new born pups

Question
my hamster just gave birth today but i wasnt expecting the pups this soon so i didnt hav time to prepare the cage, the cage is quite smell and needs cleaing out but i dont want to harm my pups by doing it or make the mum kill them, please could you tell me what i should do about this. should I leave it untill the pups are old enough to disturb or do something else.

Answer
Hi Daniel,

    Well, you didn't mention if your hamster was a Syrian (sometimes called "Golden" hamster - the larger popular hamsters) or a dwarf hamster.  If it is a Syrian, the mother needs to be in a cage by herself.  If a male Syrian hamster is in there, he could hurt her babies.  Syrian hamsters need to be kept by themselves, anyway, as they are not social.
    Now, as for the babies - whatever you do, don't touch them.  If you touch them, your scent will be on them, and the mother will reject or even kill the babies.  Also, you can't clean out the cage.  You'll have to wait about 2 weeks.  Additionally, you can gently handle the babies at this time of 2 weeks.  There's more information you need to know, and rather than paraphrasing it, I'll send you to this website:

http://www.petwebsite.com/syrianrearing.htm

Please visit it, as it tells you almost everything you need to know about your new babies.  I'd go into more detail, but really, unless you have more specific questions that the website doesn't answer, this website is perfect for telling you all you need to know to make sure the mother and her babies are healthy and happy.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.  And good luck with your new arrivals!  :)

Kelly