Hamsters

Hamsters are very active animals and can run at speeds of 5 miles (8 km) per hour. They can travel long distances in their search for food, climbing over rocks and wandering through the scrub.They are not sociable animals and will be aggressive to each other when they meet. There are two exceptions to this: when a male and female come together to mate, and when a female is rearing her babies. She can have as many as 11 in a litter. Baby hamsters are born hairless and their eyes and ears are closed, so they do not see or hear. They do, however, have a sharp set of teeth when they are born. Their ears open when they are about 4 days old and the eyes at about 2 weeks and the hair begins to grow about a week after birth. At this stage they are totally dependent on their mother to keep them fed, warm, and protected. They start to eat solid food and drink water when they are about 10 days old and are weaned around three weeks of age, when the mother starts to leave them to look after themselves for periods of time by making a separate nest to sleep in. Around two weeks of age the babies start to play fight. However, this sociable period of their life is short lived and, two weeks later, when they are one month old they are sexually mature and the fighting is no longer play but serious. At this time they disperse, going off to make their own burrows and fend for themselves.

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Hamsters