Hamster problem... I think...

Question

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Followup To

Question -

Hi, I have a friend who is on vacation right now, so I'm babysitting
her female pet hamster for a week. I've had her for two days now, and
she now has these two furless ball like thingys under her tail, near her
butt. Is she pregnant? Does she have wet tail? Please help! (I don't
know much about hamsters...)

Answer -
Hi Hammy.

It sounds more like your "she" is actually a he, so I'd be super surprised if he was pregnant!

:)

Use this page as a reference to compare by:

http://www.petwebsite.com/sexing.htm

And thanks for the question!

Yeah, hi again! Now my female/male hamster's furless thingys are going away, (by the way, they started coming after my cat saw her/him in her/his cage) and now she/he is very active and hyper, hogs her/his food, and is ALWAYS choosing to sleep under her/his waterbottle thigy! (she/he has been gathering woodchips from all over her cage and piling it up under the waterbottle thingy, too!)Aren't those signs of pregnancy? Thank you for your help!

Answer
Both male and female hamsters nest build.  :)  So no, it's not  necessarily a sign of pregnancy.  Most people will not notice any signs of pregnancy until the very last stages (last few days), when the female will gain a lot of weight very quickly.

The testes of male hamsters seem to appear and reappear depending upon how the hamster is being held, and if they are stressed.  If the skin is pulled taught (by a certain method of handling), they will seem to not be there.

Use this link to determine if your hamster is a male or a female:

http://www.animalsheltering.org/resource_library/magazine_articles/jul_aug_2000/

Thanks for the question!  :)