Hamster sexuality

[SmallFluffyBears]

Has anybody else wondered what their hamsters sexuality is? The thought popped in my head tonight and it had me thinking for quite a while. I am fully aware of the fact that male and female hamsters will do the deed if they are together regardless of what gender they are attracted to since reproduction is naturally top priority. I would imagine animal sexuality to not be as stable compared to human sexuality.

[Penguin]

The thought doesn't seem stupid to me at all though. I know there's a zoo somewhere with a gay penguin couple which was even given an egg to raise together. So when I have heard about that and other stories from other animal species, I don't find it impossible that hamster's would have their own sexuality either.

I also took my time to find this quote again; from an article that I read a long time ago:

No species has been found in which homosexual behaviour has not been shown to exist, with the exception of species that never have sex at all, such as sea urchins and aphis. Moreover, a part of the animal kingdom is hermaphroditic, truly bisexual. For them, homosexuality is not an issue.

(link https://web.archive.org/web/20070528....net/?id=20718)

[Leila0420]

I've never really considered this before but it's a really interesting thought. I've read similar articles about gay animal couples so it would make sense that hamsters could have a sexual preference too.

I suppose I've always thought of my hamsters as a-sexual. Because they're in captivity, and will never have the chance of unexpected encounters with others of their kind then I can never know what behavior they would display around other hammies of the same or opposite gender. So I guess because of this, and the fact that I would never ever even consider breeding, maybe by physically disconnecting them from the ability to sexually interact then in my head I have unintentionally disconnected them from any kind of sexuality in general too. Do you get what I mean? Haha

[Pebbles82]

I get what you mean! If they are virgins they're probably ok with celibacy! Charlie had an encounter with a female Syrian at Rach's house and knows what they smell like now and I think that maybe made him more aware of being male. Maybe he'll forget that feeling again though.

[SmallFluffyBears]

Originally Posted by Penguin

The thought doesn't seem stupid to me at all though. I know there's a zoo somewhere with a gay penguin couple which was even given an egg to raise together. So when I have heard about that and other stories from other animal species, I don't find it impossible that hamster's would have their own sexuality either.

I also took my time to find this quote again; from an article that I read a long time ago:

(link https://web.archive.org/web/20070528....net/?id=20718)

Wow! That is a very interesting read. I never knew there was two gay penguins.

Originally Posted by Leila0420

I've never really considered this before but it's a really interesting thought. I've read similar articles about gay animal couples so it would make sense that hamsters could have a sexual preference too.

I suppose I've always thought of my hamsters as a-sexual. Because they're in captivity, and will never have the chance of unexpected encounters with others of their kind then I can never know what behavior they would display around other hammies of the same or opposite gender. So I guess because of this, and the fact that I would never ever even consider breeding, maybe by physically disconnecting them from the ability to sexually interact then in my head I have unintentionally disconnected them from any kind of sexuality in general too. Do you get what I mean? Haha

I can hear you loud and clear I understand why you would think like that.

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

I get what you mean! If they are virgins they're probably ok with celibacy! Charlie had an encounter with a female Syrian at Rach's house and knows what they smell like now and I think that maybe made him more aware of being male. Maybe he'll forget that feeling again though.

I can recall reading that particular thread about Charlie. It is interesting how males react despite not being around females their entire lives.

[Leila0420]

Originally Posted by SmallFluffyBears

I can recall reading that particular thread about Charlie. It is interesting how males react despite not being around females their entire lives.

Poor Charlie, he obviously didn't know what he was missing out on until then. I suppose, being such a large hamster and such a handsome chap in general, in the wild Charlie possibly could have been quite the ladies ham

This actually reminded me of a group of 4 male guinea pigs a friend of the family keeps. They are a very young, healthy and energetic (read 'frisky') group of guineas and tend to bicker and harass each other. But one of them (lovingly named 'Chubs' ) is a lot more chilled out than the rest and usually acts as the calm mediator: lying in the grass with a look on his face like 'guys, seriously, just calm down'. It's quite nice seeing such an obvious example of how different animals have different levels of hormones or 'desires' in general. Although Chubs is the biggest... So maybe secretly he's just thinking 'when we finally meet a lady these foolish guys are gona be too busy messing around like normal and I'll be chatting her up before they even realise what's happened!!' Haha

[SmallFluffyBears]

Originally Posted by Leila0420

Poor Charlie, he obviously didn't know what he was missing out on until then. I suppose, being such a large hamster and such a handsome chap in general, in the wild Charlie possibly could have been quite the ladies ham

This actually reminded me of a group of 4 male guinea pigs a friend of the family keeps. They are a very young, healthy and energetic (read 'frisky') group of guineas and tend to bicker and harass each other. But one of them (lovingly named 'Chubs' ) is a lot more chilled out than the rest and usually acts as the calm mediator: lying in the grass with a look on his face like 'guys, seriously, just calm down'. It's quite nice seeing such an obvious example of how different animals have different levels of hormones or 'desires' in general. Although Chubs is the biggest... So maybe secretly he's just thinking 'when we finally meet a lady these foolish guys are gona be too busy messing around like normal and I'll be chatting her up before they even realise what's happened!!' Haha

Animals with the same personality as Chubs are the ones everyone needs to keep a close eye on. It may seem butter won't melt in their mouths but that is far from the truth. They're very crafty! Haha

[Fluffagrams]

This is an interesting discussion but never really thought about until I brought May home from the pet shop where I got her. I think to a degree, she was affected by his presence but I can't pinpoint exactly what she was doing that seemed so different. When she was in heat, there was more of a noticeable change in her behaviour. That could have been down to her youth I guess and she's settled down now but it was like she had PMT or something because her emotions seemed that much more extreme.

Meat, on the other hand didn't bat an eyelid over May's presence although he was several months over his third birthday when she came home so maybe he was just too old to disrupt his routine to care.