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Old 02-21-2021, 10:05 AM   #1
Sj_cole
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Default My Dwarf Hamsters Male or Female? Can't decide? Pictures to help

Hi all,

I hope someone can help me, I bought two Russian dwarf hamsters from Pets at Home last September and was told at the time that they were both Male.

Recently I’ve wondered if this was correct, neither of them have testicles or even a hint of them and never have had. When checking them I’ve also never noticed a scent gland or discolouration from one on either hamster. I’ve researched it a lot but I’m still finding it incredibly difficult to determine their sex.

7-ED2-C032-F31-D-4543-9-EA7-2-E87870-A3-D7-F — ImgBB - Hamster 1

7-CE5-C6-CA-1355-42-FE-B2-C4-83-F72-DD1563-D — ImgBB - Hamster 2

Not the best photos, they both wriggle a lot!

One of them is incredibly small and skinny even for a dwarf hamster and the other much more rounded but still not as large as some I’ve seen. Hoping they will have healthy lives as I’ve heard bad things about buying from pets at home since we got them. I wondered if that can affect their development which might explain a lack of testicles. Or they could just both be girls!

Any help much appreciated thank you!
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Old 02-22-2021, 08:32 AM   #2
Amethyst_ice
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Default Re: My Dwarf Hamsters Male or Female? Can't decide? Pictures to help

Hello

Im no good at sexing dwarfs but it would suggest they are female.

However, you mention one is much smaller than the other and I'd be concerned that keeping them together is the reason for this. Often one will dominate the cage and food bowl and this may be why one is smaller than the other.

If you really are set on keeping them together they will need two of everything and a large cage but it would be better to separate them. They really don't need to be together. The pet store should have explianed this to you, sadly.
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Old 02-22-2021, 09:57 AM   #3
SyrianNamedHarmony
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Default Re: My Dwarf Hamsters Male or Female? Can't decide? Pictures to help

Not the sex sorting expert but to me they look more like females.

As Amethyst said, you might want to seperate them to make sure the skinny one is getting everything she needs.
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Old 02-22-2021, 10:14 AM   #4
Ria P
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Default Re: My Dwarf Hamsters Male or Female? Can't decide? Pictures to help

Hi and welcome to HC!

They look like females to me.
I would definitely separate them and you'll probably see the skinny one thrive.
Petshops give out a lot of wrong and outdated information unfortunately.
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Old 02-22-2021, 10:48 AM   #5
souffle
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Default Re: My Dwarf Hamsters Male or Female? Can't decide? Pictures to help

I think both look to be female too. The others are right in that the little one is likely being bullied and not getting enough food. The stress of being bullied can also make them lose weight. They will probably thrive better alone. I'd move the little one to a totally new. clean cage so she doesn't think the cagemate is lurking round the corner. It's usually the bully who sulks the most but they should both settle alone in around 10 days.
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Old 02-22-2021, 11:59 AM   #6
Flossypet
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Default Re: My Dwarf Hamsters Male or Female? Can't decide? Pictures to help

Pets at home is really not very accurate with sexing hamsters, they told me that my latest hamster was male when she is female so its probably just a mistake on p@h's part and I would say they are female
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Old 02-23-2021, 04:15 AM   #7
Sj_cole
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Default Re: My Dwarf Hamsters Male or Female? Can't decide? Pictures to help

Hi,

Thank you all for your help, it’s good to get other opinions. They’ve had separate cages now for the past 5 months. But strangely enough the little one was bullied by the larger, it wasn’t apparent straight away but happened over a period of about a month. We suspected the bullying and kept an eye on it, one day we found the larger one had bitten the smaller on the tummy so we rushed out and bought a separate cage straight away. The little one was much smaller than the larger when we first got them too and hasn’t improved in size or weight since being separated 5 months ago. She actually hordes to a greater extent than the larger one too, I know this is normal behaviour but hoping the bullying didn’t give her an eating complex.

Thanks again for all the help
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