Need Help With Hamster Runt!!!

[bumble_b18]

I posted about my mother hamster escaping ,but with no feedback. now, I'm desperately worried about the runt of the litter. He's at LEASt 1/2 the size of all the others. While all the ohters have their eyes wide open, his are JUST beginning to open. He wobbles around like an aging pet, not the youngster he is. He's incredibly thin, and always seems to be thirsty. I keep feeding him a mixture of puupy formula, 1%, and water. THIS is because of various websites I've looked at. I'm worried that he won't be able to digest EITHER milk on their own, so it's about 20% puppy formula, 5% of 1% cow milk, and the rest water. All the other babies are eating solid foods and drinking for the water bottle now, but I still use the dropper on the runt aprox. 2-5 times a day, depending on whether he'll eat. I understand that it's quite normal for a litter to have one pup that doesn't survive, and this was a fairly large litter to be separated from their mother (9 pups, mother abandoned then just shy of 2 weeks old), but at the same time, I want to make sure I'm doing absolutely everything I can to keep him alive. I've just separated him from his littermates because he was getting pushed around far too often for my liking. I have them in a small cage right now, only to keep them warm, but he's getting trampled. Does ANYone have any suggestions? Should I keep him with the others? They all have a blanket warmer under their cage, as does the runt. ANY suggestions are MORE than welcome.

[Eyris]

Unfortunately, I don't have any personal advice to offer you.

You might want to E-mail or get in touch with someone experienced at breeding hamsters or a vet specializing in small animals/hamsters.

Good luck with your little guy and the rest. Sounds like you're doing a great job so far. =)

[milenia]

all i can really think of is feeding him from a tiny suringe that way you may get him to eat direct, i'd say handling would be fine as Mum isn't around although he may not be able to be reintroduced to his littermates, i'm no expert though this is only advice, if possible you could always pop him in the airing cupboard its very warm in there, i tried it with a pet once and she made a full recovery.

bye

[jennawing]

You should mix a drop of hamster vitamins in with the formula. The runt- I've seen this before in litters whose moms did NOT go awol- the runt is days behind in development- she is not there so she has not culled it yet or the siblings will kill it. Sad, but likely they know that it cannot develop into a helthy adult. Are these Syrians or dwarfs? I would say that it has a better chance staying with the litter for warmth and stimulation- try to get some fat and protien into them all- tofu, canned catfood, etc- in addition to the formula. I think best to stop cutting the formula so strongly- a little water, yes- but not more than half the ratio.

[bumble_b18]

thanks for the responses. I hadn't even THOUGH about it getting killed by it's littermates. They're all Syrian hamsters. And thanks for the tip on the formiula percentages...

[iceblazer80]

My hamster just had babies. All my hamsters are robos, so I am not sure this applies to your hamster. If he can drink water, lay out a small, easy-to-get-to water bowl. If he cannot drink water or you do not feel water is best for him at the moment, then substitute it for what you feel he needs. After my runt received this, he matured faster. Again, my hamsters are roborovski hamsters, so this may not apply to your hamster.

[clairebee1]

Sorry but this is from 2006..