Hamster babies.

Question
I asked another expert what to do about 4 day old baby hamsters born on a high level of a cage.  She said this:
"Hi Kristin,

You'll need to place the babies on the ground floor of the cage.  This will need to be done carefully, since you don't want your scent on any of the babies.  First, place some extra bedding on the ground floor, so that the mother can make an adequate nest.  Then, gather up some used bedding (if you can get some from her nest, that would be preferable), and thoroughly rub it all over your hands.  Try to gather all the babies at one time, and place them on the ground floor.  Then, place the mother with them.

She may try to carry them back up to her original nest, so you'll need to block access to the top floors of the cage.  Also, you'll need to remove the wheel from the cage, since it can pose a hazard to the babies.

Good luck with your new arrivals, and if you have any other questions, please feel free to ask :)

Kelly"
And is not available for a followup.

I moved the babies with a big spoon, not my hand and the mother took a long time making a new nest and put the babies in it, but then she covered them all up, and went and did other things in the cage.  I'm worried that she's ignoring them, or that they can't breathe under all of the bedding.

Thanks

Answer
This is a very common thing mother hamsters do to keep them safe as they go about their business. She is not ignoring them, and the babies are just fine hiding in the bedding. Mother hams may also from time to time hide the babies in her cheeks, which is the only defense that has been known to injure the babies if she leaves them in there too long. The best thing for her is to leave the cage in the quietest room of the house, this can help her from using panic defenses like the cheek hiding.

Down near the bottom on this web page is a video of a mother ham who has buried her babies while she goes about her cage duties, just so you can see how normal it is:

http://www.hammysworld.com/index.php?p=hamsters_handlingbabies