Syrian hamster breeding

[Ahsngwmla]

Alright so I’m breeding hamsters, Before anyone comes at me telling not to breed I’m being responsible and ethical and have pedigrees etc. anyways that’s not the point of this post. So this will be my first litter. I have been looking up and talking for years and months to breeders learning whilst I owned the hamsters I rescued and finally after 3 years got my quality breeding hamsters. Now I did everything correct need my hamsters in December and let them be together for around 2-3hours while I supervised and they were doing their thing, 16 days pass. No babies. She either reabsorbed her babies or wasent fertilised. Now 2 days ago I bred them again because she was in heat, I was like let’s try again and hope for the best.. 2 days have passed since her breeding and now i know all the pregancy signs but more importantly apart from going into heat what signs should I look out for that she isn’t pregant. Apart from belly lol xx also I feel like I’m overthinking all of this but I weighed her yesterday and she lost 2grams today?? She isn’t gaining weight and I’m starting to think this mating/ breeding wasent successful either! Should I just give them time and not worry?

[briocheham]

hi there! i haven't bred hamsters myself but know a bit from research.


there can be quite a few causes of infertility in hamsters so i would recommend looking into them, it may be that either one of your breeding hamsters are having fertility problems. they may even just be incompatible!
it may also just take a few breedings for the magic to happen

i would recommend buying a motion detecting camera so you can monitor the female at all times if the mating is successful, this will help reduce stress which is very important obviously!

[souffle]

It's not really the right time of year for breeding. The light affects them and though they mate they fail to conceive. Females don't tend to gain weight until around the 10 day mark so don't keep weighing her. You won't see any change until 8 days at least. Messing around with her too much after mating can again cause them not to take.
At 8 days you could get the male's scent on your hand and then rub her back and see if she is standing and in heat again. If she doesn't take try different times of day/ evening to try and catch her at peak fertility. I wouldn't leave mine 2 hours - max 30 minutes fully supervised and somtimes you need to nudge the male in to the right place! Put her near a window for maximum light and feed extra greens to both and a few beansprouts for the female. If you have pedigree hamsters the breeder should be able to help mentor you through the process.