Im thinking of breeding?

Iluvhamsters2012 · 12-07-2012, 10:55 AM

I am thinking of breeding my 2 Syrian hamsters after Christmas i got a fat girl and a really skinny boy is this normal? What are the main things i will need? And i need to know general facts and opinions? Oh and also how much to sell then for? I have had experience with hamsters and love animals to pieces

P.s i am doing this for a hobbie and a small profit

souffle · 12-07-2012, 12:17 PM

Members should please answer this post in a respectful manner putting forward their points.

Flamestriker · 12-07-2012, 12:21 PM

To tell the truth I'm not sure if there would be much profit in selling the babies by the time you take in to consideration bin cages, toys, food, substrate, bedding and possibly vet bills. You might break even but I wouldn't count on it, so please don't be disappointed

Call me Alison · 12-07-2012, 12:30 PM

i was thinking the same thing hun, i don't think you will make a lot of profit on it xxx

Womblehands · 12-07-2012, 12:38 PM

If you are serious about breeding then I would suggest you take a few weeks and do nothing but research. Research genetics, care and all the potential problems that can arise.
I recently took in a pregnant hamster and it was hard and heartbreaking. We sadly had an eyeless white baby due to someone breeding hamsters from the same litter carrying a white belly gene. This little one died when it came to the weening stage. It can also be expensive as they eat a lot of food, not just hamster mix but soft foods, fresh eggs, porridge, pasta etc.
I know of people who have lost entire litters, hand raised pups and lost the mum soon after.

If after your research you feel you can cope with the potential issues before after and during the process then go ahead. Its a lovely thing to see mum with her pups but I feel that even tho I have a few years of experience and lots of people who could help me I would not breed hamsters.

Flamestriker · 12-07-2012, 12:42 PM

Iv got 20 years experience with Syrians but I have never bred. I don't think I could sell or part with the babies... Just too cute and with up to 18 in a litter that would be a problem for me and them. So it's best that I don't breed at all. So I don't.

Kissa · 12-07-2012, 12:45 PM

There is no profit in responsible breeding, to put it bluntly. After the cost of cages, vets bills and feeding up to 20 very hungry pups, you're looking at making a serious loss, and that's without the time commitment in both looking after mother and pups, taming, and the research before anything happens. And there is a serious amount of research to be done. Doing things wrong can result in the birth of deformed pups, and even doing everything right can still cause death of mum and/or pups, in the worst case.

I advise you to do a lot of research, and then think about it again in a year or so. Some places to start:

Think Before You Breed!
Breeding Hamsters - The Ethics - Hamster Central WIKI
Breeding hamsters as a hobby and Hamsteries - Hamster Central WIKI
Breeding Hamsters - Hamster Central WIKI

You'll also want to talk to breeders etc, and when you are ready, to source a pair of good hamsters from breeders, who will have a pedigree (so you know what genes they are carrying to avoid incompatible pairings) and have been bred for health and temperament.

I strongly advise you do not breed your two current hamsters ever. Being (I assume?) pet shop hamsters, you do not know their background, and it could potentially unsafe to pair them up.

HollyHamster · 12-07-2012, 02:55 PM

Kissa said what was on my mind.

There is no way you'd make a profit out of breeding hamsters properly. You'd more than likely have a serious loss than a gain of any means. I also hesitate to call breeding hamsters a hobby, as its more like a serious full time commitment rather than something to do on the weekends or on free time.

Kissa · 12-07-2012, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HollyHamster

I also hesitate to call breeding hamsters a hobby, as its more like a serious full time commitment rather than something to do on the weekends or on free time.

I think most of the breeders on here also have jobs etc, but yes, it is not just something you can do at weekends when you have free time. Hamsters do not work to your timetable

**kyrilliondaemon** · 12-07-2012, 03:43 PM

Firstly - As has been said, I'm afraid there's no profit in responsibly breeding hamsters.

Secondly - If you do want to breed, you'll need to know the ages of the hams and the ages where its safe to breed, colours of your hamsters, the genes they carry, how those genes interact, any potential hereditary problems (be it because of colour or because the hamsters ancestors have been prone to them)...

Basically, its not as easy as it may sound.
Like Womblehands, we recently took in a pregnant female to foster (she's actually the sister of the ham Womblehands took in) and the amount of stress these hams have caused is unbelievable.
I did little but worry about them for weeks lol. At first it was a rush of trying to work out as much as I could about the hams genetics, then the gutting realisation that we had a risk of anopthalmic whites...
That was followed by a million things to worry over. Was Mum getting enough protein? Had she definetly coped ok with the stress of moving to us while heavily pregnant? Was she in a quiet enough place? Was there something else we couldn't know that might cause her to cull the pups? Worse, what if the pups wore Mum out so much she ended up unwell?
I had loads to worry about and all I could do was wait and see. Even when we first saw the pups I wouldn't tell many anything - because Mum may still cull them.
We've also had to deal with the pups presence affecting other hams of the same species - Daddy Peep has been bar chewing and had to be moved further away, our pair of girls (dwarf hams) stopped getting on as well and we believe thats related. I wasn't expecting it to affect our other hams and I wasn't prepared for that. Its something else that needs to be considered though.

The pups in question are now 25 days old and will be separated from Mum on Monday, its been an incredible experience, getting to hear the squeaks, see a pup so young he hadn't grown fur yet learning to leave the nest, watching them grow into big young hams ready to go out and face the world without Mum... But a heck of a lot of stress too.
Please do not enter into this lightly, and if you do choose to breed - please save yourself as much of that stress as possible by researching for months, and months beforehand. Get hams who you know the pedigree of so you can see what their parents were like and get an idea of genetics. Breeding is risky, so please before you decide to definetly breed, look into it and be sure you can eliminate as many risks as possible.