pregnant hamsters

Question
hi i am a first time owner for a hamster. I think my hamster might be pregnant. She is fat and likes to hide in the bedding and spends a lot of time in her house/bedroom. She is also nibbling at our fingers when possible. Could you please let me know what you think asap. Plus is there anything i can do to make her more comfortable when giving birth.

Answer
Hi Veronica

First question - why do you think she is pregnant?  What type of hamster is she?  Do you know that she has mated?

Hamsters come into season every 4 days and become sexually active from about 4 weeks.  

The gestation period for a Syrian is 16-18 days, for a dwarf it is 18-21 days.

The main thing is to make sure you don't over feed a possibly pregnant hamster as you don't want the unborn litter getting too large. Just give her the usual hamster mix and fresh vegetables daily.    As soon as the litter is born you can give additional food in the form of human baby food (powdered variety is best, mixed with water NOT milk).  I also remove any plastic houses/tubes etc. from the hamster's cage before a litter arrives - it is much easier and less worrying if the litter is born either in the open or under a platform, rather than inside a house.  Make sure she has plenty of bedding and when you clean her out, let her have her nest and any food hoard back so she doesn't get stressed.  Before you clean her out, carefully check the nest - babies often end up under the nest in the woodchippings.  If she has had babies, then put the nest back and leave well alone.  If she has produced a litter she will be reluctant to leave the nest and often you can hear the babies feeding from her - if you go near the cage, be aware that there might be a litter.  When she leaves the nest for food etc. she will tuck the nest back in to keep her babies warm.  Don't touch the babies unless in an emergency (i.e. if one has accidentally come out of the nest in which case you warm them up in your hands and pop them back in the nest, then gently lay your hand over the over babies so your scent is everywhere and not just on one baby). They are very vulnerable at this age and their body temperature drops in a matter of minutes so they must be kept in the nest.  Also, if the mum feels threatened she may attack her babies, so it is best to let her get on with raising them, however tempting it is to look at the babies.  

I usually stay away from them for the first week, after which time I open the nest up daily and drop tiny pieces of food such as raw porridge oats, seeds, breadcrumbs in for the babies - but I don't pick the babies up. The mum may be aggressive if you do this, so be careful otherwise you'll get bitten - if she is stressed, then don't risk doing this.  After 2 weeks the babies will start leaving the nest and they can eat all the same food as mum including the human baby food which will help build up their strength.  This is the time I start handling them.  They are very jumpy initially and mum gets very stressed with you handling them, but make a real fuss of her.  At 4 weeks you would need to sex and separate out the boys.  If this is a Syrian hamster, at 6 weeks all the hamsters will need a cage of their own, if she is a dwarf, then she can live with the girls and the boys can live together providing there is no serious fighting.

Hamsters tend not to show that they are pregnant until a few days before the litter arrives.  Then, if they stand upright and stretch up the bars you can often see the litter on their hips.

If you can work out roughly when she might have become pregnant - this will give you a rough idea as to when any litter is due.

Good luck with this - if she produces a litter and you need more information or are worried about it, please get back in touch.

Regards