Odd behaviour

Question
Hi

My panda hamster had babies a few days after I got her for Christmas. Everything is well, four little ones (though Im pretty sure she ate one of them) and they seem perfectly healthy. Its been two weeks now, and everywhere I researched said to wait at least 10 days or until 14-16 days old to touch the babies. Well, today was day 14 so I thought I would finally pick them up for a few minutes. Then suddenly, a while later, the mother started doing something very strange: she picks one baby and then carries it in her mouth all around the cage, hopping around and dropping the baby and picking it up again - shes pretty rough with them too. She'll stop for a few minutes, leaving them in their pile, and then start all over again with a different (or the same) baby. Its as if she's about to cull the litter, though that doesnt seem to make sense since its so late in their development and they all to be in perfect health (plenty of food/water, warmth, plump little bodies, etc). And if she were to cull them, would she not be much more decisive about it?? Its as if she is searching for something when shes hopping about with a baby in her jaws, shes actually quite frantic. Perhaps it was the shock of having her young touched for the first time?? The other thing too is that when I put the babies back into the cage, she saw and even came over to my hand, and she seemed perfectly content with that and just picked them up and returned them to the pile. It wasnt until several hours later that this wierd behaviour started. Any ideas??

Answer
Hi Mikael,

    This is how Mom teaches her babies. It is perfectly normal. She is not hurting them (although it looks like it). If Mom is acting frantic or acting like she wants out, remove her from the cage and put her in a ball, if you have one, for about 15 minutes, then return her to the cage.
    If you have anymore questions, please write again.

Thank you for writing!