Before you breed I just want you to know that this is a big responsibility. Before you even do anything get your phone and find out where the babies are going to go. I would recommend having about 5 different places just in case some stores change their minds.
So you want to breed hamsters! Well first you need a boy and a girl. To learn how to sex your hamster click here. Now your all ready to start breeding your dwarf hamster. First of all i would get a cardboard box to introduce them in. First put the male inside then the female. Let them sniff each other to get used to each others smell. If they start fighting and you see teeth involved then seperate them and try on a later date. This has never happened to me though. If everything is fine after about like ten minutes wash the cage and put new bedding and food enough for two hamsters. Now you may put them inside the cage.
When dwarf hamsters are mating, the boy usually goes on top of the girl. You can see the position from the picture on top. The male will then thrust for a few seconds then get off. They both wash off then do it again repeating the process for many minutes.
A female dwarf hamster's gestation period is from 18 to 30 days. There isn't really a way to tell if a hamster is pregnant until a couple of days before the birth. However I found that a way to see if she's pregnant is that right before mating she will build nests all over the cage. She will also be agrassive towards the male and you a few days before mating and a three days before the birth. After mating you will notice that she will, go crazy. What I mean by that is that she will always be running, digging, climbing, biting, just about anything that she could possibly do. This is also another indication of pregnancy.
Around a week before the expected litter is due, she will start to get fatter. She will also get really, really fat around 2-3 days before the litter is due. At this time you may clean out the cage to give her a few days to get the nest ready. I would suggest to also seperate the male at this time too because they will mate once again within 24 hours after the birth. However you may not reintroduce them again. At this time if you hold her and feel her stomach you can actually feel the babies moving! but do not squeeze to tightly becuase this will kill some of the babies.
Finally the day has come. She is due to have her babies tonight. A hamster will usually have there babies from 10:00pm on. Every once in a while she have them during the day. The babies are born throughout the cage but don't worry she will gather them up into the nest. There is going to be blood on the wood shavings which is from the placentas which she will eat. The placentas are a high source of protien for the mom. Once she has gathered up all the hamsters she will usually sit on them to keep them warm and so they could drink their milk. You will also hear many squeeks from the babies.
.................................babies at 7 days old.........................................................................................
The babies are born naked, and are about the size of a paperclip. NOTE: Do not disturb the mom while she's giving birth and do not touch the babies at all until they are 16 days old becuse this will change their scents and the mom will think they are not her babies and will reject them. At around 4 - 6 days old their skin should start to pigment into the fur color. At 10 days old the eyes should be open and the babies should be up and walking around the cage. At 16 days old you may hold them for a short period of time. You may then clean out the cage. You could also feed them their fruits and vegetables at this time.
They should stay with their mom for another week, then be seperated into seperate sex groupings for another 3 weeks. Then finally they could go off to their new homes!!!
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