Things You'll Need
- Male and female hamsters
- Two hamster cages with bedding, food, and water
- Clean bedding
- Food
Instructions
Examine the female hamster to determine if she is ready to mate. Female hamsters are generally ready to breed every four days. To check for readiness, pet the hamster along her back. As you pet towards her tail, she will freeze, flatten her back, and raise her tail if she is ready to mate. Despite being able to breed at 28 days, do not breed the hamsters until they are four to six months old.
Place the hamsters in a cage. If possible, have a clean, neutral cage to place the hamsters in for mating. If an extra cage is unavailable, place the male in the female's cage. Watch them carefully for signs of aggression. The cage should be in a quiet, calm place to reduce stress. Stress can trigger aggression. After 15 minutes, if the hamsters do not seem interested in each other, remove the male from the cage. If the hamsters mate, the process will take approximately 20 minutes.
Remove the male hamster after the mating process ends. If he impregnated the female, approximately 10 days after the mating, she will have an enlarged belly and swollen nipples. Around day 10, clean the cage thoroughly. This will be the last time to clean the cage is for approximately one month. Clean the cage a few days before the hamster gives birth, so she can make her nest and prepare her environment for her litter of pups. Once she delivers the babies, only open the cage to put in more food and fresh water.
Handle the mother hamster as you normally would prior to the babies being born. The mother may get a little moody or grouchy as she gets closer to giving birth. Hamsters have about a 16-day gestation period. As she gets closer to giving birth, you may feel the baby hamsters in her belly. Be gentle, and keep the activity with her low stress, to reduce any risk to the babies or an early pregnancy.
Verify that the cage is in a quiet, stress-free place. Do not handle the babies for three weeks, otherwise the mother might attack or eat them because of the foreign smell on her offspring. Stress can also trigger aggression towards the babies. Hamsters bred too young have also been known to eat their offspring. At just over three weeks, you can separate the babies from the mother.