Siberian Dwarf Hamster Babies

Question
I got my kids each a Siberian Dwarf hamster, and the pet store told me that they was all male and that it would be ok to keep them all in our large tank. Suprise one of them just had babies, Mom was moved in to a different tank about a week before the babies was born. They are now 13 days old, 2 of the babies are big and have had their eyes open for the last four days, one (the runt)still has it eyes close and seems to be itching them alot. Also the two big ones keeps picking on the runt. The mom is still caring for it.

   What can I do to help this poor baby?

After my husband and I seen the two hamsters doing their "baby making dance" (young kids reading this) We checked all the hamsters to see if we just had one female or more, well the one we could really tell we thought it was male so we called the pet store where we got them and took it back in they again said it was male. But now it is looking big around the tummy. Not knowing when the "dance" happened I don't know when to be ready.

    Can I put the other hamster in with the mom
    and babies?

The one that I think that is going to have babies.

    Is there a way to find out if it is going
    to have babies or is just getting really
    chubby? And when it might happen?

And my last question for today is and I think I now the answer already by reading the other posts.

     Can I put the baby male hamsters in the
     tank with the other male hamsters or and leave
     the baby female in with mom or
     should I put them in different tanks/cages?


(I'm thinking different tanks, older males(2) in one, older female in one(1 maybe 2 depending on if she is expecting), baby male in one(1), baby female in one(1 don't know about the runt yet), and the one that I think might be expecting babies in a different, then the same thing if she has babies)

Thanks in advanced for your help!

Answer


      There is not much you can do to help the little runt, it is going to have to develop on it's own time. The reason the runt might be itching his eyes a lot is probably because it is trying open them or help open them. At three weeks you need to seperate the babies male from female and put them in seperate cages. The baby girls in one cage and the baby boys in the other. The one that you think might have babies if he/she does not come in heat, she will freeze if you put your hand on her back and gently press she will "freeze" with her tail straight in the air. If she is in heat she will not have babies, if she is not in heat she should have babies between 16-18 days after the baby making dance occured. The hamsters should all be in seperate cages one per cage. Sometimes females that were together since birth can live in the same cage, but it all depends on thier personality, but males should definately be in seperate. Do not put baby boys in with an older male, and do not put baby girls in with older females even if it is their mother.