syrian hamsters

[b.c.f.c]

well ive got 2 syrian hamsters 1 male about 4-5 months old and the female 5-6 months old. ive been doing a lot of reasearch on them and the main thing i found out is that the female (shes called opel) will come into heat every 4 days. well for 4 nites now ive put the male ( hes called bruce after steve bruce the blues manager) with the female on nuteral ground and he seems very very intrested in her but every nite she just walks away from him except 1 night when i thought they were going to get it on lol she starts attacking him (and ive got to admitt i fort she was going to kill him so it propa #### me up lol) does any body know why shes not intrested in him.im going to try again tonight but any more info would be great thx a lot ROB!

 

[OohFeeshy]

I believe you're meant to use a clear divider between them. When the female is interested, sh'ell look at the male with a fixed stare. Thats what I've read, anyway

 

[plecoperson]

why do you want to breed your hamsters? do you have good homes waiting or a reputable outlet for baby hamsters? are you aware of when they need to be weaned and sperated and when they can be sold? or are you planning to keep all the babies for yourself?

 

[b.c.f.c]

Yes ive found good homes or all of them if i do breed them.a couple of my moms friends said they would want 1 and the local petshop said he would be happy to give me 2 pound for each 1 i sell him. and the reason i want to breed them is it will be a nice experiance and a bit of a challange and apparently its gd for a female hamster to have a litter at the age between 4 - 8 months old.and if i fall for 1 of them i will keep 1 hehe.and as for cages ive got 2 in the loft for when the babies are ready to be weaned at between 4 and 5 weeks and seperated in to male and females.

 

[Skylar]

As long as you are sure you have permanant homes for all of them, I say, go ahead! The females have what is called an oestrous cycle similar to what female humans have. xD The stage of this cycle can be determined by the vaginal discharge. The discharge should be thick and opaque before the ovulation. Heat begins approximately 2 hrs after dusk on the 3rd day of the oestrous cycle. Place the female in the cage with the male at the beginning of the dark cycle. If the female is receptive she will quickly assume a lordotic position with hindlegs spread and tail erect. Remove her if she shows signs of aggression. If mating occurs, leave her in there until she loses interest in mating or shows aggression.
Don't bother using a divider, she may lose interest if she cannot get to the male.
Remember that your female may have up to 12-14 pups. Are you sure you have enough homes? If the female happens to die after birth, you can buy KMR which is a milk replacer for kittens. It also works with hamsters. If you can't find KMR, look for baby formula or evaporated milk (for e. milk mix it 50% e. milk with 50% warm water). Feed the pups 3 drops of the mixture every hour with a clean eyedropper. Continue this schedule until they are 21 days. Remember, this is if your female dies. After feeding, take a warm cloth and wipe their genital and anal areas to stimulate them to urinate and defectate just like their mum would.

A lot of information, I realize but it all helps with breeding hamsters.

 

[Stagette]

I agree with whats been said as long as you have good homes for them beforehand or an outlet to sell them as there are a lot of unwanted hammies out there and its unfair to bring any thats unwanted into the world but if you know for sure you do have homes then go ahead.

I agree with what Skylar said on the breeding front i have bred hamsters in the past as i have shown them and thats usually what is done, if she continues to be agressive towards the male then i maybe would think again about breeding with her as could be a sign as to what kind of mother she would make in my experience. What you have read is untrue though about it being good for your hammy to breed her as makes no difference to her whatsoever although being pregnant can be quite a stressful period for her. Also a few things to bare in mind are what happens if something goes wrong during the pregnancy? What happens if the mother dies can you manage hand rearing some or if any of the babies? Also one more thing to bare in mind is that once the mother gives birth she needs absolute peace and quiet so not to stress her out and you musn't touch the babies at all for the first few weeks otherwise she may feel the need to kill some or all of them and thats a pretty horrific experience as i've witnessed it in the past Breeding hammies can be a very worthwhile experience though and if you take on board what everyone says and suggests you shouldn't go far wrong

Goodluck with the hammies and please keep us posted on whats happening

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I agree with all the above info; at the moment i have a female hamster who has had 16 baby hamsters at just over 4months old.
Just a couple of tips;
a. if your female hamster is ready to mate one way of telling is if you stroke her firmly on her back she will stand still and rigid with her tail erect. When you introduce her to the male on neutral ground of some sort if they are ready to mate they will do so within about five minutes, any longer and they are not interested.
Hamster mating usually takes about 20mins but for my hamsters they took 40mins, you will know when they are finished because they will lose interest in each other after a while although the mating itself will consist of the male and female mating then licking each other or themselves and then mating again- they can do this many times.
It is advised for a first time mother that she has babys between 4 and 6months of age.
b. Not all hamsters are interested in each other; if the female does not see the male fit to mate with even if she is in heat she will not mate with him; if you are realy desperate to have baby hamsters it may be worth borrowing a friends male hamster if your female is not interested in your own male. Because syrian hamsters are primarily nocturnal the best time to introduce them for mating is in the evening.

