The Main Reasons Why Hamsters Eat Their Own Babies
Excessive Stress: Pregnancy, giving birth, nursing, and taking care of multiple pups are extremely stressful for hamsters. If a hamster feels overly stressed, it may eat its own young.
Insufficient Nutrition: Lack of nutrition during the lactation period or high temperatures can lead to insufficient milk production. The mother hamster may refuse to nurse due to pain and even bite and eat the pups.
Environmental Factors: A crowded environment, strong light, or noise stimulation can cause nerve disorders in the mother hamster, resulting in symptoms such as panic and irritability, which easily lead to the mother hamster biting and eating her young.
Change in Scent: Each pup has the mother's scent on it. If there is a new scent on a pup, the mother hamster may get confused, not recognize her own young, and then bite and eat the pup.
Other Possible Reasons
Stillborns and Weak Pups: Some mother hamsters will eat a stillborn as soon as they discover it, and then develop the habit of eating their young later.
Male Hamsters Eating Young: During the breeding period, both male and female animals are highly aggressive, and the aggression level of male animals is higher than that of female animals.
Having Tasted Bloody Food: If a hamster has tasted bloody food, it can easily become cruel and develop the bad habit of eating its young.
Weak Maternal Instinct: Many mother hamsters have no experience during their first birth and have a weak maternal instinct. This may trigger negative emotions such as anger and impatience, resulting in the occurrence of eating their young.