Oh Baby!

About two weeks ago, I took in seven young syrian hamsters from a man who had rescued them in the Bronx. They had been abandoned outside the Bronx Zoo--as many animals are, which makes no sense because the zoo doesn't take them in or anything. However, this guy actually does quite often take in the animals he finds left out in the cold or heat.

Anyway. So this guy finds seven hamsters wandering around--no cage, no water, no food, no shelter, on a really insanely hot NYC day. He took them in, and separated them by gender, hoping that none were pregnant. He then brought them down to the Hamster House, and I took them all in.

Then I had a whirlwind two weeks, during which I had new windows installed, my boyfriend moved in, and I went on a week-long vacation to San Francisco. My wonderful neighbor J watched the hamsters while I was gone and did a great job, giving them water and food and making sure that no one escaped.

However, when I came home and went to clean the cages... I found not ONE, not TWO, but THREE brand-new litters of babies. THREE LITTERS OF TEN BABIES EACH. In case you haven't learned multiplication yet, that means I now have thirty babies to deal with. I took pictures of two of the litters, but by the third litter I just wanted to cry.

Litter One (born ~August 6th)

Litter Two (born ~August 10th)

Needless to say, they are not yet ready for adoption. I'm guessing that they will be weaned off mama by the end of this month, at which time I will separate them by sex. They can then stay that way until they start fighting, which could be one week later or could be a month later. At that time, they will each need their own cage, wheel, food and water. THIRTY hamster setups. It's not that I don't have extra cages--I do have some. But.... I can't afford, in time, money, or space, to have that many hamsters.

I thereby announce a HUGE HAMSTER ADOPTION PARTY to be held in late August or early September. I'll post more details as I have them, but MAN, will I need your guys' help to promote this and to get people to come and adopt!

Wish me luck :)