| BREEDING DWARF HAMSTERS |
| I recieved this email from someone the visited my webpage. I thought this was worth passing on to all that visit here and HAMSTERS GALORE!!! read on... >Dear animal lover. >I am purchasing two dwarf hamster for my son. It looks like I have settled on a local pet shop for our new friends. Do you have any advice on buying. We do not want a bunch of babies, should we buy two males or two females or should we chance it with one of each? The pet store said that they would take back any babies. Also we have purchsed a S.A.M. Country Club Kit for their living quarters/ What kind of bedding etc. and food is best? MY REPLY>> Thanks for writing! I will do my best to help you make the right choice for your family...Dwarf hamsters can breed as early as 28 days old. Pairs can breed for up to (and sometimes past) one year of age, when the female will stop, though the male can keep going until he reaches the end of his life span. Some animals may live for 2 - 2 1/2 years, and in my experience males will out live most females. Breeding animals general do not live as long so the AVERAGE life expectancy is 1 1/2 years. Pairs should be left together because reintroduction can be very hard if not impossible. Litters may arrive every 18-21 days once they start breeding, and an average litter is about 5 but can be 12 or more. They can produce as many as 15 litters in their life time, sometimes taking breaks then starting breeding again. Intense breeding is hard on the female, and her mate may outlive her. VERY good feeding, care and general maintainance will prevent any unexpected demise of quality breeders. Dwarf Hamsters are happier with a roommate. Same sex pairs do well together if raised from a very young age (about 4-6 weeks) and given a lot of room and exercise, play things and attention. The biggest problem I have seen in RDH (russian dwarf hamsters) are: 1) often the same families are inbreed onto each other causing ill tempers, health problems and small size and weak litters.2) Poor nutrition 3) lack of attention (socialization and stimulating play). Some shops sell brother/sister or related pairs, they produce more inbred babies, that are sold or give as breeding pairs to the next owners and this continues to compound. Feed GOOD hamster mix with not to much corn, make sure it is fresh. Add some dry cat or puppy food for protein. Offer small bits of fresh leafy greens, fruits, BUT NEVER any salted foods, chocolate, citrus or cabbage family plants. A pinch of scrambled eggs every few days to once a week will also be very beneficial. Remove uneaten fresh foods the nest morning. Be aware they may stash it. I feed egg one day and clean the cage the next. Hard wood or nuts to chew on at all times, paper tubes (TP cores), to chew and hide in, things to climb on and a wheel will serve to keep them active an happy. Gentle handling and treats fed by hand will help keep them friendly. IF being handled outside the cage, place them back in their food dish when done, a positive thing for nice behaviour. They are like 2 year olds and everything gets tested by mouth. a test nip may happen, so be prepared and I never release a hammie when they nip, but make them settle down before they go home. WASH HANDS b4 handling so they will not smell anything that may provoke a bite. SELECTION: Look over as large of group as you can. Select them by searching out the hammies that are calmer, and do not huff, or swat at your hands. IF a hammies lays its ears back and scrambles to escape, it may not ever be a good pet. VERY young hamsters maybe more flighty, but after you check out several you should be able to determine which have a better attitude. Your shop owner may be able (or may SAY) they will buy back your baby hamsters, but if they have told this to everyone that buys a pair, they may soon become over stocked and not want to take yours, or will take them for snake food or ever worse, keep too many in one cage (I prefer aquariums) and conditions will not be good. If not seperated by sex, they will reproduce and make crowded conditions even worse. If you are planning to breed RDH, (or chinses dwarves) get the best variety of colors you can find ensuring you are using UNRELATED pairs and work on improving the type you started with. Keep good records on your stock and pedigrees. Sell your babies to the best shops, and if they do not separate by sex, sell them only all male or all females, only! Also make sure that you have either Campbell Dwarves (the most colorful of all dwarf species) or have only Winter Whites (not always white) and are not interbreeding these two species. More on INTERBREEDING can be found on the CHS as well as more on all hamster species. I hope this helps, and by no means do I want to dissuade you from breeding hamsters, but want you to know how to do it right. I have been breeding RDH for over 5 years and currently have several breeding pairs or trios. I have gotten outcross stock from other areas including 5 other states to keep my lines fresh. I have sold breeding stock to breeders in IL, IA, MO and WI. Pedigrees are not easy to keep in this hobby, but I do my best to keep up on this and will never be rich from my "hobby gone awry"! I like aquariums or the smaller plastic tanks to keep RDH in, they are easier to clean, and the hamster can not hide when it is time for play or to clean the cage. Use quality pine or aspen BUT NEVER USE CEDAR bedding. Never use the "fluffy" nest material either. IT can tangle on feet and even choke the small fuzzy friends. The plastic tubes (like the S.A.M. attachments) are fine to use in the tank, just keep them clean as they will use these are a toilet sometimes. Food dishes are optional, and I personal never use them in my breeding units. IF you can block off the tubes to prevent escapes to the tunnel, it can help in taming. You can teach the critters to come to a whistle or other call if they rewarded with food! Use a water bottle with tube but never a dish for water. Never put vitamins in water (though the lable may say to do so) but rather in the food or on the scrambled eggs. IT can adversely affect the way you hamsters asorb water and could affect bladder, kidney and insulin function... but if you follow the other suggestions I have made, vitamins will not be needed for most cases in keeping hamsters. I suggest 8in1 hamster gerbil mix (from WalMart) and personally dislike any H***Z food products (very poor nutrient value, old grains, etc...) Good luck and let me know what comes of your venture in to the hamster world! ~*RG*~ (Lars) Email me ! I would like to hear about your experiences and your comments |
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