New Hamster Mother

Question
Hi -
My hamster just had babies on the 26th of May. I wasn't sure she was pregnant, so I left her in her small "first home". It's two floors and has a wheel and a chewing toy. Because the cage is so small will the mother get irratated by her babies and eat them? Late at night she seems like she wants to get out, but her babies are only a few days old. Is it too soon to let mom out and have her play in her ball? Also, should I buy a new cage and try to make them all relocate? I'm afraid the cage is too small and also once the babies start moving around they might escape or get caught in the bars. Can they climb when young? I've been reading up as much as i can but feel like I don't know enough. The last thing I want to do is find out she ate all of her babies. Please tell me what I should do!

Answer

  You should definately not let the mother out of her cage yet. The babies have to be at least two weeks old before the mother can be handled again. The mother will try to get out of her cage she might try and climb up your arm when your putting food in her dish. Keep the food dish full at all times. I wouldn't move the babies yet when they are two weeks old they can be held for short amounts of time so try moving them then. At this age the mother won't eat her babies. My hamster also recently had a batch of pups, they are almost three weeks old now and will be seperated male from female and from the mother soon.

Thanks for writing hope this helped