Expert: Jedediah - 12/5/2004

Question
is my hamster pregnant?she is stuffing bedding into her mouth and bringing it up to her house.she has mated.is it possible for her to be pregnant?when i looked in her house i saw something like a nest.please help me.thank you.

Answer
Dear Zoe,
thank you for your question.
All hamsters build a nest for themselve, but if she mated, the odds are very high that she is indeed pregnant. Give her plenty of nesting material and food, animal protein in form of mealworm or at least curd is important right now.
Syrian hamsters are pregnant 16-19 days, dwarf hamster 19-22 days. Don't disturb the mother or she might eat or abandon her babies. As soon as the babies come out by themselve, you should move them with the mother (and the nest) to a large aquarium so that the babies cannot escape through the bars.

You can take her to the vet to be sure, otherwise you will have to wait if she gives birth because it's next to impossible to see if a hamster is pregnant. If she does give birth to babies, try top find new homes for them as soon as possible. Although hamsters are cute, this won't be easy. Hamsters sold to pet shops often end as snake dinners. Besides, you never know who will buy them then. They must be seperated from their mother when they are three weeks old (but not sooner) and you must seperate male and female babies because they can mate when they are four weeks old.
I hope I was of some help
Jennifer