Breeding

Breeding Syrian Hamsters

First things first. Ask yourself, do I want up to the possibility of 20 baby hamsters. Syrian hamsters can have between 12-20 babies at a time. Dwarfs can have between 8 and 16 babies at a time. If your hamster does have this many hamster do you have something to do with them? You may think that a pet store will take your babies off your hands. In most cases, pet stores will not take your offspring because they already have plenty of suppliers. To the pet store having extra hamsters only means more food to feed them, and more bedding to change and so on. Do you have up to 20 friends wanting hamsters? OK so you are still reading. So if you still think you want to breed your hamster here is what you need to know.

Syrian hamsters are not sociable hamsters. So you can't just put a male and female together and expect them to get along. Keep the male and female in separate tanks until the female is in season. Female Syrian Hamsters come in season every four days when they reach the age of months. To be able to tell when your female is in season, rub her back and if she freezes and stick her tail in the air, she is ready. You will to introduce them in the evening time as they are nocturnal mammals and will accept each other better during that time. When introducing your male and female Syrian to each other, make sure to put the female into the males cage. If they fight take the female back out. You don't want one of them to get hurt or possibly killed. Wait another four days and try to introduce them to each other again. Do this until the will except each other. Mating will take approximately twenty minutes. You must watch the hamsters closely to make sure they do not start attacking each other. Once the female is bred, put her back in her cage. Syrian hamsters gestation period on average is between 16-18 days. Quite quickly I know! You want to make sure not to destroy the female hamster much during the pregnancy. Change her bedding and feed and water her. When changing her bedding avoid changing where she sleeps. This is where she will have her babies. After she has her babies do the same and not disturb her while she is raising her babies. If disturbed she may possibly kill her young. When her young reach the age of two weeks you can begin handling the babies a few minutes each day. At 3-4 weeks the babies are weened and need to be removed from their mother at this time. At 5-6 weeks you will need to separate the hamsters into same sex pairs. Finally at 8-10 weeks your new Syrian Hamsters are ready for their new homes. If you plan on keeping them they must all be housed separately.

So you want to breed your hamsters? Read below about things you need to know before breeding your hamsters.

Hamster Information in Bits

Hamster Bits

Breeding Dwarf Hamsters

Dwarf hamsters are easily bred. They are sociable to each other and often times are usually paired together in cages. A female Dwarf hamster will come in season at the age of 3-4 months old, but can as early as 1 month old. Dwarf hamsters usually breed in the winter months, so this is ideally when you will want to introduce mixed sex pairs. If already together you won't have to worry about it until you want to stop breeding them. However Roborovski Hamsters breed during the spring. Over the course of the mating season Dwarf Hamsters can have up to 3-4 litters of babies. If you don't want that many simply separate them into same sex pairs.

Breeding Your Hamster

Never breed siblings. It is OK however to breed father and daughter or mother and son.