Posted on Leave a comment

My Hamster Horror Story And What You Can Learn From It?

Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted a hamster. I thought they were really cute and from a small child’s perspective, they are.

They are tiny and for some reason, we humans are attracted to small creatures. However, my mother hated hamsters.

She hates anything that resembles a mouse and with good reason. We lived in an apartment once that was infested with mice so to get my mother to agree to buy me a hamster simply wasn’t an option.

Fast forward to my 20-something self when I moved out for the first time and one of my roommates’ brother happened to have a few hamsters he was giving away. Remembering how much I wanted a hamster when I was little, I was quick to accept the little critter, no questions asked.

Well, a few questions, like, is it a boy or girl? How many times a day do I feed him? How often do I clean his cage? Those sorts of questions, because I realized that even though I wanted a hamster, I didn’t know the first thing about taking care of one.

who could say no to this cutie-pie
Who could say no to this cutie pie ?

He gives me the boy, who turns out to be a girl and I find this out after I wake up one morning to find seven little babies suckling from her.

This was disappointing because I thought I was given a boy but as it turned out, the other hamster she shared a cage with was a boy and well, you know…

So, I checked on her and fed her every day, waiting for the little ones to grow. I couldn’t afford to keep them so I was planning on giving them to some friends as gifts. What I didn’t know was that the babies needed food, not just mom’s milk.

For most animals, the mother cares for her young. It’s what we do. I watched her nurse them but as the weeks went by, I started noticing them disappearing one by one.

At first I thought someone or something was stealing the babies. Then I thought they were just dying off because sometimes that happens in the animal kingdom. I even looked around the room for carcasses but never found one. I worked full time so a new baby would be missing by the time I got home from work.

Then there was one left and it was growing fast. It was finally starting to look like a real hamster. I thought; another week and I should be able to give it another home. I even had someone lined up to take the little fur ball.

That’s when it happened! The horror of horrors!

I was lying on my bed listening to my music when I looked up and saw it! My mother hamster was eating her baby! I was horrified! Beyond horrified! The worst part was I couldn’t even do anything.

The baby was already dead. I didn’t know what to do so I called one of my roommates in and they said, “didn’t you know you were supposed to take the baby out? Uh, no I didn’t know that!”

Don't touch mamma or the babies for 3-4 weeks.
Don’t touch mama hamster or the babies for the first 3-4 weeks after birth. Then take the babies out!

Apparently, my roommates knew more about caring for hamsters than I did but neglected to tell me that I needed to separate the mother from her babies sooner.

Up to this point, my experience with animal parental units had been limited to cats and dogs. Well, no, I knew about fish, goldfish in particular.

I had watched my grandmother put the babies in a separate fish tank as soon as they were born but I knew nothing about hamsters.

Now you’re probably thinking, “Why didn’t you just google it?” Well ladies and gents, google didn’t exist back then. The internet was still fairly new and I didn’t own a computer. I could have gone to the local pet store or called a veterinarian but I didn’t even think about it.

I realized that I was clearly not equipped to care for a hamster so I gave my hamster to the person who was supposed to get the baby.

But here is what I did find upon doing some ‘googling’ for this article:

 “Hamster cannibalism is not uncommon. When a hamster gives birth, she may feel pushed to eat some or all of the new pups. This may be a response to lack of resources (like food, space, or protein), fear of a perceived threat, or some type of confusion.” 

Source: knowledgenuts.com

In the article it also said that first time moms, especially, may eat their young because they see them as a threat. When I think back, I knew something was off about her. She seemed pretty stressed, even though I tried to play with her. She wanted nothing to do with me.

lightbulbSo, the moral of the story is, if you’re going to get a hamster or any animal that you don’t know anything about, do your research first.

Talk to the experts at your local pet food supply stores, ask a veterinarian or do your research here at ilovepets.co

Leave comments below to share your thoughts and stories.

Also don’t forget to share this post in your favorite social media outlets.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge