My Hamster Ate Her Babies...Why? 

I started breeding 12 years ago and this is the first time I lost 2 babies after the first week has passed. I don't know the exact cause but I will split the IKEA detolf cage if I use it for breeding again, just to make sure the mother is not overwhelmed/distracted by the large size and can fully concentrate on the babies. RIP 2 cute babies❤️ P.S. Muffin had enough food and no one disturbed her or touched the babies in the first two weeks. After checking with other breeders, there are a few possible causes: 1. Age (7 months old) 2. Space (Too big for breeding) 3. Hot weather (> 25°C) 4. Just nature Please do not breed hamsters without sufficient knowledge of hamster genetics, which includes but is not limited to mutations, inheritance, crosses, sex linkage, etc.

I had a male hamster raise his babies together with the mom. It was an accident litter, so I didn't know what I was doing. Now I realize how lucky that was, male hamster would likely eat the babies or just don't care. But this little guy was so protective of his babies.

She took "so adorable I could eat you up" to another level.

Don’t beat yourself up. You did the best you could and nature took care of the rest 💙

If you didn't find blood, it's because they died before she ate them. We only bleed if our heart is still pumping. In nature you can't let anything go to waste. It takes a lot of energy to develop and feed young.

I absolutely loved the beautiful gentle music while telling the horrific story of cannibalism and infanticide. 🤣❤

This is just one of my many experiences with hamsters. I had this female and male, the male very calm and the female pretty energic. They bred 5-6 babies, I didn't touch them, I knew I should have put the male elsewhere but the enclosure was a medium one. So I let him stay there. He still saved a spot for him in a corner where he usually peed, poor guy, and she would stay with the babies in her little house toy. She had all sorts of nutritious food, fresh water, everything she needed, I caught her stuffing her babies in her mouth, I was really shocked. I couldn't get them out no matter what I did. Then something "weird" happened. The male saw she was eating her babies and started attacking her, beating each other. The remaining babies were like 3 weeks old now (2 babies) and believe it or not, HE took them under his protection, their mother being somehow "exiled" to stay alone in another corner. I still don't know very much about their behavior, maybe I was lucky twice that my males didn't hurt the babies but protected them instead! And as far as I saw, cannibalism is common at hamsters unfortunately. Same goes for some mom cats. If they feel their baby is too weak or lacks nutrition etc, she will eat it exactly to "recycle" the energy for the other babies. It's sad but this is their cycle of life and we should not interfere. I hope your remaining babies grow well. It's too bad these creatures live so little. Every time one of my hamsters died, it took a huge toll on me and this is the reason I don't keep hamsters anymore. They are so fragile and live so little but despite all of these, we should treasure them and make the most of their life :) regards from Romania

I watch this video right now after the loss of my hamster Lyra- she escaped from her cage and went underneath the floorboards, fell into the wall void , and before we could get to her she died of dehydration, I think you handled the babies so well x

I love how carefully you cared for your babies, and thanks for sharing. A few years ago, I found a two-week old kitten deep in the woods of New Hampshire. Of course I swooped in to save that baby and bought kitten milk, bottles, and read up on what to do. I got up every two hours to feed that tiny tiny thing. It was especially taxing since he didn’t want to suck. I had to feed him drop by drop by drop. Several people suggested that his mother abandoned him when she sensed he wouldn’t thrive. As soon as he was weaned, by accident, I learned just how fast a goal-oriented kitten can run and snarf down food when he smells your roast beef sandwich. 🤭 I’m glad I found him. He grew up to become a strong, beautiful, super plush, and loving tuxedo. 🐈‍⬛

Mom: "Terry, Jenny, Sam, welcome to the world, my little ones." Babies 4 and 5: "What are our names Mommy?" Mom: "Lunch and Dinner" (Seriously though, dark comedy aside; RIP to those poor 2 souls)

Even if you are VERY experienced with hamsters.Accidents still happen!! Also rip the babies..They can rest in the clouds at a early age..Also i hope the babies stay healthy and cute just like Miso and Muffin♡

In my experience the most likely cause is she needs quiet, and darkness. I made the mistake of always giving my hamster fresh food (disturbing her), fresh water (disturbing her), not covering the cage with a towel (too much light, feels like there could be predators). So I only put enough bedding in (not too much, I made sure a heating pad was under the glass cage that I could turn on and off if needed. And I put a large black towel or two over every side of the cage and on top of a tall dresser so I could peek in if needed. They’re burrowers and their dens are normally dark. I also put a ton of food in a corner next to the corner where her babies were. So she didn’t have to leave them. Hence think of actual Bears. They don’t leave the den. And I didn’t do any cage clean until babies had eyes open and were weaned.

