hamster tragedy: the sequel

The mama hamster did great with her babies for the first two days.  At the end of day two, the kids walked in from school and peeked over the cage just in time to see her gobbling up one of the babies.  We had done our research.  We knew not to touch them, not bother them, to make sure she had plenty of food and water.  We knew that sometimes the mama will "take out" a few of the babies if she thinks she cannot care for them all, so I thought maybe that was the case.  I tried to get the kids to walk away, but they couldn't.  We then watched as she got rid of another one.  The kids got upset.  Bev told me that I had to stop it.  Jessi said that maybe the mama was confused and though they were treats.  Then Christian said, "Mom, stop her...she's on a rampage."  I opened the cage and pushed the mama away from the babies with a stick.  She kept going after them.  After a bit, I let her go back with them just to see her go after another one.  So, I just grabbed her and took her out of the cage.  Bev held her and through her tears said, "Ash, why are you doing this?  Stop eating your babies."

After a few minutes I put her back in the cage and she didn't stop.  I knew by intervening that our chances wouldn't be good, but I decided that they were better with us than with her.  I googled what to do and learned that I needed come kitten formula.

We then fed them with a tiny dropper, every hour.  We kept them on a heating pad and Bev made them a little nest.

We started with 8 babies.  6 survived the first night.  The next day, I could tell they weren't doing well. Google told me that the #1 danger is that they aspirate the formula and get it in their lungs.  We tried to give them tiny drops, but I could tell that was happening.  Mike got home from work and walked in to the kitchen to find me trying to burp them after I fed them.  The second day the rest died and we were left with one.

There was much discussion about which person should have the baby hamster because he wasn't safe with either of his parents.  Andrew argued that it should be him.  Bev and Kiki agreed and she wrote up this contract. (The medical bills refer to the $8 I spent on the kitten formula.)

We pinned all our hopes on the little guy, but the next day he died.

So, what have we learned from this tragedy?  That I never want baby hamsters again.  That as much as they may be in love, Chris and Ash must live separate lives.  (When I told everyone that I wanted them to stay in their own cages, Drew said that we should rename them Romeo and Juliet "star-crossed lovers that must remain apart.")

Just yesterday, Christian, out of the blue, said, "Mom, having pets is important, cause it teaches you important stuff for life, like how to take care of things and feed them, and how to bury them."  Indeed, many life lessons were learned.