hi

Question
hello,i'm from Peru, i am a hamster loving person, i have 12 hamsters, one of my lady hams had babies but 2 days after she left them alone, so the babies past away, i couldn't find her anywere, they were 10 but they all died, that happened like 2 weeks ago, now she doesn't want to get pregnant again , can she have babies again? , when is it gonna be that? it's the first time that i lose baby hamsters, i don't know what to do, she doesn't accept the male , and it's been 2 weeks already that i am trying to get her pregnant, please ,is she able to have babies again? how long do i have to wait?,,, thank you

Answer
Hi Renato

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with the last litter.  It is always very sad when this happens.

I would be extremely reluctant to try and mate this hamster again.  There was clearly a problem with the last litter.  You haven't said if she just escaped or there was a problem and she abandoned them, however, in any event, I think there is a high risk if you try mating her again.  If she escaped, then it could be that there is nothing wrong with her, but generally female hamsters are pretty good with looking after their babies and certainly don't want to get away from them, especially in the early days.  If she abandoned them, it could be that she has something wrong - such as mastitis.  If, for whatever reason, she was unable to produce any milk, or if there is an infection and it was too painful for her to feed her babies, then the usual behavior is to abandon them and they subsequently die as they are totally reliant on the mum in the first week or two for both nourishment and warmth.  It would be worth having a look at her to make sure her nipples aren't red or swollen.  If they are, then you can apply a warm towel to them and this might bring any pus to the surface.  If this happens, then she may need antibiotics, so it is likely she'd need to see a vet.  If she does have mastitis or something similar, then there is an extremely high probability that she will experience this again with another litter too.

You haven't said how old she is, what type of hamster and how many times she has been pregnant.  If she has had several litters, is very young or very old, then this is probably the reason why she won't mate.  Hamsters come into season every 4 days and although you can mate a hamster on the correct day, there is no guarantee that they will go the full term.  They have the ability to reabsorb (miscarry) a litter.  Sometimes it just happens, but if they are stressed, don't think there will be enough food, space or they are unwell or weak, they will do this.  Having several litters in a short space of time or having babies at a very young age (6-8 weeks) can weaken a hamster a lot.  

What is the reason why you want her to have more babies?  Are you selling them?  

I don't know all the facts about why you are mating hamsters, however, I feel that any hamster that has lost a litter in this way should not be mated again - but that is just a personal view and others might disagree.  

I hope this helps.

Regards