One of my daughters 3 baby "female" dwarf hamsters just had 13 babies. I can sex them but I never bothered with them much. We got the hamsters about a month or so ago and I never questioned the sex of them. When I got home yesterday, 13 babies were in the cage and my daughter was in panic mode. I took the male out to keep them from getting pregnant again. The other two are female for sure. They were nesting together and laying with the babies together etc but today started to fight so I separated them. Both of their bellies look the same and at first I couldn't tell which gave birth, and just watched to see which was nursing them. After taking the other female out, she is nesting and fat too... but Im not sure what she looked like before. As I said, I didn't pay them much attention they were in my daughters room. So my question is... could she be pregnant too? Would the male impregnate both? And how can I tell if I don't know the past regularities of their day to day stuff. I can post a pic of her belly if we are able to do that on here...

Years ago, I bought four female mice at a pet store. Within a month, three of the mice were pregnant. Obviously, one was not female. Before long, we had 52 mice.

Yes, a male can impregnate any female he is caged with.

But would he impregnate both?

Of course he would! If there were 15 females, he would impregnant all of them.

They've been together for a month and a half... do you think it is likely she is pregnant? Yikes I already have 13. They are adorable... but... yikes.

Yes, she's probably pregnant too. That's why males and females are kept in separate cages.

And once the babies can be sexed, please separate the males from the females, or you will have an awful lot of snake food (new babies) to give back to the pet shop.

I didn't get them from a pet shop. I will be sure to sex them as early as I can. 3 weeks is what I read online about when they can be weaned is that right?

I wish I had thought to sex them sooner... I was told they were all female and at the time they were small and all looked the same. I have since done my research and am confident I can tell them apart. The nipple thing will be the most obvious... and then closer openings in the female... right?

You don't wean them. The mom will take care of that.

From Hamster Information, Hamsters (http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/pets/hamster.htm) --

"A mother hamster is very maternal, and, if danger threatens, she will carry her babies away, either by putting them into her cheek pouches or laying them across the toothless area of her jaws. Hamster pups should not be touched for the first two weeks as the scent it leaves on the babies can confuse the mother causing her to abandon or even eat them as she mistakes them for someone else's babies. The babies are so tiny that you can also accidentally hurt them. By the time they are two weeks old their eyes are open and they have a thick coat of fur. Mother hamsters wean their babies at about 3-4 weeks of age and the babies should be separated from the mother shortly after that. A female hamster is capable of having 2-3 litters a year."

A male's external sex organs will become quite obvious as he matures.

Will the females have to be removed too? Or can I leave them with mom and set a new cage for the males until all have found homes.

Even the females may fight as they grow up, especially if the cage is too small for all of them.

Alty is our hamster expert and will be online later today or tomorrow. I'll PM her to look at this thread.

Thanks a lot. =)

set a new cage for the males until all have found homes.
If I remember my hamster days well enough, you will need more than one cage for the males. They may fight for territory. Alty will know what to do. Stay tuned!

Oh dear. I already have 3 cages and one in each (of course one has 14 atm) =)

Do you plan to keep all the babies?

Until they are ready to go... but not after that... maybe one... or two... if there are color variations. All three of mine are black atm... =) I may get attached.

The local pet store wanted to buy back my mouse babies for yummy snake food. When I looked at all 52 of them in countless cages that had to be cleaned every day, I was sorely tempted, but they were like my children.

I went to purchase a cage today for the other female as one of our local pet stores are closing at the end of the month... I asked if they would sell me a used one cheap as my hamster had babies... he tried like hell to get me to give them to him... then said he had a little snake that needed to eat and would buy just one... but I couldn't do it. =)

You'll weaken when they start getting each other pregnant. :D

I will separate them before that happens.. lol... I think Ive learned my lesson there. Ha ha ha

Hmmmm, how many cages will she have to have...

At least hamsters are cleaner than mice are. Mice poop and pee wherever; hamsters have a potty corner.

Hi Kayosqueen, I'm Alty. :)

First and foremost, you definitely need to keep the adults separated, not only because of the chance of pregnancy (and you should know that a female can get pregnant again before she's even done weaning the first litter), but because of potential fighting. Hamsters are solitary animals, they do not like being house together. Russian dwarfs (you didn't mention the specific breed of your hammies) can be housed together, but having had these animals in my life, I wouldn't even recommend that. They tend to fight, and they will fight to the death. Also, Russian dwarfs are very aggressive.

