Three Possible Pregnancies.

[CakesAndCoffee]

Tonight I am in shock to discover three of my female hamsters may be pregnant. When I was out a young family member put my males in with my females cage awhile back. I just found out today because I commented on one of my hams weight. My mom then told me what happened. She said she found Max with Sophia, Penny with Herman and John Boy with Mary Ellen. A part of me thinks she was in on it. I am very nervous now, as Penny has had a litter before because she was pregnant when we got her. She had complications giving birth but luckily survived. However, the babies did not. Furthermore, my questions are numerous but probably simple to some.

How long is Syrian hamster gestation?

Is there special food I should be feeding my girls?

Should I remove all wheels from their cages?

What birthing situations should I be aware of?
I heard about mutations, and I am worried.

All my hamsters are Syrian:

Penny and Herman are golden.
Sophia is creme banded.
Max is sable banded.
John Boy is sable long hair.
Mary Ellen is sable banded long hair.

[souffle]

It depends how long a while back was. If it is longer that 18 days ago they are not pregnant. Gestation is 16 days and can be a little over occassionally with a late mating.
Max x Sophie = a least sables, creams and sable and cream bandeds
Penny x Herman = probably all golden unless they have shared recessive then who knows.
JB x ME = all LH, sables, sable bands, cream, cream bands.
They are all safe matings I'd say unless there is a small chance of both goldens carrying the white belly gene though this is unlikely.
The female who lost the litter may go on to be OK this time if she is pregnant. It often happens that way but have an expenrenced vet a phone call away in case of issues.
All the info you need is here:
Breeding Syrian Hamsters - Advice & Guidance
It is a very risky thing that happened here. It could have ended in terrible fights and the males being badly injured as well as the females now at great risk having litters in particuar older ones. High time there was a serious clampdown on the access of young people to the hamsters a big talking to regarding what might have and what could have happened. If the colours are incompatable in some way eg the goldens there could be disabled babies that are blind and toothless and some coat types can lead to almost bald hamsters.
Good luck and I hope you got off with no pregnancies.

[Kissa]

Originally Posted by souffle

They are all safe matings I'd say unless there is a small chance of both goldens carrying the white belly gene though this is unlikely.

The first thing I thought of was the bandeds hiding the white belly gene -- I'm sure people advise not to breed banded and banded together for that reason.

OP: I haven't got anything to add to what souffle said, but good luck!

[souffle]

Well spotted kissa - I didn't note that both Max and Sophie were bands. Indeed Bands can hide the white belly gene HOWEVER both are creams or cream based (sable) and if they did carry white belly then they would be cream roan and sable roan so they cannot be carrying it as creams and cream based will roan when when they do.

[squishyhammy]

out of curiosity are al the females in the same cage? if yes they need to be seperatd in case they are pregnant feed them foods such as mealworms (inn some moderation so pups dont get too big) aswel as normal mix
good luck!

[Kissa]

Ah yes souffle, I had forgotten that white belly causes roaning with creams

[CakesAndCoffee]

Wow, thank you so much for the information. All my hamsters are in separate cages, so six cages in all. They are rather spoiled. I also just found out about wodent wheels, so ordering six of those. I am trying not to worry, but Sophia is really fat and bulging on each sides. I asked my mom the date they were put together and she said either May 9th, 10th or 11th. As for access to my hamsters, I am locking my bedroom door. It is worth the extra lockdown even though to get back in my room I have to pick the lock lol. Anyway, I will try and do updates on this situation. I have a food scale I was thinking about weighing them each day on. However, not sure if that would be a good idea. If they are pregnant I don't want to cause complications.

[CakesAndCoffee]

Here is a picture of Max & Sophia. I will get pictures of the others up soon. I hope I got the coat colors right when I started the thread.



Here is John Boy:

[CakesAndCoffee]

Okay, so Sophia is definitely pregnant. She is bulging a ton and looks like she swallowed a pear. I am expecting babies any day now. Luckily Mary Ellen and Penny are not showing signs.

[souffle]

Sophie's looks like a black eyed cream banded though her ears are very pale but this may be due to the band pattern. Max is a sable band. Band x Band tends to give very wide bands and all the babies should be banded. Both look short haired but they may carry long hair.
John Boy is a Long haired sable.