Mrs. Cutie the Replacement was indeed pregnant.
3 days after bringing her home, Mrs. Cutie gave birth to 5 babies.
i took the advice of friends, commenter's and google very seriously and have been leaving Mrs. Cutie and her babies alone. except for my slightly nervous peeking and piling heaps of food in her cage, cutie lives in quiet solitude...in my bedroom, of all places.
i'll be honest. i've been hating on Mrs. Cutie.
i was quite convinced that she had eaten some or all of her babies at one point or another. she would be all ravenous and crazy and hovering and the babies were squealing and i literally wanted to throw Mrs. Cutie out the window.
but i left her alone (while scowling angily at her)
and lo and behold, today, i discovered that there weren't 5 babies at all.
there are 6!!
and they are getting big and look like they have hair growing...and yet still look a bit like aliens without eyes.
any idea if i'm out of the woods yet as far as the cannibalism is concerned? we are going to continue to keep our distance for another 2 weeks...and the boys have been so amazing and haven't bothered her at all. but i'm going to freak out if she eats them now.
so this is me.
googling "how to prevent chinese dwarf hamsters from eating their babies" and chopping tiny bites of eggs and carrots and damp whole wheat bread.
awesome.
Oh goodness...I so shouldn't laugh...but I am.
ReplyDeleteAnd man, the babies are NOT cute like their mother! Ha ha! Maybe that's why mommy Chinese dwarf hamsters eat their babies?! (Kidding, kidding! Well, about the why...not so much about them not being cute!)
And your googling and chopping up food made me giggle, too!
I absolutely would freak out if she ate them, too, if I were you! I hope all this effort to prevent that works out! Just what you thought you signed up for when you got her, eh? :-)
Oh animals! God has a funny sense of humor at the crazy things that transpire sometimes when you have one!
Oh my gosh! They look like tiny baby hippos! I want baby hamsters!
ReplyDeletethis isn't going to help your worry at all, but we had a hamster who ate her babies. Why do they do that??? My hamster did it when I was in the 5th grade, so WAY before Google was ever invented. I hope that you're out of the woods as far as cannibalism is concerned.
ReplyDeleteoh this was such a good story! i have an irrational fear of hamsters eating eachother and thats grown ones so i would be so nervous if i ever bred them!
ReplyDeleteLooks like you did super well leaving them alone tho!
:)
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