How likely is it that a 7 week old kept with males will be preggers?

[Bekki2308]

My brand new little stunner Belatrix was kept with males until today when I got her.. didnt even think about her being pregnant when getting her.

The other hams were her littermates and are 6-7 weeks old. According to google they can be fertile from 5 weeks so there is some possibility she was fertile, do males that young know what to do and are they ready to do it?

If she is pregnant I know gestation is just under 20 days so id know I was safe in that amount of time, but apart from a bigger belly what are the other signs really that I need to watch out for?

If she does end up being pregnant its fine I can cope and house more syrians and probably could rehome some too to friends and family and through here . I mean bin cages are cheap enough so I could even keep them all. Though they would all be inbreds and all the hamsters from the litter were white and something. Her sister was another cream banded, her brothers were like a grey roan banded type colouring and her other brother was a dark brownish banded hammy . The roan brother had the same colouring as my guinea pig in pretty much the same pattern so ill show it to make it clear what I mean .

Id like to hope I was worrying for nothing tbh. Just wondering if anyone who has experience with syrian breeding can tell me how common it is for very young ones to be fertile and pregnant at such an age?

[HollyHamster]

I do believe the separation age recommended for syrians is at 21 days as syrains can become sexually mature as early as 4-5 weeks, but I could be wrong. There have been numerous cases ( too many to count ) of a young female being kept with her male siblings after this time and becoming pregnant.

Signs of a pregnancy are but not limited too, being cranky when handled, mammary glands and nipples becoming obvious and highly visible, and toward the end of the pregnancy, nesting and a swollen belly.

Syrains can have some of the largest litters of any hamster, up to 15 or so pups. Are you truly ready to handle that many cages? Even re-homing a few to lessen the load may not help. There is also the possible complications from the sire and dam ( dad and mom ) being paired up, pregnancy complications ( i.e. premature labor, prolonged bleeding, a pup becoming stuck within the birth canal, deformed pups, and so on ) as well as the mom possibly abandoning them due to inexperience.

There are also most likely complications that will arise with a pregnancy at such a young age as well. I would have a trusted and experienced small animal vet's number at the ready to call, just in case.

[Bekki2308]

Thanks for the quick response

I have money for vets and cages so that is not a problem. Seeing a deformed animal/animal die etc is not a problem for me in that I can cope with it all.

Her brother (the one that was obviously a boy weeks ago) was separated weeks ago apparently , there was one in with her and her sister that wasnt obviously boy or girl but looked to be a girl when they were separated into boys and girls so it may be that she has never been with a boy. Just want to know what it likely to happen just in case. Wasnt until I got home and had fallen in love with her that I thought of the pregnancy potential.

Comfortably I could handle another 6 or so hamsters (I am quite sad and my hobby is animals ... and reading so I have loads of time with the hams and two of mine that are now RIP used to sit on my shoulder and stuff while I did stuff)

There are plenty of animals rescues nearby that I think would be happy to help and id pay them to find my babies good homes if required. So I would not be worried about the pups finding homes.

My main worry would be the gorgeous Bellatrix and her welfare. She isnt a tiny syrian (I know that might not help) she is only a smidge smaller than my other syrian who is 14 weeks old.

Id love to think that she is not pregnant. Id rather keep her and give her the best treatment possible than take her back to the shop, where they might just let her die or something.

My local vets is amazing and are literally 1 minute walk away, emergency vet though is an hour away so not good.

[Mikayla]

For a second I thought you meant the guinea pig. xD

[Bekki2308]

Originally Posted by MMMTDF

For a second I thought you meant the guinea pig. xD

I was just adding that in in case those particular siblings could possibly come from parents with genes that might mean they are white bellied, I know nothing of syrian genetics and working backwards from the phenotypes of the siblings does not sound like a task I with to undertake! And the piggie is the same colour as this hamster was lol I admit it must be a bit odd to see a piggy on a hammy forum!

[Ellie]

The gestation period is 16 days, I would just treat her as if she is pregnant and if shes not its a bonus! Clean out around 4 days before the birth, loads of egg chicken babyfood porridge in the lead up to the pregnancy and also while she is rearing the pups

[Bekki2308]

Looking at my calender and her age anywhere between the 10th and 23rd of May is possible for babies, assuming she is exactly 7 weeks now. Babyfood and porridge she can certainly have, egg is possible and chicken is a definitely not in my house unless I can get some already cooked from a relative. Looks like this girl is going to be spoilt for a while Worst comes to worse I have to empty zoozones so splitting boys and girls would be easy at 3 weeks and at 6-8 weeks Id manage splitting them into singles I think.

I hope she is not egggo preggo as she is far too gorgeous

[vanilla-yazoo]

she could and probably is if there was a male in with her.
first off, give her some nice protein food, boiled/scrambled egg, chicken/turkey (babyfood or fresh) porridge, i give cat biscuits too for calcium/protien.

nest, if she has not given birth, clean the cage, as if she dose, you cannot clean them untill all the eyes of the babys are open, sometimes 18+ days if the runt is behind.

remember not to touch the nest, babys or anything near them, My girl lucy gave birth last week, you can see my thread for comparison to a definite pregnant hamster. she will become larger on the hips, will give off a slight smell (nothing like heat level) she will get frustrated, dont handle her if she gets big like that incase you disturb her too much.


if you reach the 20 day mark from when you got her, with no babys, no swelling then she is fine, if theres any small swelling keep a close eye as it could be pyo, I lost my girl nemisis at 13 weeks old due to pyo, I had her from a pet shop at about 7 weeks old. so it can happen young, but normally its in older girls.

eta:
Younger mothers tend to have larger litters, the older they get the number they give birth to normally will go down, especially if second litter. the average is 8-10, but I have seen a 15 litter, 18 litter and they can reach 20+

babys would be split at 22-28 days old by the breeder, as boys can become mature at 28 days old, and impregnate their mum as she stays with them until the splitting date. when their eyes open you can gently see if you have boys or girls, but its not too hard to tell with syrians, we can help out too as theres some highly experienced breeders here who can give a good second opinion.

by the colours you have described Ild say the brothers where sable roans maybe mink roan, so there could be some of the wh gene floating about, dont worry as the mother will sort out the safe babys from those who are WhWh but hopefully she isnt expecting, and it was just a very butch female in with them (my sisters female looks like a male, acts smells and everything like a male, being lh i kept checking just in case, but she is just a gender confused girl!)


just a side note: double check all baby foods to make sure no onion/leek/garlic or spices i find grandpas sunday lunch or the heinz chicken dinner are quite good, but again, check before buying!

[Bekki2308]

thankyou 20 pups oh my!

Ill check your thread out and have a look. I am moving Bella into a zoozone tonight as I am going to get a big bale of new bed today so that will be scrubbed and ill just keep cleaning her out every other day or so for now , shes skinny right now and despite being so young is happy to be handle and is less leapy than my 14 week boy! So I dont think she is any discomfort right now if she is pregnant.

baby food is no problem whatsoever , ill get the OH to get some chicken in I dont eat meat and there is no meat in my house but ill make an exception for a hammy. I have tonnes of porridge too if shes not pregnant she isnt half going to be spoilt for 2 weeks

]
Wheel is tomporary as I had only a tiny amount of bedding left so she is in a mickey max unt6il tonight

Have read the thread with the pregnant ham in and wow she got so huge! If there ended up being an eyeless hammy that mummy didnt "sort out" id keep it and give it the best life I could give it.

[AlexandraLT]

She is gorgeous