Pregnancy and Birth

You can help the mother during pregnancy by providing lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. A Syrian pregnancy will last for 16 days in dwarfs it will last about 18-21 days. For a little while before and after birth the mother may not like being handled so she may bite you. it will be best to leave her alone of she is behaving like this unless she is showing signs of wanting to come out and be handled by you.

A few days before birth it is best to do a complete cage clean as you won't be able to do another one for about 2-3 weeks. Make sure she has lots of bedding material to build a nest. Keep the cage in a nice quiet room to avoid stressing the mother as she gives birth and looks after the pups.

If it is a dwarf that is pregnant and the father is still sharing a cage with the mother then it is a good idea to remove him before she gives birth. He can be left in though if you want to as he will help out with looking after the pups but note they can mate again within 24 hours of her giving birth and you'll end up with another litter due in 18 days.

Once the mother has give birth to the pups it's a good idea to remove the wheel from the cage as this may injure the pups if they wander around the cage. Also lower the water bottle ready for when the pups can start to drink from it. Keep providing fresh fruit and vegetables daily along with some bread soaked in milk. It is important you do not disturb or touch the pups, doing so may cause the mother to kill them. You can start to handle the pups once their eyes open which is around 2 weeks old. At this age they should wander from the nest more often and will start to eat solid food. You can also clean the cage out once the pups are at handling age.

At 3 weeks old they should be fully weaned and eating solid foods. They should be removed from the mother before 4 weeks old and put into single sex groups. If you plan to keep the dwarf pups then these can be split into single sex groups with females living with the mother and males with the father. You must make sure the cage is big enough to cage them all.

You must keep them in these groups until they are 6 weeks old if you plan to sell them. From 6 weeks you can sell them if you wish to. Syrians should be seperated by 8 weeks old to avoid fighting. If they fight before this time then you will have to do it then to avoid injures.

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