Breeding

Before breeding your hamsters you should think carefully about what you will do with the babies once they are old enough to leave their mother. Have you enough cages to keep them or do you have friends that want them. Hamsters have been known to produce 22 young in one litter! Syrian hamsters must always be housed separately at all times. They are capable of reproducing at the early age of around 28 days old, This would be unfair to the hamster! It is recommended that hamsters should not be used for breeding before they are 14 weeks old with a 12 week interval between litters to give the female chance to recover her condition (looking after a large family is hard work!) The only time Adults should be introduced to their mate is at the time of mating. Never place the male in the females cage, always use a clean cage with open access as a mating cage. Female hamsters will come on "heat" every 4 days. When the female is placed near to the male if she is ready to mate she will soon stand still with her tail in the air, this will indicate she is ready to mate. The hamsters will need to be left together for about 20 to 30 minutes for mating to take place. Always closely supervise the mating hamsters at all times, if the female looses interest she might start to fight the male with disastrous results. Be prepared to separate the hamsters as a fight might start if the female is not ready to mate. Different to Syrian Hamsters, Dwarf hamsters can be kept as breeding pairs and will live quite happily together. The parents may produce a litter every 18-19 days and can have 2-16 babies in a litter.

When your female has a litter don't be tempted to poke around the nest until the babies are at least nine days old. You'll know when there is a litter because you will hear the babies squeaking. At nine days old try sprinkling wheat germ flakes into the nest for them to eat. They also like chopped up bits of green vegetable. Both parents and babies will enjoy these treats.

When they have their eyes open and are running about try handling them a little, be very careful as they will not like it at first and may be a bit jumpy, never hold them high above the floor, should they decide to jump a fall could prove fatal or a least seriously injure the youngster, soon they will get used to been handled and become tame. The young can stay with the parents until they are about 25 days old and then they should be separated into single sex groups to prevent pregnancies.

When the babies are around 5 weeks old you can sell them to friends or take them to a Northern Hamster Club Show if you are a member.

This information sheet contains basic information and is for guidance only. Information on this sheet is used entirely at the readers own risk. Other information and Club membership details can be obtained by writing to :-

Northern Hamster Club. P.O. Box 154, Rotherham. S66 0FL. Please enclose a stamp for return postage

Written by Mike Dyson for the Northern Hamster Club.

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