# Thinking of breeding hamsters!



## amz543 (Mar 4, 2009)

Hey, im thinking of breeding syrian hamsters myself, does anybody have any advice?


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## pauls-mummy (Mar 3, 2009)

i bought one of these once, got it home set it up in cage etc, was going brilliantly, then a week later i was about to clean out the house, and saw what i first thought was maggots, i looked closer and to my surprise, my syrian had four little babies, not knowing what to do, i chose to leave the cleaning for a while, kept feeding and watering daily and left her too it, she raised four beautiful little hamsters, i went out and bought four starter kits, and when they were mature enough i gave them all away. 
dont know how to breed them exactly but i reckon natures pretty good... lol


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## ChrisTheGerbilGuy (Aug 9, 2008)

As long as you've got your facts and a vet ready, you're good to go.

Females come into estrus 'heat' roughly every 4-5 days, so you would need to put the female into the males cage (never the other way around!) and you'll soon know if she's willing to mate. Do not pair them up together (keep them in the same cage for a long period of time) as the female will be aggressive to the male and death of the male is likely.

The male will mate with the female several times before he ejaculates. Then, all you have to do is wait 18-20 days (average gestation) before the female gives birth. Do not clean the cage out until the pups are fully weaned. And do not touch the pups until they are at least a week old. If you are at all concerned about the pups, get a pencil and rub the back end (not the lead end) around the bedding and the mother, then you can carefully prize the nest apart.

The female will need additional protein during her pregnancy and lactation period.

Average pups born at roughly 6-8. Please expect as many as 14-16 pups in certain cases.

And im sure you already know this but don't use pet shop hamsters/rescue hamsters to breed, use ones with a known genetic history, at least 3 generations.

I hope this helps, any further questions please ask


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## amz543 (Mar 4, 2009)

After they have mated do i seperate them and never put them together again? (unless i want to breed again lol) 
When i am able to touch the babies will the mother become aggressive towards me as she is still protective?
Do i change the diet from normal hamster food from pet shop to something different when she is starting her pregnancy?
Is it dangerous to still keep touching and picking up the newly pregnant hamster to still keep the tameness i would do daily?
sorry for all the questions  you have been a great help so far


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## ChrisTheGerbilGuy (Aug 9, 2008)

[email protected] said:


> After they have mated do i seperate them and never put them together again? (unless i want to breed again lol)
> When i am able to touch the babies will the mother become aggressive towards me as she is still protective?
> Do i change the diet from normal hamster food from pet shop to something different when she is starting her pregnancy?
> Is it dangerous to still keep touching and picking up the newly pregnant hamster to still keep the tameness i would do daily?
> sorry for all the questions  you have been a great help so far


Yeah, it's a good idea not to leave them in together after they have mated  From my experience, female hamsters can be fairly aggressive when it comes to protecting their young, especially if they are a first time mum, it is best to leave her completely alone for a few days, then put your hand in the cage, if she doesn't want you near her pups, she will let you know lol.
There's no need to change hamster food, this could cause a tummy upset, just give additional protein (dried mealworms, a bit of bread soaked in milk).
You can handle a pregnant hamster up until she's a few days from giving birth, you'll know because she'll balloon out  Then it's best to stop handling her incase you damage the unborn pups (it's easily done).
Don't worry about the questions, i'm happy to help :thumbup1:


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## Midnight (Jan 17, 2009)

I'd just like to say Chris your a very knowledgeable guy  :thumbup:


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## ChrisTheGerbilGuy (Aug 9, 2008)

Thanks  I spent a whole year reading up on hamster health and breeding


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## Superpettoysrus.com (Nov 23, 2008)

ChrisTheGerbilGuy said:


> As long as you've got your facts and a vet ready, you're good to go.
> 
> Females come into estrus 'heat' roughly every 4-5 days, so you would need to put the female into the males cage (never the other way around!) and you'll soon know if she's willing to mate. Do not pair them up together (keep them in the same cage for a long period of time) as the female will be aggressive to the male and death of the male is likely.
> 
> ...


Hi, good advice....only wanted to add when i bred my hamsters i found when she was not in heat and she was aggressive towards the male it was easier to seperate them if i didnt put them in the cage...so i would put them somewhere a bit more open so you can get into them easy...unless you keep them in something easy to access such as a tank.

Also i tried the old pencil trick and my mummy hamster took to eating 4 of her babies as she did not like being disturbed, to be honest you dont need to see in the nest she will do it all herself, the bedding will part from time to time as she gets in and out so you should be able to see what you need to......i was too impatient and she ate the young and i will never forget seeing that


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## ChrisTheGerbilGuy (Aug 9, 2008)

Superpettoysrus.com said:


> Hi, good advice....only wanted to add when i bred my hamsters i found when she was not in heat and she was aggressive towards the male it was easier to seperate them if i didnt put them in the cage...so i would put them somewhere a bit more open so you can get into them easy...unless you keep them in something easy to access such as a tank.
> 
> Also i tried the old pencil trick and my mummy hamster took to eating 4 of her babies as she did not like being disturbed, to be honest you dont need to see in the nest she will do it all herself, the bedding will part from time to time as she gets in and out so you should be able to see what you need to......i was too impatient and she ate the young and i will never forget seeing that


That's why i said always put the female into the males cage and not the other way around, the male knows where all of his hiding spots are, he can escape impending danger, giving him enough time for you to remove the female 
Sometimes, you do need to disturb the nest. You may feel that the female is not feeding her pups, the only way to tell is by looking at the pups. 'Milk beans' can be seen under the skin (which means the stomach is full of milk). I always get impatient with any new gerbil pups  when i know a litter is coming, i get up between 6:00am and 6:30am every morning until the birth comes


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## Spacemonkey (Feb 11, 2008)

Syrian Hamster gestation is 16 days, and it is best to introduce male and female in a neutral area, not cages, as it is hard to separate after mating is done, especially as females can then turn on the male quite savagely.

