Mixing Dwarf

Question
I had two winter dwarfs and one died recently, which I think is because of her wound from fighting. Both of them are female, but I thought of letting the remaining one to mate so there are more hammies around. I read that it is impossible to mix hamsters because of their territorial behaviour but is there any way of mixing a new one with my old one?

Answer
Hi Teddy,

It is very difficult to introduce two hamsters once they are older than a few weeks especially once they are adults and also if they have been used to living on their own for a while.

I would not recommend you to start breeding hamsters because there is so much you need to learn and you dont seem to know much about hamsters at all!  If your hamsters had been fighting, once they fetch blood they should be separated immediately!!  You should never let hamsters fight to the point where they are wounding each other so bad that one dies from the wounds!!

Breeding is something which takes a lot of thinking about and researching before you start.

Breeding is not just a case of putting together a Male and a Female and hoping for the best.

First of all you should make sure you have hamsters which are healthy and at the correct age for breeding.  You should also make sure they are not closely related.  You shouldnt breed from pet shop hamsters so you must find an unrelated pair which have come from good, responsible breeders, who have all the information on the previous generations.  Choose hamsters with no genetic problems and which are of sound temperament too.

Genectice also play a key role in which hamsters can be bred, certain colours must never be bred together - all of this must be researched.

It is a good idea to have a vet on hand who is willing to come out at any time of the day and night incase of any complications with the birth.  You must also make sure you are prepared for any problems after the birth such as a first time mother destroying or abandoning her litter, or any of the other many problems which could occur.

If everything does go right then you still have to be ready to have to keep all of the hamsters in a cage of their own incase they need to be split up due to fighting.  You will also have to remove the father before the birth if you dont want your female to have another litter in three weeks!!

There are many hamsters who need rescuing so always make sure you are not going to be adding to that number! Try adopting instead!

Kind Regards,

Tammy