December 2, 2007
Our cute baby hamsters are out and about at last
Now at around two week old our hamster babies are finally losing their inhibitions and are out and about quite frequently and are incredibly cute. Once you’ve seen newborn lambs and chicks you think you have seen the cutest things that the animal world has to offer, then it surprises you again with a baby animal at least equally cute.
Hamster babies are tiny and they seem to have a head that is disproportionately large for their bodies, which just adds to their cuteness. When we first started to handle them they would just sit there, frozen to the spot. Now though, they are having a sniff around and even having a little nibble at our fingers.
We have two lovely fawn coloured baby hamsters and three that have exactly the same markings as their mother, which is darker brown with a blackish dorsal stripe. We did count at least eight to begin with but some do seem to have disappeared, without a trace. Unfortunately, one of the babies seems to have a problem with its eye, which doesn’t seem to be opening properly. We are going to ask for some advice regarding this from a hamster expert on our hamster discussion forum. We are still hoping that it is not too late and that the eye may be ok. You can just see this briefly on the videos below.
We are now thinking about having a go at sexing the hamsters soon as we will need to separate them at about 3 weeks. We are also dreading separating the parents, as they do make a lovely and very considerate couple. From observing the daddy hamster over the last two weeks I think many human dads could learn a thing or two about how to be a good partner and father!
John
