Update on all things hamster

Pouchy · 03-22-2007, 12:10 PM

My syrian hamster, Asbo is now completely tame. The 2 months of patience have paid off. he now likes to walk all over me - somethings never change. He is very gentle, does not bite and in fact he is just like me!
All things dwarfy. It appears that one of my pair of males isn't. They were so young when they were bought that proper sexing must have been difficult. They are about 2 months old so their may be some furball on furball action anytime now.
If we do have some extra little squeakers would anybody living in Derbyshire, Stockport and Manchester, UK and surrounding areas with transport, like to take a couple do let me know via this forum. As it's early days and you never know, they might not breed (some hope) but will keep you posted on the situation.

suga · 03-23-2007, 11:37 AM

Glad to read that you and yours are all doing well. Great news on the tame hammy, fingers crossed your other furries don't have little ones of their own :wink:

**babyboos** · 03-25-2007, 05:58 AM

have you split them up now? maybe you will be lucky and catch it in time if they are wrongly sexed. If babies do still come hopefully then you will be able to pair mum with a daughter and dad with a son if you get the right offspring mix. It is unusualy not to get at least one of each sex in a litter, but it can happen only siblings of the same sex survive to weaning age. I had a mum who always ate her duaghters.

Pouchy · 03-26-2007, 04:20 AM

The pair get on so well that unless they start fighting like a married couple they won't be separated. they groom and interact together well and have places to get away from each other if necessary. they can bite my gloved fingers if they want so they can remove aggression that way.
if they do/have breed/bred then there are people out there who want them or the pet shop might have the surplus. maybe people on this site may be interested. The possibilities are endless. Or I could keep the lot and go crazy....

souffle · 03-26-2007, 06:57 AM

Are you sure they are not siblings as sibling breeding is not a very good idea. Remember if she is pregnant they will mate immediatly after the birth of the pups so you need to take the male out before this or you will have more pups a few weeks later. This is not fair on the female as it will be a big strain on her body raising litter after litter. If they do breed you will have to take the male out at some point or you will have about 80 by the end of the year

Holly · 03-26-2007, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by souffle

Are you sure they are not siblings as sibling breeding is not a very good idea.

I was thinking the same thing - I'm guessing pet shops get their hamsters mostly from the same breeder (ours does) so most of any one breed in the shop at any one time will be from the same litter.

I was reading a book about breeding dwarf hamsters this afternoon (no plans, just idle curiosity) and was amazed to read that, if they live together, a pair will mate again the same day a litter is born

....with an 18 day gestation period that means two litters in 36 days

Pouchy · 03-26-2007, 11:36 AM

Thanks for the info. However today it looks as if I have the only feminist hamster in existence. The male now has a nest elsewhere in the cage and it looks as if the female has booted him out. She does not look fat at the back end so maybe they should be seperated now but until another cage is procured or I get a bin and convert it for hammy use they will have to wait.

Maybe she should be encouraged to cannabilise her young. Igor fetch me the electrodes....

souffle · 03-26-2007, 11:53 AM

Oh no Pouchy.

If they have mated you just have to hope for the best. To tell you the truth sometimes the female boots the male out just before she gives birth

You had better keep a close watch for pups. At 9 weeks she is really too young for pups. First litter should be around 4 months so the female is well developed enough to carry a litter. They often do not show much even when expecting and near to delivery especially if it is a small litter. I would feed some good quality food and a bit of extra protein just in case. Make sure they are properly sexed and if they are male and female I would separate now.

**babyboos** · 03-26-2007, 12:48 PM

The female of the species is the dominant gene in dwarf hamsters - they are more territorial than males so the behaviour you describe is not that unusual - you really ought to separate immediately even if the guy has to live in an old tub for a short time - you can get an underbid storage type tub for £5 with a lid in most places such as Poundstrechers/Instores, Asda etc. which will be perfectly adequate for a cage longterm. Sibling matings are not pretty or to be encouraged, and you can joke about cannibalism or finding homes for 40 plus hamsters but when it actually comes down to it nobody wants them, believe me I run a rescue and have trouble giving unpedigreed dwarf hamsters away.

Pouchy · 04-02-2007, 12:45 PM

Looks as if the female may be a male after all or if female she has sworn to be celibate to better serve their hamster God. No babies as yet, no body shape changes so looks as if I was wrong. have tried sexing again and the distance between the vent and anus seems the same in both but the rump shape is pointed with very prominent lumps in one but the other has a more rounded rump and barely distinguishable lumpy bits underneath.

Surely by now if one had got pregnant, it would have meant babies on the way as they have both been together since purchase and it's been abot 6 weeks. That means they must be nearly three months and no sign. Therefore I surmise they must both be male.