Happy Mothers Day!

We would like to wish a huge happy Mothers day to all mums, and all those that celebrate today in whatever capacity!

We thought we'd also like to honour some of the amazing hamsters that we've had in our rescue that have been mothers themselves!

Our first mum is Merida, who earned her name with this iconic photo which was taken when she was rescued and she was defending her day old babies.

Merida was cohoused with two other dwarves before coming to us. Due to being mis-sexed (a common danger of co housing) she became pregnant and gave birth whilst in the same enclosure as two males.

Merida had moved her babies to the top of a 3 story cage and that is how she came to us (and the exact moment this photo was taken). Once she was safe in our care and in an appropriate enclosure, Merida showed us what an amazing mummy she was.

Unfortunately she was already pregnant again so gave birth for a second time 3 weeks later.

All of Merida's babies and Merida went on to live long, happy lives.

Our next Mummy is Peanut...

Peanut arrived with a 3 week old litter and was the very first litter that came to us, just as we were forming Bright Horizon!

A well-known pet shop had sold the surrenderer two Syrians together, in a small unsuitable enclosure and had advised they could live together. You know the rest of course, they were different sexes and Peanut gave birth some weeks later to 7 pups.

Peanut was not the best Mum; she was quite relieved when she was split from them at 4 weeks old. We are sure all parents can appreciate to needing time off.

Peanut was initially up for adoption but due to her red eyes she struggled to find a home. Little did she know she was already home and her founder foster had fallen in love with this independent, confident young girl who loved to climb her Mummy like a mountain and to nestle in her hair – sometimes trimming it a little.

Peanut lived a happy life and her babies were strong, beautiful and adored.

Cardi B is Mummy number 3!

Cardi and her family arrived in a hurry!

As our team transferred her from her rescue carrier, they discovered two newborn babies in the bedding. Cardi was in the middle of labour during rescue! She and her pups were rapidly and expertly moved to her safe, clean foster enclosure and gave her back the peace she needed to birth and nurse her babies.

After so much trauma, we held our breath for two weeks. Her “sister” - mis-sexed and forced to share a tiny unsafe cage - was the father, so there was extra risk.

Not two, but SEVEN pups emerged - big, strong and boisterous from the start. Despite her huge litter and their huge size, Cardi raised them perfectly until it was time to find them their own individual homes. The day they were separated, she slept for a whole 24 hours!

Cardi herself was adopted into luxury by a wonderful caring human who has since joined our team of volunteers.

She, like several of her children has congenital eye issues and recently she needed an operation to have her eyes removed to protect her life. As you'd expect from such a fierce mama, she's recovering feistily and being a terrible patient!

Our next mumma is Wanda.

When Wanda came into our care she was cohabiting with another robo called Vision.

They were sold as two sisters but Vision turned out to be male and the father to her litters!

She arrived with 2/3 day old newborn pups and another litter that were three weeks old all in the same cage. Hamsters are highly fertile soon after giving birth and unbeknown to us poor Wanda was pregnant again! She had an amazing 16 children in total.

Wanda arrived in poor condition being very skinny and obviously exhausted but with the expert care of her founder foster carer regained weight and had another healthy litter whilst with us.

Once she had recovered from her ordeal she found the most perfect and loving home and is living her best life.

Ashla came into Bright Horizon with Feta, a cohabiting male, and her six pups that were a week old.

Once she had weaned the pups it was quite obvious that Ashla was becoming more and more pear shaped. Feta had been separated on the day of arrival but it was too late there were more on the way…

Soon we welcomed another six pups into Bright Horizon and they were all healthy and happy as well. Ashla is the reason we now have a 28 day pregnancy assessment period for dwarves as she had been separated for more than 21 days before giving birth.

Ashla went on to have the most amazing home and all of the babies found awesome adopters.

Unfortunately, we believe that Ashla came from a backyard breeding background and most of her babies have passed at a younger age than the average for most dwarves.

These are some of the most amazing hamsters we've come across. They have shown resilience and a mother's instinct, even when still babies themselves. But these are also cautionary tales that highlight just how important it is to not house hamsters together.

No hamsters can live safely together in captivity, and while we often talk about the dangers of fighting and injuries, it's important to also remember that pregnancy can often be another consequence when pet shops so often mis-sex hamsters

Giving birth is often traumatic and stressful for our hamsters. It also results in extra lives that need good homes finding, and that's not always an easy job!

While we adore our hamster mums, we would love to see far less litters in rescue!