syrian hamster pregnancy

Question
My sister's hamster Sahara is 10 months old and 3 days ago Sahara and my brother's boy hamster Ti "did it". now she is acting kinda wierd she's being more of a hoard now, she's been exercising more than usual, she's digging a hole by her wheel, and bringing most of her cage's woodchips into the nest that she's always slept in.So is she pregnant or is she just expecting babies, and if she is pregnant will it be a safe birth. Oh yeah and she's a first-timer.  

Answer
Hi Holly,

     It is possible that she is pregnant. It sounds like she is preparing for her babies by the hoarding more food and putting most of her woodchips by her nest. One way to tell for sure is if she is pregnant in about 7 days from now she will poof out on her sides. If this happens start feeding her pieces of hard boiled egg and carrots, this will give her the extra protien she needs to help raise her babies. It takes 16-18 days from the time she was mated for her to have the babies.

    As for it being a safe birth if she is pregnant and it being her first litter, We can only hope so. Generally a hamster having her first litter after 6 months of age can run into problems (excessive bleeding, pups getting caught in the birth canal, death for mom, babies or both) when giving birth. This is because at about 6 months of age a female hamsters hips begin to set so it is harder for the hips to spread when having the babies.

    If you have anymore questions, please write again.

Thank you for writing!