winter white/campbells

[mrnibblesmommy]

my fb friend says she crossbred her winter white boy with one of her campbell's girls and now has at least two little ones. she wants to be put in touch with someone here who is a "dwarfie breeder" and i know absolutely nothing about it so could one of you help me out? if so please PM your email addy for her, thank you in advance if you chooose to help me out she's really needing advice/help thank you !

[Michelle89]

I know absaloutly nothing on breeding apart from you should never cross breed and never breed unless you know what your doing. Was it an accident? I'm sure there are people on here that will know how to help but I think you should tell your friend not to do it again hope the babies are ok and she gets the help she needs xxx

[Charley101]

I don't think you are mean't to cross breed either as it can result in numerous health problems... Bella is more than likely a hybrid, and possibly Noah too, so they are prone to diabetes which can be very bad in hamsters.

I'm sure there are members on here who will be able to offer some advice.

[Erin Loves Dwarf Hamsters]

Have you thought about encouraging your friend to join the forum MNM? It might be more of a help to her in the long term than just having one person to email who may not know every answer. I think that would be a good option for her and the pups.

I really do hope it was some kind of accident as purposefully breeding hybrids is not only wrong but very dangerous and to do it on purpose puts the lives of mother and pups in serious danger plus it risks the pups being prone to some serious and sometimes life threatening illnesses as they get older. Perhaps having her read this article will make her think twice in future if this was a planned event - Hybrid Dwarfs - Harvey Hams

[kyrilliondaemon]

If that doesn't make her think twice then make her watch Pippys video. Its the most heartbreaking video I've seen and really, really makes you think.
Also made Pippy into my favourite of everyone else's hamsters, brave little hybrid that she is. (I hope Erin doesn't mind me mentioning her but she's the best example of why breeding them is bad that I know)

I'd suggest she joined the forum and got advice from here

[mrnibblesmommy]

from my pal: Beth Halbrook
thank you for your help! I looked up some info on crossbreeds and it sounds like I made a newbie gaf. I wasn't really expecting this pair to have babies, I thought crossbreeding wasn't easy to achieve, I had been planning to get a siberian girl for my siberian boy and another campbell's boy for the girl. They got along though, and I figured they'd be happier keeping each other company until I got the right mates.

[mrnibblesmommy]

i made the suggestion she join the forum here and hopefully she will thanks for all your help guys!! and btw, since i last posted niblet, higley, taffy and mr nibbles have all passed away

[mrnibblesmommy]

im down to 5/10 hamsters. all i've got left are persimmon, nessie and keebler (the 3 girls) and pipsqueak and squeakers. i plan to get a new girl soon and mate her with squeakers, and have generation 3 of the niblet hamsters. LOL. i plan to keep the mr nibbles line going forever

[Dichroic]

Hello, I'm the friend Amanda mentioned.

I am a sugar glider breeder, I work with pedigrees worth thousands of dollars, so I understand about the importance of responsible breeding. This was just, in short, a mistake. I don't want it to happen again, so I asked Amanda for help getting in contact with someone that could guide me on the safest way to fix this problem without endangering the babies.

When I first got my dwarfies, I didn't even realize they were different species. I didn't realize there even *were* different species, which is why I bought before I did research. I tried to identify their colors because so many of them reminded me of sugar glider color variants, but I found out with my research that it works differently than I thought it did. The original group I had was 2 campbell's females and one siberian male. The info that I found gave me the impression that crossbreeding siberians to campbell's was physically unlikely to happen, a rare occurrence rather than a bad one, so I didn't expect the two to actually achieve it. I got a campbell's male for one of the females after consulting with the pet store to make sure they were not related, but the siberian females are still on backorder. With sugar gliders, having a lone glider is cruel, so I thought it would be better to keep the two together until I could find them acceptable mates. After doing more research since these babies have popped up, I now realize that it is easier to achieve than I thought, the real issues come from genetic defects or health problems in the crossbred hamsters themselves. I also understand there is no reason for this to be done, the coat color looks pretty, but as with my gliders, coat color always comes second to health and ethical breeding.

I had read that campbell's males are good fathers, but siberian males are booted from the nest for the first few days. When I realized that there were babies (2, I believe), I pulled the male out just to be safe until I could find someone more experienced with dwarfie breeding to advise me on how to proceed. Daddy hammy escaped his temporary enclosure last night, but I had it on top of their tank and he hopped right back into the tank. I gave mama a treat when I realized what happened to get her off the nest for a moment and there are still 2 babies. I think if these little ones pull through I'll be keeping them as personal pets rather than homing them, so I can be sure they are not used for breeding. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Michelle89]

I'm very glad you have come to the forum for advice welcome to the forum and I hope that the breeders on hear can help you I'm sure you will find this forum helpful as you clearly love your animals xxx