female hamster eating her babies

I breed rodents(rats,mice,Hamsters, and African Soft Fur Rats.) The two reason why most females eat there young are THIRST, and a lack of Protein. So if you get a food with a higher protein level that may help. Other females are just BAD MOTHERS. It's a fact that some animals just can't handle the stresses of motherhood and kill their young. So good luck. And I hope this gives you some insight. I am sorry there isn't a better answer. -Tony

When hamsters are pregnant they create a huge nest and burrow below. If at all you disturb the nest or touch the babies you could leave your scent there. If the babies have your scent the mother hamster won't think that it is their babies. I think that that is also another reason why they eat them. . .If the hamster doesn't eat them all do you keep them or try to sell to people. I had bred hamsters before. I kept them all. And there was a point that I had 30 hamsters total.

They say that a mother hamster know how to take good care of their babies. Actually I experience the same thing with you during the first pregnancy of my hamster. Actually a mother hamster just eat their babies whenever they knew that their babies have no capacity to live. Second, they felt jealous whenever you touch their babies. That's why you will notice that they don't feed their babies and even giving a shelter. So the best thing to do is to feed the mother. and let her do the rest for her babies. If ever you can seperate the father hamster for the security of the baby. And also never touch and change their beddings and location. Because they recognize each othER by their smell.

That is sort of normal. They will sometimes get nervous and accidentally eat her babies on the first try. Next time she will probably not eat them though. I used to have a pet rat and the same thing happened.