whats worng?!?

Question
k, so i just bought a syrian hamster from petsmart a couple of days ago and she is much fatter than our old male hamster, so my first question is that how can you tell from a new hamster that she is pregnant? sencond is lately everyday when i wake up, she has stuffed her tube connecting  the top compartment of her cage to the bottom "living" area wiht all of her litter and then she gets stuck at the top! is there somehting wrong?

thanks!

michelle

Answer
Hi Michelle,


         Generally a pregnant hamster will have two lump like bumps (one on each side) on her side. You can tell best if you look at her from the top. The bumps appear when the female hamster is about 10 days into her pregnancy. This means that if your hamster is pregnant, you can expect the babies in 6-7 days from now. Also she will start hoarding more food and building a nest.

     Since you are not sure if your hamster is pregnant you should treat her as if she is. Start feeding her pieces of hard boiled egg and carrots. This will give her the extra protien she needs to help raise her babies. Also by the 27th of this month, take her wheel out and clean her cage. Put in extra bedding and some cotton balls (hamsters really love cotton balls to build their nest with and they also help keep the babies warm).

      If she does not have any babies by the 3rd of October then more than likely she isn't pregnant and you can put her wheel back in and stop feeding her the hard boiled egg. You can still give her some bits of carrot once in awhile.

      As far as her stuffing her tube with litter or bedding, This is normal for hamsters but also you must keep a close eye on this. Even though hamsters love the cages with tubes (and connecting tubes) they can be dangerous. I have heard of too many hamsters stuffing their tubes getting stuck and suffercating. So be sure to keep an eye on the tubes and clean them out everytime she stuffs them.
  
      If you have anymore questions please write again.

Thank you for writing!