Your hamsters are so cute & very well cared for

I'm not very versed on Hamster Breeding, but, I do have alot of Veterinarian experience. I doubt we will ever truly know what happened. As you said, there could be lots of factors. I tend to lean more towards the babies being weak or sick. I can say you are taking EXCELLENT care of your little Hamsters! 🐹 their housing, toys, and food are absolutely perfect!🥰

She's so adorable and her babies are also so adorable

I find you can never stop at just one.

We had a female teddy-bear hamster when I was a kid. She was not friendly. She was always scared. When I'd open her cage to give her food/water...she'd flip over on her back and start screaming. We bred her with one of our males and she completely changed. She became very friendly. She had 9 babies and they all made it. Which is why I was shocked when I watched a few videos, such as yours, and discovered that baby-eating was a thing for them.... so sad

When I was a teenager many, many MANY moons ago, I had a male & female hamster that both got out of their cages. I caught them "in the act" & counted the days she would give birth. Right to the day she had if I'm remembering correctly 8 babies. We found 1/2 of one of them in her cage. The pet store guy told us that sometimes if the mom senses sickness in one of her babies, she will kill it.

"LOL" said the hamster "LMAO"

I am so sorry for your lost hamsters but quite relatable

When I was a child, I had a hamster and I loved her so much. My little sister and I put her boy hamster, against our mother's advice, Pinky got pregnant and had babies. I was thrilled. Then they began dissapearing and soon were all gone. I hated my little hamster after that. There was so much we didn't know. Hamsters need a lot more protein when they have babies. People said we should have fed her raw hamburger, don't know if that's true. But we had never read a book or anything about how to care for Hamsters. Ignorance is a dangerous thing for these precious little animals. I finally stopped hating her, and started to feel Love for her again. But the whole experience was so very disturbing to me as a child.

Muffin: *eats two of her babies* Also Muffin: *cute innocent hammy face*

I bred my hamsters twice. My first mother “recycled” three of her five babies, partially due to my inexperience. But my second hamster, Tanzanite, successfully reared 12 babies! They were all beautiful dark grey longhaired Syrian hamsters, and all found great homes.

I used to cover the whole thing with a cloth, when I want to feed them, just open a small opening and put the fruit in. Normally it will be fine if you do that. One of the explanations is that the mother wants to protect the babies, so when they see some human or other species nearby, they eat their babies by thinking that she wants to protect them in their cheeks, but because the babies are too big to fit in their cheeks, they accidentally swallow the whole child.

About 2 months ago I adopted a dwarf hamster who I later found out was actually pregnant. She had 7 babies which I thought was near miraculous considering she herself was unfortunately less than 2 months old when she got pregnant. She had about 630 square inch enclosure and I had wanted to move her to a 950 square inch one but she gave birth before my dad and I could finish making it. I didn't disturb the babies or the mom for at least 2 weeks and the mom had kept them all in her burrow so I never saw them until they started crawling out. All 7 babies made it to over 3 weeks old, and from observation none looked particularly weak or stood out as a runt. When they were approaching the 4 week mark I wanted to sex them so I could split them into 2 enclosures, which was when I realized a baby went missing. I searched the mum's entire enclosure and dug up the bedding but couldn't find any blood splatters or a body. It's unlikely it escaped either since the walls of the enclosure were tall even with the bedding. To this day I still have no idea where that remaining hamster is. As for the others, all 6 lived to be healthy and the brave mama hamster finally has the enclosure all to herself again. Unfortunately, I think the very early pregnancy stunted her growth but she's still very active and very much hoarding food. I plan to move the babies to their forever homes in the next few weeks.

My goodness, I actually started crying. I am so SO sorry for your loss. I've had several baby rodents die on me, and I know it's not a good feeling. I hope you feel better soon and I hope the rest of the babies do well! As the other comments said, remember that it's not your fault. You've helped me improve the lives of my hamsters and even helped me save one of them, I know if anyone is capable of being the best hamster caregiver possible, it's you.

She probably ate them because you kept looking at them, making her anxious. My ex looked at the newborn hamsters, and took pix of them, and the mother ate one so he wouldn't look at them anymore, and the rest survived.

