pregnancy of hamsters

Question
sheila its me agian but i read on this website that you can tell is she is preg. if she is agresive with the male and if she isn't then she will try mating again. well i also read on it that you can tell if it is male or female and i think it is female so what she did to the other hamsters i think was pretty aggresive so from this could you tell me if you think she is or give me ways to tell

Answer
Hi Kamber

If she is a Syrian - then it is quite easy to tell when one is pregnant.  With dwarf hamsters it is a bit more difficult. From your earlier mail you said that two were living together - is this correct?  Are there others in the same cage?  I would be inclined to keep her on her own and wait for the gestation period to pass.  If after 21 days from the date of possible mating, there is no litter, then you could try to re-mate her - but bearing in mind her aggressive behavior before, I would be inclined not to try to do this.  If she is an aggressive hamster then she could behave the same way again, or pass this behavior onto her litter.  Hamsters do also miscarry or re-absorb if they are stressed for whatever reason, therefore she might have conceived, but there is always the possibility she won't produce a litter.

If she is a Campbell, adult Campbells are known to be prone to aggression and therefore it could be her natural behavior, however, without knowing for sure what species she is, nor definitely know his/her sex, it is difficult to know whether this is just normal for him/her, or she is pregnant.

I've sent you a few links in my other email which might help you to try and identify the species which would help.

Regards