Sexing Hamsters
Before
you can determine the sex of the hamsters you must be able to handle your
hamster well. Grab the hamster from their back and flip them over. The genital
area should have two vents, for both male and the female hamsters. The vents
for the female hamsters are closer together whereas the two vents are further
apart ( ~1cm) for the males.
Breeding
Once
you see your male boy mounting your girl hamster you can start counting the
dates to having a litter of pups coming soon. The gestation period for Syrian
hamster is approximately 17 days and for the dwarf is approximately 3 weeks.
You can roughly tell when your hamster is pregnant, once you see your little hammy
girl starting to build her nesting area, coming out less often from her resting
place, becoming more aggressive towards the male, you know “its” coming.
During
this period of time, try not to handle it too much and observe its behavior
towards the male. Do separate the male and the female when fighting occurs as
they may suffer from serious injuries if left together. Feed the pregnant
mother more proteins such as cheese and milk during this critical period of
time.
The
birth will normally take place in the evening or late at night. The average litter
size for 4 to 12 pups, although bigger litters are known. The pups are born
hairless and blind, feeding on their mother’s milk for roughly 2 weeks known as
the “weaning period”.
Caring for the young
The
young pups are often nurse to the age of 2 to 3 weeks old before they are able
to take solid food on their own. During this critical period of time, they
should not be disturbed or handle for you might confuse the mum with your scent
on the pups or you might frighten the mother, and as a natural instinct the mum
will eat the pups up. If the litter is very big, there are chances that not all
might survive due to the lack of food and protein. That is why it is very
necessary to feed the mother a lot of high protein food.
The
progress of the pups:
The
color of the skin will darken on the 4-6 day.
Pups
will start wondering from their mother by the 8th day.
The
pups will start to have hair by the 10th day.
Their
eyes are opened by the 14th day.
They
are able to take solid food by 16th day.
And
they are completely weaned by the 21st day.
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