I remember having 2 hamster. The name was special, we would release him around the house and he would come back when called. He also lived 5 years, which is impressive for a hamster. Then we had a female, but she would attack the male and eat her babies. We hated her, but still took care of that monster xD

It happens even if you do everything right. Been breeding syrian hamsters for almost 15 years, and even though I count the mother protein / nutrients intake and have the room with controlled temperature, it still happened 2 times. There could be so many reasons for this to occur. Some female hamsters wont do it even if the conditions are far from ideal, others will eat her babies even if everything is right and safe... It might be related to each hamster personality. Hard to tell. Keep up the good work!

This happened to me when I was a little kid. Bought a hamster from the Montgomery Wards pet department. Few weeks later it had like 10 babies. I was a stupid little kid and didn't know how to care for animals. I had the hamsters near my stereo and would play loud music. The hamster ate her babies and in reflection I believe it was due to stress. If a hamster feels stressed or in danger- they sometimes eat their babies. I do remember being so sad and built a little coffin for what was left of the babies.

Its not only the story of the hamsters but i also have a cat. Last year she gave birth to 4 kittens but she also ate 2 of them in which one was already dead at the time of birth and the other was very weak. So i think it's not the issue of any nutrition as we always gave her proper diet and even consulted the vet.

Baby hamster: mom, i identify as.... Mom hamster: i eat u

Even though I knew the lost of the two poor babies might somehow due to many reasons…I still feel sad for them…rest in peace little ones. May you both run freely and happily in the hamster heaven. I wish all the other babies grow well and healthy 💙💙

RIP cute little baby hampters 🥺🕊️ And hope Muffin will be healthy forever

I love how peaceful the song is while she is talking about a parent eating their own babies💀🤣

Let me tell you a story about Hannah. I had an all black female hamster name Hannah and she surprised me with 6 babies. The pet store I got her from she was in a cage with a male before I got there. I looked at her and she was big so I knew it she will give birth soon. One day I had her in a glass aquarium and she was digging like crazy, she was building her nest. The male Hannah mated with was the same color as yours. It was an adorable month watching them grow and mama chewed up towels to add to her nest. It was a pleasure seeing Hannah and her babies

Thank you for sharing this, as a hamster owner I was blaming myself a lot because my hamster also ate some of her own babies.. Knowing this accident also happened to a professional breeder slightly makes me feel a little bit better. But in the end.. us, human, couldn't tell exactly what's on animal's mind after all I hope Muffin babies could grow up as big as their mother 💕

Rest in peace, Cute *Hammies* 😔😔😔

Very interesting. thanks for posting this.

When a baby hamster acts like a naughty thing The mom hamster:IT IS TIME TO DO CANNIBALISM

Thankyou Kuma for doing this video now I understand.May those babies rest in peace ❤️

It's ok! You're very experienced, and accidents happen to even the most experienced breeders. I hope the other babies are doing well, rip to the ones that unfortunately passed. Don't be too hard on yourself, it was an accident.

When I was a child my siblings and I was so shocked when we found out how natural it was for hamsters to sometimes eat their own babies. It was a shocking event the first time having been so excited the babies were born, no one touched them then in the next all we found was blood 😱 some did survive and end up growing but still the cycle would continue

She took “ur so cute I would smush u or squish u “too another level

Stressed mama hams normally eat their puppers, as they think “it’s better for me to eat them rather than let my enemies benefit off my poor puppers!” Genuinely it’s sad, but it’s all natural. Hopefully the puppers rest in Hamven.

We had around 4 female rabbits and one of them ate every single one of her babies. I was quite shocked, this had never happened before and the babies were all so healthy. Although I'm still not 100% sure why she did it, we try to learn from it. You're doing the best you can and you sound like a very caring and attentive owner, so I'm sure future hamster mothers and babies are in great hands. Best of luck to you!

hamster is feeling excessively stressed, then it may eat its babies

my hamster ended up getting pregnant two times. The first time she ate them all but the second time she didn’t. The mom sadly past about a year later but I still have all 9 of her kids, I had them since mid 2020 Update: 2 of the girls died and the father😕

Honestly I was really surprised when you bred Muffin because she's so much older than the other girls, it seemed very risky. That said, I feel like sometimes things just happen. Muffin could be young and it could still happen. Sometimes things go wrong, maybe Muffin sensed they just wouldn't thrive or maybe like you said, they passed and she "recycled" them to provide for their siblings. It's heartbreaking they didn't get the chance for whatever reason, but if it happened despite everything being ideal then it was probably for the best to ensure the siblings thrive. The babies that made it are so beautiful, just like their mommy, and I hope they thrive and fluorish

Omg ive never seen thsi channel before and and youve named your hamster muffin too!

