Cute, funny hamsters that are easy to care for are the best pets. If you approach the process of breeding hamsters responsibly, it can become an interesting and useful activity. Breeding hamsters at home is not as lucrative as it seems at first glance, but has many nuances and rules.
Matching and dating
Healthy and good parents have healthy offspring, so future parents should be active, well-fed, with shiny fur, without any congenital defects. Only in this case you can count on getting a healthy litter. It is necessary to provide them with quality feeding and good housing conditions. In the home hamsters can bring numerous offspring all year round, but crossbreeding different types of hamsters (for example, Dzungarian and Campbell) is strictly prohibited. Mating brother and sister is also undesirable, in this case there is a high probability of birth of offspring with various genetic defects and diseases. Also do not breed animals with a bad character. For example, if your hamster, despite a good attitude, for a long time does not become tame, bites, very fearful, constantly tumbling on his back and screams wildly, it is only worth touching him. If all these qualities appeared not through your fault, then, first, they can be inherited. Secondly, the pet can behave like this not only with you, but also with his relatives, and then problems cannot be avoided.
How do hamsters reproduce?
Unlike humans, hamsters are ready for intimate relations only at a certain time. In females, this period is called puberty, at this time the ovum comes out of the ovary, the hormonal balance in the body changes, everything in the body is preparing for future pregnancy. The most important condition for mating is the female’s heat, which is every 4-5 days, lasts only 24 hours, or even less. And only then the female will allow the male to mate with her. Here are the signs of heat in a female:
- Restlessness, decreased appetite;
- musky odor from the animal;
- she freezes and raises her tail in response to being stroked on the back;
- reacts loyally to the male.
These rodents can become pregnant at 1 – 1.5 months of age, and sometimes males start as early as 3 weeks of age. You need to prevent rodents from mating until active growth and skeletal formation is complete. It often happens that young hamsters eat their fetus, so the optimal period for the first mating is from 4 to 6 months, and the second is from 8 to 10 months (for the female). After giving birth, the animal is allowed to rest for 3 to 4 months. Hamsters breed for up to 1 – 1.5 years, after which the female can no longer give birth.
Rules of hamster breeding
First of all, you need to determine what kind of hamsters you plan to breed. Be sure to buy a male and female, choose healthy animals: eyes should be clean, bright, fur smooth and shiny, and hamsters should be active and show interest in the environment. Immediately purchase two large Pet cages or eraser containers or aquariums for breeding hamsters. Put each Pet in its own cage and spread sawdust or other natural bedding on the bottom. When you bring the hamsters home, allow them to be alone for at least one day.
Organizing hamster mating
1 Wait until the female is ready to breed when she is in heat. Because if she is not ready, this attempt can be dangerous – the female will start fighting. If you plan to breed hamsters, place two cages close together for a few days so they can see each other, get used to each other, and the pheromones do their job.
2. place the female with the male, not the other way around! Hamsters are nocturnal animals, so it is better to do it in the evening. It is important to place the pets on neutral territory, in a spare cage, because the female can attack the male if he is planted with her on her territory. If the hamsters start fighting, set one of them aside and try again on the second day. Continue following these steps until they mate.
3. Monitor the mating process. If all goes well, the female will fluff her tail and the male will fertilize her several times. The whole process may take about 30 minutes, and in between, the male will quite possibly lick himself.
- Isolate the female after mating. While some male hamsters may take care of the offspring, others may eat them. It is better to protect yourself even if your hamster is very kind and caring, and put her away for the gestation and birthing period, which is about 14 days.
- Make a note of the mating date. An important part of hamster breeding is keeping an accurate record of events so that you are always on the lookout. Mark the appropriate calendar date, or write it down in a notebook.
- Wait. At this stage you must be patient and observe. Notice if the hamster becomes unusually quiet, licks more often, or drinks and eats more than usual. Another common sign of pregnancy is the instinct to build large nests.
7. Pay attention to the onset of physiologic changes in the female. You will not be able to determine with certainty that a female is pregnant until she is only a few days away from giving birth. By the 10th day after mating, you should notice an obvious increase in the size of the abdomen, just like in humans. You don’t need to do anything special, just don’t grab the female roughly and leave her alone.
- Put more white napkins or toilet paper, only without pictures, from them hamster will make a nest. When labor begins, you will notice that the uterus begins to open and little pink bodies will emerge. They will be born one by one as she runs around the cage, then one by one she will drag them to the nest. When the female is giving birth, do not try to intervene to help.
- Immediately after giving birth and for some time afterward, you should not disturb the female. If she leaves the babies lying at the bottom of the cage, you should not touch them. If for any reason you need to do so, take a spoon, rub it well on the cage bedding, and then pick up the baby and return it to the nest. Let the mother take care of the babies for three weeks without disturbing her or even cleaning the cage, only carefully adding food and water.
- Wait three and a half weeks. At this stage, it is safer to separate the young hamsters by sex. They become sexually mature at 5-6 weeks of age, so keep females in one cage and males in another.
How do I care for a pregnant hamster?
A pregnant female hamster should be cared for in the same way as any animal in the same condition. It is necessary to ensure cleanliness in the cage, peace and quiet. Special attention should be paid to the nutrition of the female during pregnancy. During this period, the hamster needs a large amount of calcium and protein. Daily diet should be replenished with succulent fodder. Twice a week it is necessary to feed boiled chicken meat, boiled egg yolk, fat-free cheese, greens and sprouted grains will also be useful. Clean drinking water should always be in the cage, you can add calcium to it (in the form of a special preparation). Feed the female more often than usual and in larger quantities. Food should contain a lot of vitamins, especially vitamin E. Sometimes instead of water, you can give different juices, such as tomato juice or rosehip juice. It is recommended to feed the animal grain, fruit, oats, vitamins and supplements should also be given.
Hamsters are not only funny animals, but also simple animals for home keeping. It is enough to know a few rules of maintenance, so that the pet was always cheerful and healthy. Breeding hamsters is not only an interesting process, but also costly. But do not forget – a healthy, active pet is the best reward for the owner!
