mother hampster eating her young!

Question
hi,my name is niki i new my hampster was gonna have babies cuzz i wanted more hampsters but i didnt no that she had already had them untill a couple of days l8tr i am estimating they are black now i held the babies and then put them back and the mom looked like she was trying to eat them (2) so we took them out and now when we put them back she keeps doing it! i dont know what to do with the babies! please help! its an emergency!             niki

Answer
Hi Niki,


Baby hampsters should not be held until they are at least 2 weeks old or the mother could kill them. Are you giving the mother diced hard boiled egg, apples and carrots? This is important. This will give the mother extra protien that she needs to raise her babies. If this don't keep the mom from trying to eat her babies then the babies will have to be removed from the cage and taken care of. That will not be an easy task (depending on how old they are). If the babies are 10-14 days old they have a better chance of surviving cause they start to eat hampster food on their own and they also love hard boiled eggs, apples and diced carrots.
So try giving some hard boiled egg,apples and carrots to mom and keep a close eye on her to make sure she don't hurt her babies. If this does not help write back.

Thank you for your question and best of luck!