Breeding

Breeding

If you want to breed hamsters remember these few important points.

1. Before you put a female and male together remember that the litter can be from 1-14 depending on the type of hamster so make sure you have enough room.

2. You may need to get an extra cage because after the hamsters have mated the female can become aggresive and attack the male so it might be wise to seperate the male from the female after they have mated.

3. After birth and when the female is pregnant you will have to stop cleaning out the hamster cage because the hamster or hamsters when the babies are born don't like being disturbed.

4. When a female is pregnant or when it is looking after its young it needs a lot of protein in its diet so have a good supply of protein ready.

You must keep in mind that female and male hamsters don't normally get on well together so it would be best not to put very aggressive hamsters in the same cage but to put hamsters which are friendly.
The best way to make your hamsters mate is to put the female in the males cage so the male will feel more secure. If the hamsters do fight seperate them immediatly because the male will proberly get badly injured and the female may aquire some minor injuries as well. When the female and male do accept each other the male should chase the female round the cage. The hamsters will mate a few times but after a while the female starts to get more aggresive again and thats when you need to seperate the hamsters. If your hamster is pregnant you should notice her tummy getting bigger round the 10th day after mating also nipples will start to show. Your hamster may also become a bit more aggresive towards you andmight start to build a huge nest. Hamsters pregnancy lasts for 15-17 days but it can vary. If your hamster does give birth don't touch the babies intill about 2 weeks at this time you can also clean out the cage. At about 24 days seperate the babies from the mother also at this stage you can seperate the males from the females.