how can you know if a hamster is pregnant?

Answer 1

You really just have to wait and see if she delivers any. Most hamsters won't look pregnant until a few days before delivery. The day before they deliver, their activity levels increases significantly. Once they deliver though, you may never see her leave the nest (don't worry, she is). The most important thing to remember is that if she does have pups, don't disturb her or touch the pups until their eyes are open and they're walking around the cage. This means no cage cleaning either.

As for how long you have to wait to see if she delivers, 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. The five species are: Syrian, Campbells 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/hamst...

So back to gestational periods. Gestate means pregnancy, gestational periods means the length of time of the pregnancy. 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 bought your hamster from a pet store and suspect that she's could be pregnant, she could have her pups from now until the upper most limit of the gestational periods listed for her species above. If that time frame passes, then she is not pregnant.

-Janice
http://www.holmdenhillhaven.com

Answer 2

have it pee on a stick, just kidding LOL but she will build a nest and in about 20 days you will see little pink babies if she mated you can be sure about 99.9% sure the rodent is pregnant.

Answer 3

Get a pregnancy test kit , but you'll have trouble trying to get it to pee on it.