Breeding Hamster and Dwarf Hamster Babies
What You Should Know Prior To Breeding
OK, you’ve decided you want to start breeding hamster and dwarf hamster babies? You would love to see a hamster family, including the hamster mother, the hamster father, and a bunch of little baby hamsters? Keep in mind before you begin, it’s not as easy as just sticking a couple of the animals into the same enclosure. Don’t take the first step until you spend a little time planning, maybe even writing out your plan in a notebook. You really have two important decisions to make.
A Baby Hamster
Hamster Breeding Questions
First, what will happen with the babies?
Second, which of your hamsters or dwarf hamsters will be the parents?
To answer the first question, what will you do with the babies, you need to understand something right from the get go. You most likely will not be able to sell them to a local pet shop. Most pet emporiums simply will refuse to purchase baby hamsters and dwarf hamsters from breeders they don’t know, and that includes you. Since the number of baby hamsters in a litter can range anywhere from four all the way to fourteen, depending on species, you better consider where you will keep them all. As long as they are babies, no problem. They’ll stay with their mom. But then, they will each need their own home. Will you have room for that many, without overcrowding? If not, best NOT to breed.
Also, if they get sick, can you afford to pay for their treatment and/or care? Vets can be expensive, and medicines are, too. If you aren’t certain what you would do, or how you would pay for it, again it’s best NOT to breed your hamsters.
Once you have covered the question of how you will care for the resulting pups, it’s time to tackle the second question, namely who the parent hamsters will be. To answer this question, you will want to know something about the lineage, or geneology (so to speak) of the hamsters you are considering for breeding purposes, as well as something about hamster breeds. Do your research, and know where the hamsters came from before you select them to breed.
Breeding Is A Matter Of Genetics
Why? Genetics, of course. Look especially for genetic defects, propensity to certain conditions or illnesses that would make a hamster or dwarf hamster a poor catidate to be a parent. That’s why it’s best not to breed your pet with one you just picked up from the pet shop. After all, how can you really know much about a pet shop hamster’s background?
You are looking for two suitably matched hamsters so that you can be relatively sure to get healthy, well-formed babies with good temperaments. Look particularly at the size of the hamsters you are thinking about breeding. Are they fairly similar, and appropriately sized for their species? Make sure they are strong, healthy specimens of their breed.
You’ll also want to look carefully at their “personality” to determine if their behaviour is the kind you want passed on to your hamster babies. Coloration is something to think about, too. It may seem odd, but certain colored dwarf hamsters should never be bred with others, or you may see babies with birth defects. This is beyond the scope of this article, but you will want to do some more research on your own.
Time To Bring Your Hamsters Together?
Once you have taken all these things into account, then and only then are you ready to put Momma hamster and Daddy hamster into the same enclosure. The actual process of breeding your dwarf hamsters is also important. To get more info, be sure to sign up for my free mini-course below.
The above pictures have been submtted by members and gathered from various sources around the internet, many of which were submitted by their original photographers. If any of the aforementioned photographs are copyrighted and you are the owner of these pictures, do not hesitate to contact me! They will be swiftly removed if you so desire. All images are hosted server-side by dwarf-hamster.com.
