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You may have considered breeding Syrian hamsters at some point either to sell or to add more to your hamster family. You must educate yourself and make sure you have everything before you start breeding your hamster.
Preparation for Breeding Syrian Hamsters
You will need to have a big enough cage for your hamster and her babies, enough resources, and some sort of breeding plan of what the options are after your hamster has given birth. You also need to check the laws in the country that you live in to make sure that you follow the guidelines and even to check that breeding Syrian hamsters is legal in the country that you live in.
What Will you do with the Babies?
It is not easy to just give hamsters away you have to make sure there are people in your area that want to buy hamsters. If you live in a neighbourhood where there are many children, then it may be easier to sell hamster since they are a great first-time pet. A good place to advertise hamsters is online or on a pet marketplace.
What to Remember Before Trying to Breed your Hamsters?
DO NOT breed hamsters that are too closely related. You do not want to create an inbred line because this can cause some issues with your hamster’s genetics and even cause certain genetic flaws. For healthy hamsters bred avoid breeding the same family. Choose hamsters that are from different stores and make sure you get a male and a female. Ask a member of staff or a hamster expert to ensure you have both sexes identified correctly. Also, make sure your hamsters are around the same age and sexual maturity for a higher success rate. It is best to let them grow to four to six months of age before beginning the breeding process. This improves the chances of a healthy litter.
Allowing your Hamsters to Become Familiar
When you first get your hamsters separate, them into two different cages and put the cages close together after a week to allow the male and female to look and smell each other. Once your hamsters are 4 months old you can introduce them to each other in a separate neutral cage. If you see the female is acting aggressive or uncomfortable take the male hamster out of her cage ASAP.
Mating
You have to ensure your female hamster is in heat. This happens every 4-5 days and if you gently stroke the female and her tail goes erect, she is in heat. Once you know this then you can put the male and female together. Do not place the male in the female’s cage, however, as she will likely fight him to protect her territory-use a separate cage or the male’s cage for breeding.
If all goes well, the female’s tail should go erect, and the male should mount her more than once. Once this process is over separate the male and female into their separate cages. It may take more than one attempt but most likely your hamster is pregnant if you correctly identified her days in heat. Make sure to record all the dates down to ensure you know exactly when to expect the baby hamster pups. If you follow these steps correctly you should have perfect baby hamsters between 15-18 days.
If you enjoyed this article you might also like to read about Golden Hamster Care and Do Syrian Hamsters hibernate?
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