Brownie

When I was in a pet store last Friday, I saw a very large black syrian. She turned out to be very pregnant. There was a small male in with her who was injured. When I talked to the workers about the situation, they were unaware that she was pregnant but said the male had just been placed in her cage since he was getting beat up where he was. Well, a pregnant hamster will also beat up a cage mate and will kill the young if others are in her cage. After some negotiation and knowing that they did not have the space to give her her own cage, I came home with Brownie. I wanted to give the litter a chance.

She surprised me by just getting bigger and bigger and not delivering until Tuesday. I woke up to her in labor having contractions. The delivery went well, and we have election day babies (not that election day is over yet). There appear to be about 10 babies. She is being a very good and conscientious mother. She has also always been very friendly and never made any attempt to bite either while pregnant or as a new mother.

Here are pictures of the protective mom and her litter.

Mom is a bit on the brown side. I suspected she was actually a poorly marked black tortoiseshell and not an unpatterned black. Her litter has proven that she is indeed a tortoiseshell. She has four blacks, four black torts, two creams, and one yellow black. Some appear to be satin. Since I don't believe Brownie is satin, the black male must have been satin. Satin is very hard to see on the blacks, so it may be hard to tell which of her black babies are satin. It appears one cream and the yellow black are satin. She usually covers the litter when she leaves, and is a very conscientious mother.

Mom and the babies will be available for adoption in time for Christmas. If you are interested in adopting Brownie or one of her babies, I can supply you with an application. We are also requesting a $5 club donation for the mother or $10 for one of the babies.

The mother will be available for our Christmas show on December 2nd. The babies will be available December 12th and must be picked up in Orange County that week. I will take reservations for the babies until the Christmas show on December 2nd. Any babies not reserved by that time will be made available to others.

Here is the litter at day 17. The three yellows/creams are all male. The two on the right are satin. The four torts are all females. None of them are show quality (they do not have enough yellow) although they will make good pets. The blacks are one male and three females. Some of the torts and blacks will be satin although I am having a hard time telling which are satin. All are short haired like their mother.