Most hamsters can't reproduce until they're around 6 weeks of age. You have until at least that long to either re-home them, or buy a lot more cages. ;)

Mom will know what to do. Make sure she has enough food, because nursing the babies will take a lot out of her. Food high in protein, carrots, lettuce, and other snacks, aren't a treat at this point, they're a necessity.

As for your other female. It's very likely that she's pregnant too. As WG said, if a male has 13 females with him, he'll go after every one. Watch her, she will likely give birth shortly if she's pregnant and you're noticing a fat belly.

One question I have. You mentioned that you didn't get these hamsters from a pet store. Where did you get them? How old were they?

I got them from a local site: Kijiji. A woman had them on there to give away and they were just babies. I got 3 sisters because I was told that we could have more than one in a cage if they were raised together. Unfortunately, one was a brother? I have them all separated now. All in big cages. I don't know what kind they are. I got one from the pet store awhile back and they look like it. It was a Black Bear Hamster... so it was labelled anyway... and mean as heck. They are all black with white/tan hands and a bit of white down their bellies. They were almost 3 months old when we got them... again... so we were told. They were really small and the male did not show testies, which are CLEARLY visible now. Can we post pics or no? I can show you what they are. I am giving her bread soaked with skim milk as was recommended on a few websites I read. Im not even totally sure they were born yesterday... but from the look of them and the pics I've compared them to on Google images... they are clearly just newborn. Even the 3 day old ones online seem to have pigment starting to be visible and these do not yet. Just barely shades. I have touched them... the cage was NOT clean enough to keep them in (gave my daughter a load of crap for that) and mom didn't seem to mind. I got as much cage scent on me as I could before hand and was VERY careful... she is great with them still. I have dealt a LOT with rats, as I bred them a LONG time ago for my lizards... I know I was awful, but... these little guys... I have become weirdly attached to all of a sudden. =)

Yes, you can post pictures. I'll walk you through it. :)

Below the box where you type there's a button that says "go advanced".

Click that button.

When you do that a paper clip symbol will show up on the top part of the box your type in. Click that.

A new screen will show up, named "manage attachment". You hit the browse button, browse through your pictures, and then double click on the ones you want to post.

Once you have selected the picture you want, hit "download".

When it's finished downloading close the "manage attachment" window, and go back to your post. Click on the paper clip again, a link will show up. That's your picture. Click on it, and then post as you normally do. :)

Ok... so here is five pics.
1. Baby with quarter for size comparison
2. Mama with babies day one
3. The belly of the one that was in the nest but not feeding I don't think... now that I look at the pic her nipples look weird. (one I was thinking could be pregnant too) Now I just had a thought that maybe they both had some of the 13... OMG I don't know)
4.Not the mama in her cage
5. Mama with babies again today.

Awwwwww! Pink Play-Doh babies--just like mice babies!

Soooo can you tell the breed? Does she look pregnant or do you think she may have birthed some of them too? Im freaking out that I may have taken her away from her babies... I know for sure the other mother is feeding them...

If the other mother is feeding them, then don't worry too much. But, do make sure that she's getting extra nutrition, because 13 babies will take a lot out of her. She needs extra calories to sustain her milk.

Can you get a better picture of the face of the adults? Right now, if I had to guess, I would say that you have Syrians. Syrians definitely cannot be housed together. Once they reach 6 weeks of age, they're at sexual maturity, and have to be separated. They will fight to the death. But, a picture of the face will help.

I can say with almost 100% certainty that you don't have dwarfs. Dwarfs are brown and white. I'll post a picture. I have never ever seen a black dwarf.

Google Image Result for http://www.hamsterhideout.com/illustrations/marlene/normalww.jpg (http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=dwarf+hamster&num=10&um=1&hl=en&safe=off&biw=1024&bih=602&tbm=isch&tbnid=X2mkAxU5dUCaEM:&imgrefurl=http://www.hamsterhideout.com/breedsww.html&docid=MlSuziJ6O7yEXM&imgurl=http://www.hamsterhideout.com/illustrations/marlene/normalww.jpg&w=377&h=355&ei=6zm4T5M4qZ-IAoPmxYsH&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=313&vpy=271&dur=2999&hovh=218&hovw=231&tx=124&ty=186&sig=114421854019739653968&sqi=2&page=1&tbnh=116&tbnw=131&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:11,s:0,i:158)

