Tips on Breeding Dwarf Hamsters
By Emily Brock
The main difference between breeding dwarf hamsters and breeding Syrian hamsters is that Syrian hamsters do best when they live alone, and dwarf hamsters can successfully live in social groups as long as they are introduced to each other while young. So a colony of dwarf hamsters could start breeding naturally at around 5 weeks of age, if the sexes are not separated.
It is always best to separate the sexes unless you are intentionally breeding your hamsters. Do no make the mistake of thinking you can automatically sell baby hamsters to pet stores. If you allows a colony of hamsters to breed and end up with 20 babies, the overcrowding could cause the older hamsters to eat the young.
Also, once they become fertile (at anywhere from 1 to 3 months old) males hamsters are always fertile. And females hamsters are in heat about every 4 days during breeding season (April through October). Gestation takes about 2.5 to 3 weeks for Russian hamsters, and about 3 to 4 weeks for Roborovski hamsters. The litters can be as large as 14 pups, and breeding females can normally produce 2 to 3 litters. So a colony could potentially become overpopulated very quickly. For that reason, it is always a good idea to keep males and females separated unless you have a clear plan for taking care of their offspring.
Another very important thing to keep in mind is that a responsible hamster breeder will research the genetic history of both the male and female hamsters before deciding to breed them. This is because genetic abnormalities could occur in the offspring that are not obviously visible in the parents. For instance, anophthalmic whites (also called "eyeless whites") can be born when two hamsters which have white bellies and which carry the anophthalmic gene are bred together. There offspring are born with no eyes (or undeveloped eyes) and are usually also deaf. Although they can survive for up to a year, no responsible breeder would intentionally allow this to happen.
Hamster experts advise against breeding pet store hamsters together because of the lack of genetic histories. Breeding live animals (including hamsters) is not just a "fun game" to try when you have nothing more interesting to do. You will need to commit your time to studying hamster genetics and health issues, and you will need to make a financial commitment to buy the extra cages to house your colonies so that they do not overpopulate and become cannibalistic, as well as to buy the litter, toys and food to give them a healthy life.
Emily Brock is a hamster enthusiast. For more great tips and advice on baby dwarf hamsters visit http://HamsterLifeAnswers.com/
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