Can you Happily Have an Older Pair?

[cutehammies]

Can I ask what might be a stupid question?

I have a male WW / possible hybrid dwarf, who was seperated from his brother as he was getting seriously bullied. (I rehomed the other dwarf with a friend who loved him, and he's doing great). But since he has been on his own, he seems rather lonely.

The only way I think I could possibly give Bumble some hamster company, (as I know you shouldn't introduce different-litter adult hamsters) would be to consider finding a mate for him, like a younger (or older) female. But I would like advice because I don't know about this.

I heard / read somewhere, I think it might have been robohamsterify on youtube, that she had an old pair of WW who would no longer breed because they were old, and that after a male was over 12months old, he would *probably* (!) be sterile.

I have heard that WWs can become inseperable pairs. I am NOT wanting to breed them and am just wondering how likely it is that he would actually be sterile (he is now 18months old) and whether you think that a pair paired up quite late in his life would bond and really get on?

So, any suggestions and ideas I would be very glad of. It was just a thought, and I am not going to do anything rash. I'm asking for your advice, and will listen to it! I would be especially grateful for members who have experience in breeding hamsters and so are far more knowledgeable then I am about it!

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I orginally wrote this in the 'Behaviour' section this afternoon, but have just moved my question to here because it seemed more appropriate in the 'Breeding Hamsters' section

[purple_x]

I dont think you can ever guarantee that a hamster is 100% sterile.
I certainly wouldn't risk putting a male and female together no matter how old and possibly sterile they were.

[TheFeldhamster]

I would not risk it - I know some stories where they did breed after all and because the female was also older it got very complicated in one case I know of and in another case the female even died. Not a good idea.

I do know of several successful campbell's pairs with a castrated male, though. You'd need a very good vet for that and it'd probably cost a lot. The ones I know of in Germany were about €60,- or so (depends a lot on the region), over here in Vienna, Austria you'd pay about €100,- - 130,-. I also would not do that if the male is quite old; an operation like that is quite stressful for the body.

One of my campbell's was rather depressed after I had to separate him (he was mis-sexed and had been living with a female, they produced an unexpected litter). He did not accept his sons and so had to stay alone because I was too afraid to have him castrated. It took several months for him to get out of his depression. What really helped him was that I use a play-pen for out of cage time and he could use the play-pen after my females had had their run in it. So maybe that would be a way for you to go - get a female or group of females but keep them separate but let him use the same play-pen so he can sniff her/their scent marks.

[fluffymunchkins]

Males can stay fertile for their whole lives, females can go sterile at 11 months old, but theres been females as old as 15 months that are still fertile.
I have successfully introduced 4 week old males to their dad, hes a very laid back character which made it very easy. However, as they grew older tension started to rise as one son tried to push his luck.
I then attempted to introduce dad back with mom (dad was 15 monthish and mum 13 months) but they didn't accept each other as well as they had previously and I had a pregnancy scare with mum. turns out she wasn't, but as their first litter was so successful and Roo was in good health, I was prepared for a litter.
I wouldn't attempt it again as it was too stressful for Roo.
You have to be prepared for the possibility of a litter.

If you were prepared for two seperate cages you could attempt to introduce a young male. But if they don't get on then you could end up with two lonely hamsters. Some individuals just do not mix so its a bit of a lottery x

[Ankali]

If you know anyone with a litter, I would try introducing a male no older than 5 weeks old to him. I have Campbells, so a bit different, but occasionally my older males will let young male pups live with them with no problems.

[Pompompoms]

Most adult males and females will accept babies of up to six weeks, which is of course lovely, I have introduced a baby to most of my hams but the youngest ones without any problems. Even The Cloud met all his sons.

The problems arise when that baby hits puberty, some sail through, some are no longer accepted by the adult who has taken such good care of them, and some challenge the adult for seniority.

I've just heard of a two and three month old robo producing babies when it was thought both mum and dad were well past it, so nothing is guaranteed there, and you would be risking the health of an older mum should it happen.

Eta: There are no stupid questions, questions are always welcomed!

[cutehammies]

Thank you all for your replies. It seems to be as I expected, not a good idea to introduce a female. I guess its just not certain enough that there won't be 'little pawprints' coming along, and I had thought of the older female having to give birth aspect.

I hadn't realised its possible to introduce younger babies, so I will have a think about that. Although it might be that I'll just leave him on his own, and get him out to play even often so he's kept busy.

Its so great I can ask you on the forum! Thank you very much for your advice!!