Sepertating babies

Question
Hello Kelly,

My syrian hamster babies are now 18 days old. I am pretty sure that I have 4 girls and one boy, when it comes time for me to seperate them in a few days, can I leave the girls with the mother for a while and will if be a problem if the male baby is alone since the mother didn't have any others?

Thanks for your time.

Answer
Hi Andrea,

First, here's a link to a website which has an illustration so that you can be absolutely positive about the sex of your hamsters:

http://www.animalsheltering.org/resource_library/magazine_articles/jul_aug_2000/...

Second, you don't need to separate the two sexes just yet.  When the babies are 3 weeks old, they should all go to a separate cage.  Then, after another 2-3 weeks old, you should separate each hamster into his/her own cage.  Since they're Syrian hamsters, they won't be able to live together, so you'll need a total of 6 cages (one for the mother, and five for the babies), unless, of course, you're planning to give them away.

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

Kelly