Edith

Your hamster could be pregnant.  Unfortunately a lot of hamsters that are sold in pet shops aren't either correctly sexed or are left in with males beyond 4 weeks of age when they can be sexually active.

The only real way of knowing is to wait and see if she produces a litter.  I'm assuming she is a Syrian, in which case the standard gestation period would be 16-18 days.  During this time if she is pregnant she will store a lot of food and make a big nest (although most hamsters do this anyway especially when they move into a new cage) and she will increase her water intake.  You don't often see any other signs of pregnancy until a few days before they give birth at which time you will notice a bulge on her hips which is especially obvious if she stretches up the bars.  Don't touch any new born babies unless it is an emergency otherwise she could reject them. I usually don't handle any babies until they are 2 weeks old and leaving the nest.

If you think she is pregnant then don't overfeed her now.  Just give her a standard dry hamster mix and some fresh vegetables daily.  If she produces a litter then you can increase the amount you give her - she can have baby food, cheese, scrambled egg etc to give her extra nourishment to feed her babies.  When cleaning her out look carefully in case she has had a litter - they bury the babies very deep in the bedding.  I would think that it would be obvious because she wouldn't want to leave her nest and you may see a small amount of blood on the bedding.

If she has babies please get back in touch with me and I can talk you through what to do if you are in any doubt.  In any event if you find yourself with a litter do let the pet shop know.  They often won't accept responsibility but some are helpful and will give a second cage (as the babies would need sexing and separating at 4 weeks of age - at 6 weeks they will all need a cage of their own), or they may agree to take the babies back when they are 4 weeks old and re-home them for you.

I hope this helps you.

Regards
Sheila