Posts Tagged ‘hamster fighting’

You can experience great joy by merely looking at your Dwarf Hamster as he plays around his cage, but do you know the meaning behind some of his actions? Usually pet owners misunderstand the implications of some of these actions, figuring some of them out can aid you in providing your pet with a more healthy and comfortable life. As with most humans, your hamster will usually live longer if you his reduce his stress.

So what signs should you be looking for?

When your hamster moves stealthily along the floor of his cage, then he may well be nervous about something outside his shelter. He may have seen a cat or some sort of commotion in your house that startled him.

If things deteriorate and your pet becomes even more scared, he may possibly place his ears forward and puff out his cute cheeks. If there is food in his mouth, he will empty his cheek pouches because of fright. If the situation gets this bad for him, it very often means that your hamster is no longer happy with his surroundings and he is preparing to run the first chance he gets.

Handling a hamster at this point is not safe because he becomes aggressive and he will probably bite your hand. If he is lying on his back and his teeth are visible, do not pick him up because again he is showing signs of being really terrified.

When your hamster’s teeth are chattering, this is a sure sign that he is upset or uncomfortable. He may demonstrate this trait if you place him in the cage of another hamster. This could mean big trouble, especially if you put a male Dwarf into a female’s cage, the females are dominant and they will kill the male. If you ever put 2 hamsters together for mating make sure that you never put the male in the female’s cage.

Even if you put them in a neutral cage, they may still fight, and there are some warning signs that you should be aware of when two hamsters are preparing to do so.

They use their scent glands to mark their territory, so you will see the hamsters rub their glands against the wall of the cage. If they want to mark a particular spot, they can also scratch their scent glands with their feet and march around the area that they want to claim as theirs.

So, what about signs that your little baby is happy?

You may see your hamster gnaw the bars of his cage. Do not think that he is planning for an escape! He is just trimming down his teeth. The teeth of Dwarf Hamsters are growing continually, thus they need to reduce the size of their teeth to avoid dental problems and illness. Let him chew the bars of his cage, but see to it that the bars have no sharp pieces that could injure him and make sure that they are not rusty.

When you see your hamster burrowing and searching his bedding material for stray bits of food, or you see him stretching or grooming, you can generally be satisfied that he is definitely happy.

Dwarf Hamsters can give birth to around ten babies per litter after completing a gestational period that lasts 18-20 days. Typically, the standard litter size of a Dwarf Hamster is only 5 to 6 babies. Before you make the decision to breed Dwarf Hamsters, you must have everything well planned to deal with the litter when your hamster mother gives birth. It is recommended that owners conduct plenty of research about the breeding process so that they can raise the pups successfully, if you just let it happen you are in for a big shock, and you may endanger the litter.

For the first 10 days after their birth, baby Dwarf Hamsters must stay with their mother. You should not have any close contact with them whatsoever, if your scent gets on them the mother will kill them, it is also not advisable to transfer them to a different cage. After four days, the baby Dwarf Hamsters will have some color, and they will get their fur after seven days. When they are on their tenth day, the babies will begin to open their eyes, crawl and reach the water bottle. During this time you can start holding them for short periods of time. Sometimes mothers are over-protective of their little ones, so before grabbing them observe their mother’s reaction first. Baby Dwarf Hamsters must be handled with exceptional care, because they are very restless and when you do not hold them properly they may possibly be injured by falling from your grip.

Once they are more than 10 days old you can start taming the babies by handling them more frequently, offer them treats of solid food as they start to eat regularly around the two week mark. You can give them servings of oats, oatmeal, wheat germ or small birdseeds. Once they are about three weeks old, the baby Dwarf Hamsters can eat fresh food with a mixture of lab blocks. Your pets will grow much faster and healthier when you feed them with small grains, something many experienced owners recommend. Slices of cucumber and red apple can also be included in your baby hamsters’ diet to promote their growth.

Eventually when the babies are able to find other ways to feed themselves, their mother will nurse them less often. They will be completely weaned after four weeks. You should also transfer them, grouped by sex, to their corresponding cages, because leaving the male baby any longer with his mother will result in the mother getting pregnant again. If this happens, the babies should be removed from their original cage as their mother will give birth to another litter after 18 to 20 days. This is obviously going to leave you with a lot of new baby hamsters, so avoid unnecessary inbred pregnancy, and separate male and female babies, and be prepared with two other cages in advance.

Once they are transferred to their corresponding cages, be sure to clean their houses at least once a week. However, if you have more babies in one cage, you need to clean it frequently because a crowded cage can get dirtier faster. It is essential to check on the health of the baby hamsters on a regular basis. Ensure that they are all receiving enough food and water and they are not injured from fights with their litter mates. Once they are four weeks old, you can sell them or give them away.