mommy hamster ate her young

Question
hi. i have a pair of teddy bear hamsters. they just had 8 babies but now there are only 5. is it true that the mother hamster eats the baby hamster? or is it just when her baby dies? i did not see the actual eating of the mommy hamster of her young. the 3 baby hamster were gone one by one. is it normal that not all 8 baby hamsters will survive? the daddy and mommy hamster are separated after they mated until today. all the young are in the same cage with their mommy.

also, its been 3 weeks already since she gave birth to her young. when can i let the daddy and mommy hamster be together again for mating again? please tell me more about the 4 days. which hamster do i transfer? the daddy hamster to the mommy hamster's cage? or the other way around?
thank you..

Answer
Hi Kitty,

There are a couple of reasons why your hamster ate some of her babies:

1. Eight babies is a lot for a hamster.  When a mother has a large litter, she sometimes feels the need to cull some of them, so that she can better take care of a smaller litter.  It's simply her instinct to do so.

2. If the babies were touched by humans at all, the mother would reject them, and possibly eat them.  (Sometimes the mother would just stop feeding the babies that have been touched, and they would starve to death.)  Baby hamsters should not be touched at all until they are 14 days old.

3. If your mother hamster is very young (say, around 2 months or younger), she would have been very stressed by her new litter, and that would be why she ate some of them.  Ideally, hamsters should be bred for the first time when they are around 4-6 months old.  Additionally, if the hamster is older (around 9-10 months) and this is her first litter, it would be more stressful for her.

Since your babies are now 3 weeks old, they should be fully weaned from the mother.  Place them all in a separate cage.  Let them stay in this new cage for another 3 weeks.  Then, when the babies are 6 weeks old, you can give them away.  Since you have Syrian hamsters (aka Teddy Bear hamsters), you'll need to give them away by themselves.  Syrian hamsters are solitary, and cannot be kept together in one cage once they are adults.  If someone gets more than one hamster, make sure they have enough cages.

If you want your hamster to have another litter, let her rest.  Wait until it has been about 8 weeks since her last litter, since you don't want to stress her.  (So, since it's been 3 weeks since her last litter, you should wait about 5 more weeks.)

For mating, first make sure your female is in heat.  Every 4 days, a female hamster will come into heat, meaning she's primed for mating.  To test her to see if she is in heat, stroke her back firmly.  If she freezes up and her tail sticks straight out, then you'll know she's in heat.  She may also produce a slight musky odor.

Once you've determined that she is in heat, you can place her in the male's cage.  (Never place the male in the female's cage, since females are highly territorial and will fight with the male.)  Let them mate for about 15 minutes, or until you can tell they've lost interest.

Have a great weekend, and a great Labor Day!

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask :)

Kelly