You know if someone would have offered me a pregnant hamster I would have absolutely refused to take her and given you a 'what, are you crazy?!' look. But having been given one, seeing Amelia and her babies is just a pure delight.
The babies are huge now, no longer the tiny pink worms, barely bigger than the tip of my finger. They are now furry and scampering and lots of fun. Occasionally Amelia climbs to the top of the habitat, where they can't reach yet, and hides from them. (reminding me of the mothers who hide in the bathroom, where the toddlers can't get to them.) But they still sleep all on top of each other, cozy. We've named 2 of them, Hazelnut because s/he is all one colour and Ruby, because s/he has red eyes, but the other 2 stripy ones are harder to tell apart. We don't know what sex they are yet, but we have stroked them, and they are so very very soft, it's amazing.
I'm such a herd animal, that the thought that they grow up to separate and live in their own burrows, only connecting with other hamsters for sex, saddens me. They seem so content now. But even at this tender age (they are about 2 1/2 weeks now) the babies are starting to roll over, snarling at each other, and as they grow older, the fighting will get worse. Hamsters are apparently solitary and territorial.
But now, seeing them clasp the celery stalks in their tiny hands and nibble on it, seeing them try to climb the vertical tunnels that Amelia scampers up, and falling down, seeing them grow, it's just all good. At night, at about 11pm, it's party time in the Hamster suite and three babies at once get into the wheel and run together! And sometimes Amelia gets in and makes it go so fast that they just fly out. (there's lots of soft bedding, no one gets hurt)
We'll miss them when they go (we already spoke to the pet shop, and when they are weaned - between 3-4 weeks - we will return them.)
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