I bought a pregnant hamster

Question
Hi my name is Kenny and one day my sister's boyfriend bought us a chinese dwarf or what it looks like it has tan-brown fur with a white belly and a black line going 4/5 of the way down its back. It was a female and then after less than 2 weeks we bought it a wheel and one day it was running alot on the wheel we didnt notice and make a big deal but the next day she was just laying under her fluff in one corner and then i saw a red thing crwling on her i looked closely and i saw it was a baby. she had 8 more after that. the 3rd to the last one was born dead and i forgot to say there was no male. well after about 15 minutes of watching them we left the house for 3 hours or so and when we returned one had died. A couple hours later we found another had died again. This morning I found only 4 left and im worried the babies my die before they can feed on their own...

What should I do?

Answer
Hi Kenny,

There could be a couple of reasons why the baby hamsters died.  First, it is possibly the bed fluff you use.  Bed fluff is very dangerous to hamsters; with adult hamsters, it can get impacted in their cheeks - with baby hamsters, it often causes strangulation.  You should *immediately* remove the bed fluff.  Instead, give your hamster extra bedding; use Aspen or Carefresh only.  Avoid Pine or Cedar, which are dangerous to small animals.

Another reason - Your new hamster is probably a first time mother.  With first-time mothers, there is a higher chance that the mother will reject her young.  She is under a great amount of stress, and she is confused.  Or, there is a chance that the babies had some sort of illness, or were deformed - the mother would kill these babies, as part of "natural selection."  Also, it is *extremely* important that you not touch the mother or her babies until the babies are 14 days old.  If you touch the babies, your scent will be on them, and the mother will reject them.

If the babies are still dying, even after you've removed the bed fluff and have been careful not to touch the mother or her babies, then there's not much you can do.  The babies could be sickly - again, natural selection - or the mother could be cannibilizing.  In either case, a human intervention wouldn't help.

Hopefully, the other babies will be fine.  Good luck.

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

Kelly