Robo Hamster

Question
Me and my sister have 1 robo hamster. I have a male and she has a female. We both keep them in separate cages and every other day we have a play pen for both of them to play in. Then one day which was June 17, 2014 I seen with my own eyes them two mating in the playpen. So i decided not to disturb them until there finished. Now its been almost two weeks and my sister have noticed that her robo hamster is digging holes in her bend-a-bridge and sitting/sleeping in there. She has not gained that much weight but she gained somewhat a little weight. She had not gathered food and put it in her little hole ,and she has not been drinking a lot but she has been eating quite much. Me and my sister doesn't know what's wrong,so i decided to go online to seek help. So the question is.. Is my sisters robo hamster pregnant?

Answer
Hi Roger

Thanks for your question.

It is difficult to know for sure if a hamster is pregnant.  It is advisable, however, to assume that she is if you have mated her, until after the usual gestation period, which for a robo is between 22 - 26 days.

Pregnant hamsters tend to bulge on their hips when pregnant, but this often isn't that obvious until they are just a few days away from giving birth.  Try not to over-feed her right now (just give her usual food allowance) as you don't want any unborn babies from getting too large - if she does produce a litter, then you should increase her food intake, and also supplement it with seeds (sunflower, sesame, pumpkin, linseed) and some baby food to nourish her so that she can feed her young.

I'm assuming that you wanted them to mate????? What are you going to do with any babies?  Remember that they become sexually active at 4 weeks, therefore if there are any boys in the litter they would need to be separated out at that time.  Any girls can stay with mum providing they don't fight.  Do check and double check their sexes as I have known many people to become over-run with robos relatively quickly.

I hope this helps you.

Regards
Sheila