My Hamsters

Question
hi I have had a male robo dwarf hamsters 4 a few weeks now and yesterday i got a female to keep him company is that a good thing to do because i want them to mate also how long will it take them to get pregnant and if so how can i tell if she is pregnant and should i take my male out and put him in a different cage if she is pregnant because i heard female get VERY VIOLENT when there pregnant

Answer
Hi Ariel

Hamsters come into season every 4 days, therefore she might fall pregnant immediatley.  However, you should be warned that if you leave him in with her and she produces a litter (around 18-21 days after conception) they will mate again the day she gives birth so by the time you discover a litter she might already be pregnant again. Also, hamsters become sexually active at the age of 4 weeks therefore any males must be separated at that time otherwise they can mate with their sisters/mother.

He should be fine with her if she is pregnant, but I would strongly advise that you either remove him from the cage before the possible day of birth of the litter, or separate off the cage so that he can't get near her but they can sniff each other.  If you manage to separate the cage, then you might find that you can put any male hamsters in with him when they reach 4 weeks - at which time you could move him and his sons into a cage of their own and leave any girls with mum.  The problems really are that firstly, it can be difficult sexing robos so you must be careful, secondly, if you take the male out now you will find it very difficult if not impossible to put other males with him even if he is their father, and thirdly it is easy to become over-run with robos - so you must be careful.

Whilst it is a nice idea to have several hamsters together, sometimes this doesn't work out.  Even if they are related there is never any guarantee that they will get on OK - often they need separating if they keep fighting.  A robo on its own is fine - you just need to give it plenty of things to do to occupy itself so it doesn't get bored.

Good luck with this.

Regards
Sheila