Age of Females for breeding.What minimum would you consider?

[Louby]

Hi Guys!

I know the ages that the books say for minimum and maximum limits for breeding age of females, but I wanted some personal opinions on it, and what age limits you stick to?

ie...I know ideally, you wouldn't necessarily breed a female before she is 16 weeks. Would you consider 15 weeks to be way too early? Would you EVER consider it?

Would a planned pregnancy at 14 or 15 weeks affect the ham in any way assuming she is large enough and healthy enough at that stage? I know the 'BIBLE' says the minimum is 13 weeks.

We would NEVER EVER put any of our hams at risk, and if we deem that they weren't ready, or end up not being suitable for breeding when the time comes, then we would of course, not breed from them. We want to breed to improve our hamsters in type and temperament, not breed for the sake of breeding.

We have 4 females currently that we would love to breed from at some stage. Due to our incapacity to say no to a cute face , they are all fairly close in age, so if we do decide that we would like litters from each of them, we need to run them fairly close together.

I would love to hear some of the bigger breeders views on this too, and the guidelines that they set themselves.

Any opinions welcome! We are just trying to plan our future, and I would love to hear your ideas....

[Mollz]

As long as she was big enough (which I think is one of the most important things) and healthy then I don't see a problem with breeding at 15 weeks - just make sure she is a big girl, which I'm sure all of your hams will be with all your love and care

I'm about to pm you too, Louby, with some piccies.

[souffle]

We would not personally consider breeding before 4 months but we only breed very infrequently and are able to wait. We feel that regardless of size they are not really mature enough till then and may not have finished growing properly themselves. You need to assess your lady and then decide based on her weight, condition and temperament and also the time of year. As you go towards winter they are more reluctant to breed and then she might be too old after that so you have to weigh up the pros and cons.

[Bourne Valley Hams]

I would not want a female to have a litter until she was 16 weeks old but I might possibly mate her at 14 or 15 weeks if she was a good size.

[Bunsey]

well i'd got Ruby's 16 week date marked in my diary and i decided it was the minimum time i'd wait. However, i noticed i can't knock her up in time to sell the babes at Rotherham, so i'm leaving her until almost 5 months so i can take the babes to the next show. That's what i think i'm doing anyway, i might change my mind yet!

i just realised that sounds ambiguous... what i meant by minimum time i'd wait was that i have to wait at least long enough for her to be 16 weeks old. does that make sense now?

[Foreverhamsters]

i think the age at which you breed may slightly differ between hamster species, i personally try to introduce my chinese at 2 months into a split cage and then fully introduce them at about 12-16 weeks although they never seem to produce a litter until they decide theyu are ready, in some cases never (obviously the more intellingent hamsters who dont want mad pups running all over the place

Ps: had to edit due to my terrible English hope you can now understand it

[Bunsey]

yes, you make a good point there. I'm planning on introducing my dwarfs at 12 weeks (24th june, can't wait!)

[babyboos]

Never under 16 weeks for our own hamsters - though I do get rescues in under 10 weeks pregnant I really would not recommend it - the pups never all survive and sometimes neither do the mums - depends how far on they are when they come to us, but even with 24/7 care the litter always has a high level of casualties