Google Image Result for http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-30GltMI8EkY/TfDUJDxbf3I/AAAAAAAAAwY/Nn9Aj-YmZ6Y/s1600/1675748_f520.jpg (http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=dwarf+hamster&num=10&um=1&hl=en&safe=off&biw=1024&bih=602&tbm=isch&tbnid=hQBhq53dLA1UeM:&imgrefurl=http://cutekawaiianimal.blogspot.com/2011/06/robo-dwarf-hamster-care.html&docid=hDeFCyPZ7nTNkM&imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-30GltMI8EkY/TfDUJDxbf3I/AAAAAAAAAwY/Nn9Aj-YmZ6Y/s1600/1675748_f520.jpg&w=520&h=378&ei=6zm4T5M4qZ-IAoPmxYsH&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=718&vpy=298&dur=2983&hovh=191&hovw=263&tx=164&ty=118&sig=114421854019739653968&sqi=2&page=1&tbnh=116&tbnw=155&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:0,i:164)

Here is the best I could get.. lol... they are so black that its hard to get a clear shot. =)

Oh guess they are pretty clear =)

In the first picture you can see that she is nesting still... but do they all do that anyway? My rats did.

I'd always give my hamsters and mice empty paper towel and tp rolls/cardboard tubes, and they would chew them apart for nests.

I'd bet that you have syrians, not dwarfs, just judging by the pictures. Of course I'd be better able to tell you if I could see them, but since that can't happen, I've given you my best guess based on the pictures.

Syrians are the "teddy bear", "panda bear" etc. made up names to make them seem cuter to sell. But, syrians, like dwarfs, are all just one breed, with different coloring. There really is no such thing as a "teddy bear" hamster. It's just a syrian with a certain color, and coat texture.

The main thing you should know about syrians is that you cannot house them together. As human beings we feel sorry for lone hamster, think they need a friend, so we get two, put them together, and more often then not, one day we wake up to a severely injured, or dead hamster. They will fight. Unlike humans, they don't want to be with others of their kind. They prefer to be alone. It's something that's really difficult for we humans to wrap our heads around.

You've already separated them, and you have a while before you'll have to either re-home the babies, or get 13 more cages. ;)

Right now, let momma hammy do her thing, and just make sure she's comfortable. Don't disturb them too much, that can lead to her abandoning the babies. Keep her and the babies in a separate room, a quiet room, and only disturb them when you feed, change their water, or clean their bedding (don't do too much of that if it's not absolutely necessary).

Please, continue to post pictures. They'll grow quickly, and soon they won't be pinkies anymore, they'll be little balls of fur. :)

I will post more pics. Did you think the other was pregnant by the pic of her belly or ? Oh and WG I will put a tube in each cage for you... and maybe a pic of dad too =)

Empty Jello and cake mix and Hamburger Helper boxes work well too. ;)

I will post more pics. Did you think the other was pregnant by the pic of her belly or ? Oh and WG I will put a tube in each cage for you....and maybe a pic of dad too =)

I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you for sure that she either is, or isn't. I really can't just going by the picture. But I wouldn't rule it out. In fact, I'd prepare for it. You may have another 13 babies soon. Eek! ;)

The good news is that if she is, you'll know soon enough. So watch out for more pinkies. You're going to have to start putting out feelers for people wanting to adopt. Don't ask me, I have too many animals as is. In fact, I could open up a petting zoo! ;)

Here's Dad on his wheel. Im so not in love with all the new plastic cages. =( They did escape once but were confined to the bedroom... we were lucky to have caught them all =)

Here's Dad on his wheel. Im so not in love with all the new plastic cages. =( They did escape once but were confined to the bedroom...we were lucky to have caught them all =)

He's adorable! I still see a syrian hammy. Adorable.

If they escape again, put the cage on the floor, and leave the door open. As you know, hamsters are nocturnal. They'll scrounge around during the night, but once morning comes, or they get hungry, they'll likely go back to their cage. I've had many hamster escapes, and 99% of the time I just put the cage on the floor with the door open, and by morning the hamster is back in his/her cage. Except for my Sweet Pea. She was a stinker. She loved to crawl in behind the stove, and build a nest, even though she was never with a male. She'd spend days there. The first time we searched the entire house for her, then gave up, hoped she'd come back. Only to find her behind the stove because I could hear her at night.

She's also the hammy that went down a vent, ended up in the basement, in a vent, unable to get back out. Luck was with her, because I went to do laundry and heard her in the vent. She had been missing for 2 weeks, we had to rip apart the vent to get her, and then we got her a new cage, reinforced, so she wouldn't escape again. Little stinker. ;)