My hamster is pregnant and I dont know what to do with the babies

Question
Hello,
I got my hamster 3 weeks ago, and was under the idea that both my hamsters were female. However one of them ended up being male. My female hamster was pregnant and this morning gave birth to eleven babies. I have limited space in my apartment and I don't know what to do with the babies. Can you please offer me some advice.

Answer
This is a huge problem with pet store hamsters, they're all kept together in a communal tank which is a HUGE no no. Syrian hamsters are solitary animals by nature, and keeping them together not only encourages inbreeding, but fighting as well.

First you need to separate both adults. You need a separate tank for each one. If you don't have space you can try to give the hamster away to an animal shelter or through an online wanted service like craigslist.

The babies can stay with mom for up to 4 weeks. After that time each baby will need it's own personal tank. Since you won't have space for now 13 cages (if you keep both parents) I would start looking into rehoming them. I would not suggest giving back to the pet store since it only encourages inbreeding and for the same thing that happened to you to happen to someone else. I used craigslist when I had to move suddenly to rehome a few of my younger hamsters. You just have to post a listing and you'll receive emails from people who want a hamster from you. Just screen the emails and pick who you want. If you have any left over or if you don't want to take that route, most animal shelters will gladly take in hamsters.