Let's start with Minerva and her babies, since they haven't had any time in the spotlight.
To recap, Minerva either gave birth while being transported to the shelter, or at the shelter itself. I found her in an empty cage, staring with wide eyes, surrounded by pink newborns. Not exactly a promising start in life. By my count, there were 10 babies that day, but unsurprisingly, only 5 survived to the fur-and-open-eyes stage. Hamster mothers eat the babies when stressed, and Minerva had to have been really, really stressed.
She was a good mom otherwise, though. Minerva is really a sweet hamster; she likes to be picked up and petted and I've never seen her bite, even when we were disturbing the nest. Hamster babies can't be touched until they're two weeks old, but around 7-10 days, they start wandering around looking like ugly mutant things.
Then at two weeks, it's like the 'cute' switch flips on! Lookit that face! They're 22 days old now and will need to be separated from mom sometime this week.
This is the only photo I have of all five together. They never stop moving! Minerva was named after Minerva McGonagall in Harry Potter, so we're trying to keep that theme with the kids. We're leaning toward Hedwig for the white one up there.
This cutie doesn't have a name yet; he's black and white, with a little star on his forehead. Pretty markings! I suspect their dad was a Black Bear Hamster, since there's two black babies.
"Why are you still taking my photo??"
We're calling this one Flitwick - this little guy is always on the move! He was the first one out of the nest.
The black one there (tiny beside mom!) is named Padfoot, and he's probably the smallest of the bunch.
And this cream-coloured one is probably my favourite, she's so calm and easy to handle. Plus, adorable beyond belief.And that's the litter! This house is in baby overload!
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