My older female hamster just mated with a young male

Question
My hamster is a female syrian (teddy bear, long hair). I got her last year on Easter and the pet shop said she was about 5 weeks old when I got her. So I guess she's around 17 months old or more. Anyway, a friend of mine just got a boy hamster of the same type who is fairly young, maybe only a couple of months old. Not knowing too much about the socialization of hamsters, we decided to see if they would get along. I knew that hamsters are fairly solitary and territorial so we placed them in a fenced in area on the carpet. They seemed very interested in each other right away, smelling and what-not. Soon they started becoming more friendly with each other, and mated. We weren't sure if they would get mad if we separated them afterwards so we left them together and they mated a few more times. I feel really bad that I hadn't done the right research about their behavior before I put them together. But, at this point, this is where we are at. I have since read up about mating on the internet and found some differing opinions. My biggest concerns are that it seems that older females tend to have more complications with having babies, even death. I am hoping you can give me an idea of what this might look like if she is pregnant and if there is anything I can do to help her have a better time during delivery. The other big question, which could negate the previous question is, can she get pregnant, since she is so old? One site seemed to think that after 12 months, they are not longer fertile and so they can't get pregnant. What do you think? Is there a chance that she could be pregnant? I would appreciate anything you might be able to let me know about this topic. Thanks

Answer
Hi Nancy,

Female hamsters usually stay fertile up until 12-15 months.
But there is always a chance they could get pregnant after that since every hamster is different.
Older female hamsters do have a higher rate of complications. A female hamster should not be bred for the first time after 6 months because their hips become stabilized at about this time and would make it very difficult for her to give birth and yes it could result in her death as well as the pups. If your hamster is pregnant, at about 10 days from the day she was bred she will really poof out around her middle area. At this time start feeding her hard boiled egg and diced carrots (about 4-5 pieces of each everyday) to give her the extra protein she needs to help her raise her babies. You can expect the pups in 16-18 days from the day she was mated. The pups nor the nest should be touched for 2 weeks. At this time the cage can be cleaned. At 3 weeks the pups should be seperated from their mother and each other. Boys in one cage, females in another. At 5-6 weeks the babies are ready to go to their new homes. Continue with the hard boiled egg and carrots until you seperate the pups. I really hope your hamster is not pregnant only because of the complications that could occur. But if she is I wish you and your hamster the best.
If you have anymore questions please write again.

Thank you for your question and best of luck!