2002-09-11 - 7:49 p.m.

The Joy of Baby Hammies

I mentioned a while back that Calvin the hamster had her babies near the end of August. Today they are 17 days old.

Calvin's cage sits on the dining table in the kitchen, which is a good place for it. That way, I can watch the amusing antics of the baby hamsters as I am dutifully munching on all the salads I have to eat for this diet. It's better than TV!

The thing about baby hamsters is that they grow unbelievably fast. With these guys it seems like they've grown every time I sit down to look at them. Already they are starting to look more like tiny hamsters than like furry peanuts with wobbly legs.

A couple weeks ago I think I said that the litter may have been as small as three. After I got back from Kerhonkson, I could tell there were at least five. Now I am certain that there are six babies, which is on the low side of average, but perfectly okay. There is only one gray one though. Oh well! That's the genetic lottery for you!

Baby hamsters are born blind, with their eyes closed, and they don't open up until they are two weeks old. I was under the impression that hamsters don't rely on their sight that much since their vision is so poor. All the little guys can see, I think, is light and dark. However, baby hamsters act a lot differently once their eyes are open.

For one thing, just after their eyes open they usually stagger around blinking at everything, like they can't believe they can actually see. It's very cute. However, I can clearly see a difference when I lift the top of the cage to give them some food. Before their eyes were open, they didn't flinch, even if I was rather loud. However, once their eyes are open they run in panic to a corner if I lift the lid. It's clearly an aural cue that makes them act, not a visual one, yet why don't they react to the noise before their eyes are open?

The other thing that happens is that the babies start fighting. They seem to ignore each other when their eyes are closed, but once they open brawls happen all the time.

Baby hamster fights are not too serious. Basically they roll around in the cedar nipping each other, all the while making noises like dog squeaky toys. All night last night I could hear them arguing with each other. I know that dogs and cats play-fight, but hamsters fight in earnest. In general, they don't seem to have any sort of a sense of fun, so obviously it's about dominance or food or something like that.

Baby hammies like to do two things: eat and sleep. If they are not doing one, they are doing the other. It's hardly surprising: if I was growing as fast as they are, I'd be sleeping all the time.

I do feel sorry for their poor mother, Calvin. She looks rather thin and bedraggled, but I can see how having six kids at once would wear you out. A few days ago she was chasing after the babies and dragging them back into the nest. Now she's running away from them, finding a new corner of the cage to sleep in so they won't be bothering her all the time. Of course the babies find her, and desert the nest one by one until they all are sleeping with her again in the new corner. There's just no escaping them.

Oh, and I also found out why Pooka didn't have a litter by Ghosty. She's well over a year old! I believe I bought her last August, around the time when I bought poor little Leet. Generally once female hamsters a year old, they can't have babies any more. I will try one more time with her, since she seems healthy and vigorous, but if that doesn't work I'm going to have to buy a new female.

Now, as I sit here typing this I hear a bunch of squeaking from the kitchen. Translated from the hamster, they are saying "It's time to feed us again!"