I remember when this happened to us... it was so traumatic that for YEARS, my parents and I could not even see shrimps because it reminded us of experience 🥴 I was so traumatized that I don't think I'll ever have hamsters again. 😢

My mom bought my sister 2 hamsters 20 years ago. The pet store didn't disclose that the male and female were siblings. They said they were BOTH females. Well, they ended up mating and the female got pregnant. Babies were born and we would watch them for the next few days, in awe be ahse they were just so cute. She gave birth to babies and when my mom woke up the next morning she noticed a massacre had occured. She removed what was left of the little babies, cleaned everything and told us that the babies went o a bigger and better enclosure. Didn't know the mother or father KILLED THEM until we were older when our mother told us. Another story, my mother bought us kids a bunny. So cute. White. We got home after a long day and our bunny wasn't moving. My mom told us it was asleep. Poor bunny suffered a seizure (vet said) and my mom loved to us saying the Easter bunny wanted their baby back. I believed that so hard until I hit teens lol

I am writing this for other breeders that might be new and want advice. Hamsters eat their babies when they are stressed. The pregnant mother hamster needs lots rest and quiet. Never make noise or disturb a mother that has new pups. I bred hamsters years ago. They are nocturnal. They need peace and quiet during the day. Especially, mother hamsters. Also, don't handle the babies either. Avoid opening the cage during the first week after the pups are born. In rare cases some mother hamsters are just not able to handle having a litter and experience stress with little or no disturbance. I had to hand raise a pup. His mother ate his siblings and I was able to save him. He was an extremely tame hamster and ended up being a very sweet pet. I also use to be careful not to even make heavy footsteps outside the room they were in. It's not a very common behavior, if you take these precautions. I would be reluctant to breed that female again. She might repeat the behavior. Hamsters are from an environment that makes it important not to waste resources. It's just an evolutionary survival tactic. So, I think although rare sometimes it happens regardless of how careful you are around the mom.

…. Meanwhile, those two cats we saw at the start are twirling their whiskers and saying “They think the hamster did it! Mwahahaha!”

You raised an absolute monster!

I have no idea why I’m watching this and I find myself crying in my room by myself over the babies that were eaten by their mother but you in the other hand are one great caring pet parent.. 😢

Honestly, it wasn’t your fault. You showed your specs ( Ideal cage, temperature, nesting, safety procedures.ect) at the beginning and everything seemed fine and should’ve went fine. Accidents just..happen. It’s also possible the babies were super sick and mom just followed her instincts. It’s better this way for all parties involved since if they had lived the genetic output would’ve been bad if they had been weak.

Perfect 👍, so adorable

R.I.P. to those cute little 2 babies, i hope they're at a better place now❤

Poor babies... I guess they were too weak, so she ate them... But it is strange that you didn't find blood. I hope other babies will be strong, healthy and happy

I bred hamsters when I was a child. It was a real awakening at 8 years old to learn sometimes they eat their babies! Never knew there could be so many reasons, we just figured the babies were sick or weak.

Muffin be like:they we're bussin ngl

I remember when I was a kid probably 8 years old. My hamster got pregnant and had babies. I didn’t know it at the time but looking at them or whatever stressed them. One day I opened the enclosure and I saw my hamster bite right into her babies head. I’ll never forget it

I'm sorry, Kuma! It's not your fault, so please don't be hard on yourself. We may have tamed them, somewhat, but they're still pretty wild animals. It's hard to tell why they do some of the things they do, sometimes. Hope you're alright. Thank you for sharing the good AND the bad. It's important that people understand what they're getting into when they welcome pets into their homes, and I think you do that well. ❤️

I think the enclosure was perfect, nothing wrong with it at all, perfect for the hamsters to walk around but RIP babies 🙏

Awwww what a cute ha- OML IT EATS IT BABIES NAW

I can only say that you have a pretty good infinity farm of hamsters from now on 😂

This happens with raised rats and mice too... if they get even a few hours without food, they'll resort to eating their babies. It's more common with mice however, since rats are far more family oriented.

cute hampters! I love how it’s just there being a hampter 😘 RIP to the baby hampters 🥺🕊

"Survival of the fittest" is a phrase that came to my mind watching this video.

some people say, hamsters eat their babies when they scarred to lose them. so never open the cage or touch her babies. don't even look at the babies

I'm not a hamster person really. but I am an animal person in general. I have been bonding with my chipmunks and squirrels,and watching videos about them so perhaps that's why your video was recommended to me. I didn't know this could even happen. I applaud you for making this video. You are raising awareness and saving lives by doing so. I hope many can learn from this. I'm sure many will. Thank you for this video. I'm so sorry for your loss. You gave them a very lovely enviornment I think. You looked extremely prepared.

