Pregnant Hamster???

Question

I think my hamster is pregnant how can I know for sure? She has been rapidly gaining weight for the past three weeks but I'm not sure???!!!

Answer 1

What kind of hamster do you have? Three weeks or 21 days is on the upper end for most all hamsters to carry babies. The Teddy bear hamster only carries for 15-17 days. She should have been starting to build a nest by now. She may be more tired, not running her wheel, and sleeping more. She should have the appearence of having "saddle bags" on her sides. You should be able to feel her babies move within her as of the 10 day of pregnancy. Count back to when she may have gotten pregnant and see how many days it's been. No matter if she's a dwarf or syrian, she should deliver within 15-21 days. If it's been longer then 22 or 23 days take her to the vet, there's a problem with the pregnancy or she has some other medical problem and wasn't pregnant. Babies are typically born during the night and early morning. It's very possible for her to eat one or all the babies if she's young or inmature. We had a 3 time mother eat 6 of her 9 babies, then abandoned those 3. She has raised both prior litters without eating any, plus attempted to raise 9 syrian babies that lost their mother with her first litter of 5. She managed to keep 5 of the nine alive, but we lost one of the 5 at 4 months and the remaining 4 are 14 onths old now along with the last one still living from her first litter. Dwarf hamster only live 1-2 years. That mother was just lost to us 2 days ago, she cared for 22 hamsters between 2 litters and we still have 10 of those still living. Her last litter she never raised and none of them are alive now. We took the survivers and gave them to her daughter that had just given birth and she raised the only one that survived in the end with her one baby. This site has great information for both Syrian and Dwarf hamsters, pregnancy and raising pups.

Answer 2

Your question didn't specify what species of hamster you have so this answer will be a bit long as I will address each of the species.

There are five species of hamsters commonly kept as pets. Only two of them have the same gestational time. You didn't mention what species of hamster you have. The five species are: Syrian, Campbell Russian Dwarf, Winter White Russian Dwarf, Roborovski Dwarf and Chinese. A Syrian hamster is what pet stores always incorrectly sell as "Teddy Bears", "Black Bears", "Calicos", "Panda Bears", etc.. The pet stores create these "fancy" names to sell them for more money but they are all the same kind of hamster. Much like a chocolate lab, black lab and yellow lab are all the same. Or a blonde haired girl is the same as a brunette. Hamsters are the only species that I am aware of that has this problem. It is so exaggerated that most people think a "Teddy Bear" hamster is a different species than a "Black Bear" hamster. Unfortunately, it is not limited to Syrians anymore as I am starting to see Campbells being sold as "Blueberry" or "Blackberry" dwarves, but they are still Campbell. Knowing that you need to know exactly what kind of hamster you have. If you still aren't sure, check out this link that had photos of the five species:
http://www.petwebsite.com/hamsters/hamster_species.htm

So back to gestational periods. The easiest one is the Syrians. They gestate for EXACTLY 16 days. I have never heard of a Syrian delivering even a day early. I have had over 300 litters and being one of the top breeders in the US, have almost daily contact with the other top breeders. Unfortunately, I have had around four deliver a day late. The ones that deliver a day late do so because there is a problem with the delivery. I have only had one female that delivered a day late survive. Since Syrians must be housed separately, it is very easy for a breeder to know when a female is mated because the breeder has to introduce the male and female.

Next up is the Campbells Russian Dwarf. It has a gestation period of 18-20 days so they are not as exact as a Syrian. Campbells also have the ability to delay implantation so if this is occurring, there is no way to tell when actual implantation occurs and thus can't accurately predict the delivery date. Campbells are usually housed in pairs or trios so it will also be hard to know when the female is mated.

The Winter White gestation period is also 18-20 days and they can also delay implantation.

The Roborovskis have the longest gestation period of the five species, 23 days. It is not confirmed whether they can delay implantation or not, but it has been suggested.

The Chinese hamsters have a gestation period of 20-21 days, though there have been observations of gestations shorter than this.

If you don't think that the time frames listed correlate with your hamster, there are a few other things that may be causing the change you see in your female. It would help if you were to describe exactly how she's acting differently and how she looks "fat" a bit more specifically.

The first thing that comes to my mind is she's most likely suffering from amyloidosis. Amyloidosis is much more common in females than in males. It is caused by protein accumulating in various organs. This will cause fluid to fill the abdomen. I have seen this in a handful of my females. One of the signs other than the bloated abdomen is a "pinched" look in the face. There is no treatment for this condition and the female will only live for a few more days, maybe weeks. I would suggest euthansizing her as the condition appears to be quite painful. I'm sorry if this turns out to be the cause. I have had this happen to a few of my females, none of my males. Some breeders had noticed that they have more females contract this after switching to a higher protein diet.

She could also be suffering from Pyometra, which is an infection of the womb. The womb will fill is pus and give the look of the female being pregnant. The toxins of the infection will cause the hamster to behave differently. Unfortunately, antibiotics won't cure the infection, only curb it somewhat. The only way to cure her of this is with an ovariohysterectomy (spaying).

There is one more thing that could be effecting her if she is a Campbells or Winter White, diabetes. Diabetes has become a severe problem in the the Russian Dwarf hamsters. Weight gain is one of the symptoms of diabetes.

A diabetic dwarf will have all or some of the following symptoms:

1. Increased thirst, drinking excessively
2. Peeing excessively, strong smelly urine with either a sweetish smell or a acetone (nail polish remover) smell.
3. Sudden weight loss or weight gain
4. Tiredness (sleeping more than usual) or excessive exercise or a combination of both at the extremes
5. Irritability (only in some), unusual biting when the ham did not bite before
6. Increased hunger

If you think you have a diabetic hamster, I encourage you to join the Yahoo! Group called Honey Hams. It's a group solely dedicated to diabetic hamsters. In the files section of the group are some files that tell you how you can test for diabetes and things you can do to modify the hamsters diet to help control the diabetes. Here's the link for the group:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/honeyhams/

I hope that none of the above conditions is what is effecting your hamster. If you'd like to add some more observations to your question, that would help to determine what could be going on.

-Janice
http://www.holmdenhillhaven.com

Answer 3

All hamsters sleep alot. they are nocturnal, which potential they are up taking area in and eating and dealing if you're in mattress. Pregnant hamsters surely have a tendency to be extra tense and fussy, biting and construction nests and obsessively cleansing.

Answer 4

my hamster got pregnant too - yesterday she was not that much chubby and this morning she had her stomach bigger! so you will be certain when seeing it gaining weight

Answer 5

only the vet will know, take her asap!! mine gained wait during her pregnancy

Answer 6

take her to the vet ASAP.