New mummy!

Question
My syrian hamster has pups that are 6 days old. She is looking after them very well, however one is very small, about one third the size of the others. As far as I am aware she has not eaten any, but do you thnk she may get rid of the "runt"?!

Also mum is not drinking out of her bottle, we have tried both milk and water but neither are working. So I have been feeding her kitten replacement milk through a syringe. Do you have any ideas why she is not drinking?

Thanks

Answer
Hi Emily

In most cases the runt survives - it is just that they are a bit smaller.  Once the hamsters are old enough and you separate them from mum (4 weeks for the males, 5-6 weeks for the females) you can always give the runt a bit of extra food for a while.

I would avoid giving milk - the kitten replacement milk is OK, but milk can cause diarrhea and make hamsters ill.  One thing I always give my babies and nursing mum is human baby food.  If you can get hold of a packet of the powdered creamy porridge oats, or similar.  Mix a little with water and give them this - this gives them lots of extra nutrients, fattens them up a bit, and they are getting moisture from it.  Make sure the runt can reach it - I usually put it on a jam jar lid.

I don't know why the mum isn't drinking water.  You could try dipping the end of the water bottle in some blackcurrant juice - small animals seem to like this as it is sweet and this might tempt her back.  Generally, hamsters don't drink loads of water - unless they are ill or are pregnant. Make sure there are plenty of fresh vegetables every evening too - avoid lettuce as this can cause diarrhea.

Good luck with this.

Regards