In my opinion it depends on the characteristics on hams. I had 2 mother hams. one does not like our touch but she did care their babies so well than I expected. but the other mom was good to us and easy to handle but she cannibalized even we didn't touch and look at her and babies. So don't burden to yourself.

Hamster be like I LEARNED IT FROM YOU!!!

Baby hamsters: Mom, is your milk vegan?

It is a huge shame that Muffin's weak babies are never going to live a full life, however you are right, accidents happen. Her surviving babies look very cute! Hope they are getting on well!

So sad to hear the news of lost babies. Muffin might be get stress somehow or as you reckoned, those two were probably too weak or dead and it was mother’s instinct to get rid of them to protect the healthy ones.

Years ago, my family and I had an accident litter (my parents had no damn clue what they were doing when they got me and my brother hamsters) and surprisingly we managed to get all 10+ pups (I think there was like 13?) to adulthood. They didn’t have very long lifespans compared to their parents, the oldest only living a year while the dad lived to 4, but I’m pretty shocked they lasted any amount of time. I definitely didn’t creep my friends out with my research on hamster cannibalism after that…..

Dont understand how their could be zero blood…🤔

My hamster ate one of her babies (she had 8 and 7 died) But I just want to say if ur super experienced breeder or just a person that knows a lot about hamsters mistakes still happen so its perfectly fine!

Also would like to add..you did an amazing job and we can all see how much u love and care for them i dont think it was your fault at all

Omg they are adorable

Bro took u look good in everything to another leve💀

Many years ago I experienced the same issue even though I followed the process by the book. The babies grew fur and the next day were eaten. Any opportunity the mother had to see me near her cage she wanted me dead. She used to be playful with me. I never touched the babies and always kept her cage clean.

Hamster babies are so cute, I had no idea! Especially when they opened up their eyes!

Muffin:mm you smell good time to eat you back in my tummy for birth again Me:if I was Muffin I would sit on them to keep them safe

Mama-Ratcreatures love nothing more than having a gorgefest that features their yummi babies.

I had the same thoughts. Those babies could have been too weak and mom needed the energy and nutrients to take care of them. I'm not overly familiar with hamsters, but I do own rats (domestic) and sometimes the mom does the same thing. Just the way mother nature works.

When it comes to rodents it's usually either stress or food availability. As you mentioned that you prepared tje necessary food then it's likely that either the pregnancy stressed her out or the two were runts that either didn't survive or were too weak to survive.

As a vampire I can say to back up your hamster that babies are absolutely delicious!

Telling a sad story, *the happy music intensifies*

Jeez I almost cried while watching this. Accidents happen and I'm glad that the other babies are okay.

I love how you call Muffin’s enclosure a mansion

If a hamster is feeling excessively stressed then it may eats babies

I have the same breed and they reproduce 5 times and never ate each other.. I suggest giving them unlimited amount of food and water until they open their eyes at least

This happened to my “ male” hamster when I was like 6.it was my first pet and I loved him.one day we heard sounds from the hamster house and thought my hamster was in pain….so I lifted up the house and my hamster had just given birth and went in such a panick she ended up eating her babies….I’m traumatized to this day

it's totally normal for hamsters to eat their young. “Especially in first-time mothers, stress and fear associated with rearing babies can be too much to handle.” Look we get it, mama. Raising kids is hard

bro said: " Uhhhh.... there is too many of them.... ahhh fuck it, imma eat some"

as a kid i breed hamsters, and what i learned was to keep mom and dad in separate enclosers and meet up only when they was gonna mate. Then after mom had the babies, i can't recall exactly how long but i think asap as they opened their eyes and ate and drank for them self i separated them from the mother. There was one batch (probably the second batch) where i left the mom too long and she ate one some of the babies. Also learned as i was breeding as a kid that hamsters need to be separated by gender too, because well the siblings made babies in one batch which was due to lack of experience with hamster breeding. But i got the hang of it but it can happen sometimes that either the mom or the siblings eat the weakest link.

I had a hamster that did this. What happened was she got loose in the house and it took a day to find her. She was always the more feral hamster while the other one was very sweet and helped her out. The babies were still really young and when I found her and put her back in their enclosure is when the trouble started. Eventually this hamster got loose again and i could not found her and never did. She was so untamed and did not like humans much at all.