c. Syrian hamsters can have up 20babys(although this is rare) and the pregnancy usually lasts between 15 and 17days; because you cannot interact with the pups for a long time after the are born it is best to clean out the female hamsters cage 2days before she is expected to give birth.
To help ensure a healthy litter of pups i would advise you get some liquid mineral/vitamin supliments to put in her water and always keep her food bowl topped up to the brim with hamster feed mix and fruit like grapes and apples and veg like carrots.
I would take out the exercise wheel 5days before she is expected to give birth to let her concentrate more on nest building and building up fats in her for the pups. Do not put her in her exercise ball if you have one at all during the pregnancy or after as this stresses the mum out.

d. You won't know exactly when the pups are born as it is strongly advised you do not interfere with the nest or mum during this stage. I wouldn't advise any interaction with the pups until they are at least 10days old when you can do a quick clean out of the cage; if you disturb the mum at all she may kill the pups and eat them if she feels threatened in the slightest, also if the pups smell of you she will do the same or abandon them.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Oh, and some more stuff to know;
a. when the mum hamster gives birth she may do it all over the cage- it may look like a massacre has taken place and the pups may be all over the place but do not clean up the after birth as the mum eats it(discusting i know but nutritional) and she will colect the pups up after she has had a rest(she may stuff them in her check pouches but this is normal so don't be alarmed).
b. When it comes to where you put her cage, put it in a quiet room away from direct sunlight and as far as posible from the male hamsters cage. If you can bear it i would advise you don't vacum hoover the room while she is raising her pups as this may stress her out enough to kill them.
c. Pregnant and mum hamsters eat and drink huge amounts of water and food so make sure these are always topped up and try supplimenting her diet with any high protein foods you can fins that are edible for hamsters; i find mine love canned black eye beans which are high in protein(make sure they are cooked and not canned in brine water).
d. oh, when it comes to nesting material for the female hamster don't be fooled into getting that cotton or "fluff" hamster bedding as the pups can get their limbs caught on the fibres and even strangle themselves; the best bedding is actually toilet paper shredded up.
e. Hamster cage; be warned that baby hamsters can squeeze through hamster caging bars so i would advise you set the females home up in a fish tank with wood shavings before she gives birth.


Ahh...Anyways, i hope this info helps you a bit in your search to have hamster babys and good luck

 

[b.c.f.c]

well i put them together last night on nuteral groung and guess wat they mated.she didnt seem interested at first but after 3 or 4 mins she started sort of sniffing him then her tail erected and he started sort of biting her(as ive heard that happens) then they mated i counted them mating 6 times but ive also heard its normaly 7.ive put her in the spare room away from the male. i put extra bedding in the cage and changed her water and food which im goiung to do every day also put some carrot and cucumber in and now have just left her quiet.

but iv got 1 question is there any chance shes not pregnant? any info would be great thx.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Its quite unlikely she's not; how long did the mating process take?
I would go and get some hamster liquid vitamin/mineral supliment mix to put in her water as the whole pregnancy process will take alot out of her and if she doesn't get enough vitamins/minerals it will result in a poor litter and she may kill them if she feels she cannot suply them with all the nutrition they need.

Other than that, pregnant hamsters and ones that are raising young will drink and eat ALOT, so just make sure her food bowl and water container is always topped up.
I also advise you get some blackeye beans; they come pre-cooked in cans(make sure they're not pickled in brine water as this has too much salt) and are high in protein which the female hamster will need alot, they are also good for baby hamsters which are just going onto solids(de-shelled sunflower seeds are also good) as they are nice and soft. Alternatively i have heard scrambled egg is also good.

ps: you female hamster will start to visably bulge after 10days although if she is only carrying a couple of babys this may not be the case; check her after 20days to see if she has any babys(although make it quick, no contact is advised with the babys until they are at least 10days old when you can do a quick clean out of the nest), if not repeat the mating process with the male.

 

[b.c.f.c]

about 25 mins at the least they were together.

 

[Welsh_Woman]

I bred hamsters for a few years, just put them on nuetral ground every night until one night she is interested (it will happen) then every 4th night it will be the same, Never ever put the male in the females cage, she will most likely kill him, but what i used to do when she was on heat is leave her in the males cage over night, this is safe to do.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

about 25 mins at the least they were together.

Then you should be expecting some new arivals hopefully ; for most peoples hamsters mating takes around 15mins to an hour, so it sounds like your two got everything done.

 

[b.c.f.c]

just to update on my pregnant hammy.shes doing fine im feedin g her lots of veggies like carrots cucumber lettuce etc. i can sort of see her gettin plumper but its probly just me.ive got a question though,is it ok to handle her while shes pregnant,i have only handled her once since mating seen as im not sure if its good for her or not any info would be great thx in advance

 

[Bloo]

It's really best to handle her as little as possible - especially further into the pregnancy. Let us know how she does and post some pics of her if you can baby hammies are super cute but be ware - they will eat you out of the house !!! Feed mom lots and lots during pregnancy and nursing and always have loads of fresh water as close as possible to her nest. It's really best to have the water in a bottle and not a bowl - you don't want few day old baby hammy stumbling from the nest and drowning
And whatever you do - no matter how incredibly temted you are - do not disturb the nest once they are born and don't clean the cage for at least 10 days after birth (just the little wee corner can be cleaned). You don't want to stress mom and have her eat the babies. Its a horrific sight
All the best !