This link will be good for research

Syrian Breeding & Babies


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## ChrisTheGerbilGuy (Aug 9, 2008)

Spacemonkey said:


> Syrian Hamster gestation is 16 days, and it is best to introduce male and female in a neutral area, not cages, as it is hard to separate after mating is done, especially as females can then turn on the male quite savagely.
> 
> This link will be good for research
> 
> Syrian Breeding & Babies


Syrian hamster gestation is 18 days in first time pregnant females. I said it was an average.
I was breeding for 4 years and i never had a case of a female turning on a male. If it's done right, you will be able to tell when a female is in heat, then you can put her into a males cage.


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## u-look-like-a-hamster (Aug 17, 2008)

i think chris would know!! 

it is 18 day for first time mamsters...

& i ussually know when my fems are on heat becasue if your rub their hip they wil put their tail up and stand still ^_^ 

its so cute, and so tempting to put them with my male ^_^ but im not going to because i woldnt be able to let the babies go...

lol

xx:001_wub:


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## ChrisTheGerbilGuy (Aug 9, 2008)

u-look-like-a-hamster said:


> i think chris would know!!
> 
> it is 18 day for first time mamsters...
> 
> ...


It's cute when they raise their tails isn't it?


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## Maiisiku (Feb 20, 2009)

u-look-like-a-hamster said:


> i think chris would know!!
> 
> it is 18 day for first time mamsters...
> 
> ...


I can't help but keep all the babies if mine have any. Thats why I had so many mice when I bred them because I kept them all.

I second what chris said. You should definatly look up genetics and try to only breed from them if you know they haven't got any horible genetic problems. Things like tumors, deformataties, genetic problems such as epelepsy should all be watched out for.


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## u-look-like-a-hamster (Aug 17, 2008)

ChrisTheGerbilGuy said:


> It's cute when they raise their tails isn't it?


incredibly ^_^


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## Spacemonkey (Feb 11, 2008)

Er, respectfully, no, it is 16 days as a rule, first time mother or not, _rarely_ they go into the 17th/18th day, but yes it can happen.

Although it is rare the female turning on the male DOES occur and with devastating effect, I recently heard of a unfortunate incident of a male losing an eye even though they were supervised, it can happen in a flash, better to be safe in my opinion


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## ChrisTheGerbilGuy (Aug 9, 2008)

Spacemonkey said:


> Er, respectfully, no, it is 16 days as a rule, first time mother or not, _rarely_ they go into the 17th/18th day, but yes it can happen.
> 
> Although it is rare the female turning on the male DOES occur and with devastating effect, I recently heard of a unfortunate incident of a male losing an eye even though they were supervised, it can happen in a flash, better to be safe in my opinion


If you actually read that website you posted a link to, you would know that it says that the gestation is 16-18 days.
The male lost his eye??!! Well, that doesn't seem supervised to me, the females usually attack the males 'bits' first before attacking the stomach area. The fight must have gone on for more than a few minutes, which obviously means that these hamsters wern't supervised. I'm not here to argue though, people breed in different ways. I started breeding by the book but after a while, i bred based on what i considered safe and i found that my way worked best for me.


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## u-look-like-a-hamster (Aug 17, 2008)

ChrisTheGerbilGuy said:


> If you actually read that website you posted a link to, you would know that it says that the gestation is 16-18 days.
> The male lost his eye??!! Well, that doesn't seem supervised to me, the females usually attack the males 'bits' first before attacking the stomach area. The fight must have gone on for more than a few minutes, which obviously means that these hamsters wern't supervised. I'm not here to argue though, people breed in different ways. I started breeding by the book but after a while, i bred based on what i considered safe and i found that my way worked best for me.


Well sadi chris , your info is 99.9% correct!!

it would take a good few unsupervised minutes for that eye to be lost!
What Spacemonkey said made me lol, a responsible breeder would have split that up WAAAAY before that injury!!

Have you seen how well turned out his animals are!! they are fantasticly bred, well looked after. He LOVES his animals so i dont think he will do anything to harm them especially putting a female in a males cage if he KNOWS it will do him/her harm!

SPACEMONKEY please re-search BEFORE you give adivce (like chris has done) because we dont want the wrong info floating about.
Many thanks Xx


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## japtin (Mar 3, 2009)

pity you diidnt give advise and not get on my bloody case look how tyou treated her to me that was good but to me you was just arguing cause one member started on me


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## u-look-like-a-hamster (Aug 17, 2008)

i would give you blobs for that but ive got 24 hours till i can give another!!


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## Tigerneko (Jan 2, 2009)

u-look-like-a-hamster said:


> i would give you blobs for that but ive got 24 hours till i can give another!!


i'll give him one for you :lol:


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## u-look-like-a-hamster (Aug 17, 2008)

Portia Elizabeth said:


> i'll give him one for you :lol:


*LOL thanks!!

I really wanted to give him some for that !!

I will do when my time is up!! lol

Xx*


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