# Syrians listed on CL - help/ advice needed



## eluin (Jan 25, 2010)

I posted this on Goosemoose, but I can use all the help I can get. Any advice would be welcome.
I was browsing my local CL this morning (I need to stop looking at CL when I'm bored, it never leads anywhere good) and I found an ad for Syrian hamsters. I can't tell how old they are looking, but the lady has 8. Apparently they got one for her daughter from a petstore, it popped without warning and she doesn't know what to do with the babies. They haven't been separated by sex since she doesn't know how to do that. I sent her a link to pictures on sexing the hamsters and told her that if she could get them to me (I think she is about 2 hours away) I'd find homes for them. I am guessing the females will have to be on pregnancy watch since they haven't been separated. I've got a couple of small tanks and cages I can separate everyone into until I find them homes. I just need a little advice. Since they've been together since birth, can I keep same sex pairs together or will they still kill each other? How long is their gestation period, so I know when to end the pregnancy watch? What is the best food for them and what kind of bedding is best? I know that they chew everything all the time, so will a cage with a plastic base hold up? Can they transmit anything to my rats that I need to watch out for? 
Hopefully we are due for a Christmas miracle and she will have found homes for a couple more before she brings them to me. I just want them out of her hands before the females get pregnant again. Also, do any of the rescues have a surrender form I can use? I am NOT a rescue yet, though I'd like to be later on down the road, and I'd like to do this properly if I can. 

Edit: Also, since this would be an accidental litter, would I be allowed to put the babies up for adoption here? I'm hoping none of the females are pregnant, but I'm going to need a lot of homes very fast if they are. I've dealt with pregnant rats before, but never pregnant hamsters. We'll deal with the mountain of pregnancy questions I'll have after I get them home and see what we are dealing with.


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