Is Alex a male or female?

sar+ste · 03-21-2009, 01:34 PM

Last year my hamster had four babies. I had a go at seperating them into males and females and thought I had done a good job as a year had gone by without any further pregnancies. However I am now concerned that one of the hamsters I thought was a male, Alex, may actually be a girl. The other male hamster Harry, now has a white stripe on his rear like his father (Gene) and walks with a strut at times. From underneath he has a swelling which I think contains his testicles. However Alex does not have the white stripe or strut like walk. When I looked from underneath her nipples looked swollen. There has been a lot of tension in the male cage, Gene and Harry fell out at Christmas and Gene needed to be seperated permentaly. Alex has now started fighting with Harry. Do you think Alex may be a female and if so pregnant? She is currently living on her own. She recently shredded a tea towel and mixed in with the bedding an attempt at nesting?

souffle · 03-21-2009, 01:38 PM

If Alex has nipples he is definitly a she. Only female hamsters have nipples.
I would separate Alex now and prepare for a litter. Females can become aggresive when pregnant.

Bunsey · 03-22-2009, 12:04 PM

yes, i thnk Alex is definately a pregnant female! As you've already separated her from the males, there's not a lot else to do other than prepare for the litter. It's REALLY important you sex these babies properly as they are already double generation inbred.

sar+ste · 03-29-2009, 02:06 PM

Thankyou for your replies. I had a chat with the people at Pets at Home about Alex and they said not to worry as s/he had been living with two males since May and had not become pregnant s/he would be male. I then placed Alex and Harry in a glass dish so I could look at them from underneath. I could clearly see a scortum like swelling on Harry but not on Alex. While I couldn't actually see nipple on Alex she had breaks in her fur where you would expect her nipples to be. I then had a look at her sisters and mother and while they looked to be females I couldn't see their nipples. Maybe you can only see their nipples when their pregnant or lactating. Re sexing babies, I did my best but it was hard. I would have taken them to my vet to be sexed proberley but when I took a hamster there for fighting and asked him to check he was a male he said he was too small to tell. Any ideas where I could take them to be sexed properley.

Bunsey · 03-30-2009, 06:41 AM

sorry but pets at home don't know what they're on about. Robos can live in mixed sex groups for months before actually mating. I bought a colony of robos and they had pups the spring AFTER i bought them. Apparently this is common for robos.

I don't know where you can take her to be sexed. I took robo pups to the vet and it was a nightmare. they had no clue. It's possible to sex them yourself, but the first time it is hard. If you can get a good, clear photo on here, we can have a look for you. The main thing to look at is the distance of the holes. A female will have hardly any distance between holes. You won't see nipples unless they are pregnant... and about half way through the pregnancy at that.

sar+ste · 03-31-2009, 12:56 PM

Thankyou Bunsey, that is interesting about the nipples appearing halfway through the pregnancy. A hamster pregnancy last around 21 days? Therefore if she is pregnant she should give birth soon. We sexed the babies by holding them by the scruff of the neck and then looking at the distance between the holes. I am relunctant to do this with Alex at the moment in case it stresses her. I think the other three females have been sexed correctly as their holes are close together and they all look similar (one is defiantly female as she is the mother).

internet_nobody · 04-01-2009, 12:54 AM

Robos can go a little longer, normally 23 days but up to 28 is not unheard of. As bunsey said P@H are talking rubbish, robos tend to be fussy breeders, often not breeding until their first spring.

One other thing you can look for on males is the scent gland, males often have slight yellow staining around it (middle of the tummy). Females do have a scent gland, but they scent from other places so it is rare that you see any staining or even a break in the fur.

sar+ste · 07-24-2009, 12:45 PM

UPDATE: Alex is defiantely female she has just given birth to a litter. She appears to be coping well and has made a nest out an old rug. The father,Harry, now needs to find alternative accomdation. We have six adult hamsters living in four cages. Could Harry and Alex be reintroduced to a family member they hadn't lived with for a while or would the other hamster not accept them?
Now Harry and Alex's sexs have been confirmed I now feel much more confident in telling the difference between male and females.

**Tammy22** · 07-24-2009, 01:21 PM

Hiya,

i dont really understand why you placed the two hamsters back into the same cage together when you already knew that they were different sexes??

You really need to get Harry out of there NOW! if he is still living with the female (his sister!) then he probably has already impregnated her again, so you probably have more babies on the way!

As Bunsey has already said, the parents of these babies are already inbred, and you have now allowed two of them to produce more babies which are now even more inbred!!

Please, Please sex these new (and future!) babies correctly and get them all into single sex pairs or groups.

Yes, Harry might be able to be introduced to any other males you have, but you do really need to sort out some spare cages just incase they dont get on - there is also the chance that introducing Harry to a pair or group that is already living together can cause them to fight too - so please watch them all very carefully and be prepared with spare cages.

Tammy x

Bunsey · 07-24-2009, 04:38 PM

if the male is still in with her after she's given birth, then she is pregnant again. With mine, i didn't know anything until i saw pinkies and i removed the male immediately... however, he had already impregnated her and i got another litter 21 days later. I ended up with 14 babies as well as the 8 robos i already had, so you can imagine the nightmare!