is my Russian dwarf hamster pregnant?

Question
I have had a male and a female in together for about a month.  i am still seeing no evidence of babies.  I thought if you put a male and female together that they mate.  She is however acting very agressive towards the male all of a sudden.  I took him out of the cage because I didn't want her to hurt him.  Is she pregnant or just mean?

Answer
Hi Amanda,

Breeding hamsters is not a very easy thing to do correctly!  I would suggest that you not think about breeding until you have researched everything fully!

Even though Russians can be kept together it does not always work and she may have started being aggresive just because they are not getting on - it does not mean she is pregnant! The female is only receptive to the male for a few short hours every three or four hours, but it depends on each individual hamster too!

Breeding hamsters is a very complicated process and many things need to be considered before you let your hamsters breed.  It is not just a case of putting two hamsters together and hoping for the best.

Hamsters who are closely related should not be bred from, hamsters who are not in top health should not be bred from either.  Breeding hamsters should be about improving the breed so only the best quality hamsters should be bred from.

Also, certain colours should not allowed to mix and will produce undesirable traits e.g. hairless babies etc.  And many more problems can occur.

You must make sure your hamsters are at the right ages to be breeding too!

Please get in touch with as many breeders as you can to find out all about breeding them - before you start to breed them!!

You also need to think about all of the problems which could occur with the female before, during and after the birth - do you have a reliable vet who will come out to you at any hour if you need him to??  If everything does go ok you could have alot of babies needing new homes - do you have that many homes lined up??  If not, then do you have that many cages to keep them all separately if they need to be??

Please think about this before doing it!!

It takes approx. 22 days for your female to have the babies so this will give you an idea of when to expect the babies if she is pregnant.

Kind Regards,

Tammy