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Desmond’s sister bought 2 hamsters a few months ago. The female hamster recently gave birth to 4 little hamsters. I was so excited to see them because I had never seen baby hamsters before. =) My old hamsters were always fighting and never had babies. (They are now in hamster heaven. The average lifespan for hamsters is 2 years but they died before that. )

Some photos that I took of her new hamsters :

I didn’t take a photo on the first day. I didn’t have my camera with me. The female hamster didn’t look pregnant at all and we were shocked upon seeing the babies. Desmond’s sister was the one who saw them first; a little bundle of pink, bald, wriggling little bodies. The first thing which came to my mind upon seeing the babies was … ‘Just a few days ago Desmond had put both adult hamsters in their respective balls to let them exercise. This means that the female hamster was already pregnant when she was running around in the ball and knocking into chairs and other things which were in her way. arghhh.’

The babies had no fur when they were born and their eyes were closed. I think that it took about 1-2 weeks for their eyes to open and their fur to grow. I didn’t count. I’ll post the other photos another time.

We didn’t touch the baby hamsters at all so as not to ‘contaminate’ them with human scents. The adult hamsters might eat their babies if they have a foreign smell on them. The hamster cage must not be cleaned during the first few weeks. In fact, the best thing to do is ‘nothing’. The hamsters shouldn’t be disturbed until they are big enough.

This photo was taken from outside the cage. (which explains about the white thing on the photo.)

A close-up. Look at that. awwwww

Another similar photo…

…and a close-up! The female hamster was moving about sometimes when the babies were still suckling milk and it was alarming to see the babies being dragged all over the place.

Yesterday afternoon I found only one hamster in the cage when I returned home. It was then that I realized that I didn’t close the top lid properly after playing with them. There was a small space at the top and one of the hamsters had somehow climbed the bars and squeezed through that space. I panicked and started to look for the missing hamster frantically. It took me almost an hour to find her. She was in my food storage cupboard which I had left semi-opened. I had to remove many things from the cupboard to be able to get her out. She seemed to like the cupboard a lot. That’s surprising because the cupboard smells like spices, esp. curry powder.
She doesn’t seem to be happy to be back in the cage now.

I didn’t want to mention anything about them before uploading the photos.

Yesterday afternoon,Des and I had gone to a Plants and animals market not very far from our university. I didn’t take any pics there. In fact, I didn’t even think of doing that. I was too busy looking around. It was my first time at such a market.
I was the only one who was supposed to buy hamsters but in the end, Des bought too. Who can resist those little creatures?
I bought two Roborovski hamsters and Des bought two Winter white Pearl (from the Dwarf Winter White Russian hamsters group) hamsters. Des also bought a hamster cage, some wood shavings and bath sand. I already bought my hamster cage, wood shavings, bath sand, hamster food,etc before so I didn’t buy anything else. I’ll be sharing my packets of hamster things with Des.

After a few hours, Des and I exchanged hamsters and hamster cages. I love the Roborovskis but they are too fast and don’t like to be handled. It will take a while to tame them. I will go to see them at my bf’s place as often as I can. I took the Winter whites home instead. They are not as energetic as the Roborovskis and I won’t have to worry about looking for them all over my room. I also don’t want my roommate to complain about them. I’m sad about having changed hamsters with my bf.

Some photos taken at my bf’s place before I took my hamsters home:

I was near the window when I took this photo. This is why the dorsal stripe isn’t really visible in the photos.

Link for my own future reference: Hamster nutrition

Two hours ago, my boyfriend phoned me when I was in class. He usually never calls me in the morning so I ran outside to answer his call. He told me that when he woke up, he saw only one of the hamsters. Upon closer inspection, he found the missing hamster half-buried under the soft wood shavings. It was dead and covered with blood. The other hamster was nibbling on its head. Arghh… what happened? They were still okay when I left them at my boyfriend’s place the other day. They were well-fed and in good care. The remaining hamster is the fat one. I don’t know why it’s so fat. Pregnant? or maybe too greedy? Did it kill the other hamster? or did the other one die first (somehow) and then the hamster started eating it?

I never even got around to naming the hamsters.
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edited on 31st March 2006
The other hamster died too.
My friend told me that maybe the hamsters I bought were not in a good health condition. I bought them from someone on the street after all. She advised me to buy from a pets shop instead next time, if there is a next time..

I’ve always wanted a hamster when I was in Mauritius but I had cats at home, so I deemed it wiser not to buy hamsters. I saw a man selling hamsters and rabbits near Carrefour the other day and it was love at first sight when I saw the hamsters. I couldn’t resist.They are so cute, tiny and fast.

Now I need to get a bigger cage for them. I’ve seen a cute one on ebay which comes with a slide and a wheel. So cute. We aren’t allowed to keep pets such as cats or dogs in the dorm but the hamsters are so small and if kept in the cage, they won’t be running around, getting in the way of other people. They don’t make much noise either. They only squeak once in a while, especially when they seem to be ‘playing around’. The other day, I saw one of the hamsters on top of the other. hmmm
I brought them to class the other day and my classmates played with them. My other friends also played with the hamsters. Unfortunately, one of the hamsters defecated on one of my friend’s hand. It was a small,black and dry-looking ‘pellet’. lol

Some links for future reference:
Hammy goodies,
Hamsterland,
small domestic care,
Male or Female?,
hamster faqs.