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Deciding to breed your pet hamsters can be an amazing project for your whole family. You will watch the mother get rounder and lager, until one day your pair of pet hamsters has turned into a hamster family. There are a few things to keep in mind while caring for hamster pups.
Hamster Breeding Facts
1. The average gestation period for hamsters is anywhere from 18 to 25 days fromception. This time frame may vary depending on the breed of your hamsters. For example, Russian Dwarf Hamsters will give birth within 21 days while the gestation period for the Roborovski Hamster could take up to 30 days.
2. Hamsters can give birth to litters with as many as 18 baby hamsters. This is very uncommon, however, and you pet's litter should have about 4 to 8 hamster pups.
3. A male hamster will be fertile for his entire life, while, a female hamster will only be fertilized for a brief period. Female hamsters are most fertile after they are 6 months old and before they are older than 18 months old.
After the mother hamster has given birth, it is very important that the mother and her babies are left undisturbed. This is why you should make sure to keep your pet's cage very clean while the mother hamster is still pregnant. Attempting to clean the cage within the first 2 weeks of the babies life can cause unnecessary stress on the them and their mother. The father hamster should also be removed towards the end of the mothers pregnancy as males do not have a natural mother's instinct and may cause stress or harm to the new born pups.
Make sure that you do not touch the babies for the first 2 to 3 weeks, there is not only a chance of harming these fragile newborns but if you handle them for to long the mother may not recognize them. When you handle newborn baby hamsters your scent will rub off on them. This unfamiliar smell may cause the mother hamster to abandon, or even worse, eat the hamster pups.
Once the pups are about two weeks old you will notice their eyes begin to open and their coat begin to grow. At this point the pups will be walking around on their own and you should make sure that food and water are accessible. Lower the water bottle a bit closer to the floor of the cage for easy access. Make sure that the food bowl can be reached by the baby hamsters. After the two week marker has passed it is safer to handle your new pets. Make sure to be extremely gentle as they will still be very fragile and try and keep contact to a minimum.
Essentially, there is not much work in caring for new born hamster babies. The mother will do all of the work for you. All you need to do is provide a safe place for them to grow and ample food and water for the happy hamster family.
Aside from all the precautions that need to be taken to ensure the well being of the hamster pups, watching these cute little animals life cycle can be a very rich and rewarding experience for you and your family.
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Source by Dean Anderson
