Hamster Help?

Question

I have a boy and a girl dwarf hamster and they are brother and sister, I don't want to separte them until they have babies once because I am not 100% sure if they are a boy or a girl, if they have babies, will the babies be ill or have like two heads. It is just that I don't want to have to separte them unless I really absolutely have too
Please no rude comments.

Answer 1

Hamsters are interbred- all rodents are. Most hamsters are the result of people such as yourself- who have a boy and girl and either don't realize it, or think it's "cute" to breed them. Others result in pet shops leaving litters together far too long.

If you have had the boy & girl together in the same cage already, seperate them. The female is already pregnant, trust me. They breed very quickly, and if you let the dad stay in with the mom, she can be pregnant again within a day of giving birth.

Responsible breeding is always the best option. Do you have cages for all the hamsters you are breeding? Dwarves don't have to be seperated, but should be kept seperate in terms of sex- boys in one cage, girls in another. Did you know dwarves can have up to 20 babies at a time? It's rare, but it has happened. You might luck out, and only have 2 babies. You might end up with 15 though, as well.

Here is a website on how to tell the sex on your hamsters. It is very important if you have babies that you can tell which is which.

http://www.hamsterific.com/HamsterUniversity/SexingHamsters.html

As a general rule of thumb, hamsters will be fine interbred, but that doesn't mean they should be interbred. As with any creature, the more interbred they are, the weaker the genetic make up becomes- causing deformaties, bad behaviour, even death.

If you mix up even 1 boy or girl, you end up with a lot more babies. Especially if you accidently put 1 boy in with 5 girls. He WILL make all 5 pregnant, and 3 weeks later, you could have up to 50 hamsters on your hands just in babies.

It's irresponsible to breed this way. If it's babies you want, look into getting two non-related hamsters from a breeder, not a pet shop. Set up seperate cages for when the babies are born, so that you can put the dad in a different cage. The dad's can be very helpful to a new mom and their babies, but the down side is that mom will be pregnant again immediatly.

That means mom will be nursing 2 sets of babies, and if both litters are especially large, then she won't be able to supply enough milk for all of them. If she feels her children are in danger- either from an outside source, or even from not being able to feed them, she WILL cannabalise them.

Hamsters do not do this to be mean. In their makeup, this equates to protecting them from danger, or from starving to death, which is a long slow process.

Here is a page with information on safely breeding dwarf hamsters:

http://www.hamsterific.com/BreedingDwarfs.html

Please read it.

Answer 2

look online how to determine the sex of your dwarf hamsters to make sure what they are first. BUT, i must warn you from experience that when they get to having babies, it's a nightmare. You will then have to find hoomes for all of them (they have like at least 8 or 10) and then the mom might eat them if she feels threatened (this happened to my teddy bear hamsters before). Don't let them start breeding cuz it's neverending. If you want 2 hammys, make sure they are the same sex!!

Answer 3

If they are boy and girl you will most likely have some problems. But just wait it out and see. Watch to see how they interact with each other as they get older. If any problem does happen seperate them. I have the same problems with my guienea pigs we were told that they were to boys brought them home and it was a girl and boy. Bailey ( the boy) always tries to run things and fight with boots( the girl). Boots is very scared of him so we keep them in sepret cages so they can still see each other trough the cage.

Answer 4

Please don't let them breed! You can't do this with any animal. They caould have alot of problems like....tumors...bad teeth....missing extremeties....deformities with organs...and the list goes on...I am VERY experienced with this type of thing. I have bred rodents and especially rats for like 14 years. I know how you feel about seperating them because rodents are social. But if you really care about these little guys then you will seperate them. Maybe go to the pet store and ask to trade one of them or even buy 2 and put in with the each of them after seperated.....if your concerned that they will get lonely.

Answer 5

You shouldn't breed brother to sister, they might not have two heads, but they could have internal problems and might not live long at all. They could have other health problems like with their hearts. Separate them now.

Answer 6

I don't think you are going to have too much problems if they are bred a few babies might have some health issues.

Answer 7

i would separate them now. hampsters breed fast so you will probably end up with a bunch of babies by accident and then what are you going to do with them??

Answer 8

animals that are related will most likely almost 100% not be deformed if they breed. i would kno i have alot of animals don't worry idf they do breed the babies will most likely be fine

Answer 9

Check out this website

http://www.hookedonhamsters.com/hamsterbreeding.htm

Answer 10

rodents can be inbred and just a warning..my daughter had 2 hamsters and in 3 months we had 80 hamsters...its a good thing we also have snakes !