Breeding Hamsters

[Sensei345]

So after getting myself a little more into the care of snakes I have noticed a major hit to my bank account for the food. Now I know what your saying, feeders are cheap. Which yes they are, if you are able to go to a pet store in your town and buy them. However, in my situation because I live so far north and there are no pet stores/supplies in my town (except for the generic dog and cat stuff at the grocery store) I have to order all my F/T feeders and have them shipped to me same day which is an astronomical cost in shipping.

The shipping alone works out to be almost 4 TIMES that of the food itself!!! Sometimes a little more than 4 times!! For example, I recently ordered 50 day-old chicks for my ball python, food cost came out to just under $50 CDN, shipping cost was $180.00 CDN!!!! Total cost for 50 chicks was well over $200.00, which is just ridiculous in my opinion.

So as an alternative I was looking into breeding my own food since i just recently acquired 2 more snakes, 1 less than a year old corn and another corn thats 6 years old.

So i bought myself 3 syrian hamsters, 1 male and 2 female. I decided to go with hamsters at the recommendation of a friend who has been herping for years and had told me that from his experience they were easier to care for than mice or rats, and less likely to cannibalize each other.

Before i started breeding them though I was wondering if anyone here may have any tips or advice on breeding hamsters? I would normally be posing these questions on hamster forums but unfortunately the ones i have been frequenting have not approved any of my threads I am trying to post and it has been over a week now.

[Fraido]

Really? I find that hamsters are WAY more likely to cannibalize. Like, seriously way more. Hamsters bite more, as well, in my experience.

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[Willowy]

Syrian hamsters don't live together peacefully. I think you'll run into territorial problems when they mature.

Mice are smelly but rats are big. . .I don't know which one I would choose to breed if necessary. But not hamsters! Maybe gerbils; they live communally and aren't too smelly.

[Sensei345]

Main thing is I already have the hamsters. They are living separately, after i learned that they cant be housed together. First night i had them i had the male separate and the females together since i was lacking my third DIY cage until the next day. Thankfully one of them showed some fairly submissive behavior and I didnt have any major issues with the females being together overnight.

If i were to go and get either mice or rats to breed that would set me back another 300-400 dollars approximately that I dont have in my budget right now. So im just trying to get some tips or advice on how I may be able to make this work in the mean time until I either move to a better location to keep these pets or get some more income.

[Fraido]

Wish I could help, I would really just recommend rats. I feel like they are more prolific breeders and have larger litters, and don't cannibalize as often. Why would it cost you so much to get a hold of some breeder rats?

I think I also just don't see hamsters as feeders, hate the little buggers. Good luck with yours.

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[Kokorobosoi]

I think the hamsters are going to be way harder and more prone to cannibalizing. Its going to be a hit to your wallet, yes, but what happens when you wake up one morning and ..well I don't think it will be a smooth process.

If you need something not a rat or mouse, then go with gerbils, or asf. At least gerbils can get along if raised together.

Good luck!

[Sensei345]

Wish I could help, I would really just recommend rats. I feel like they are more prolific breeders and have larger litters, and don't cannibalize as often. Why would it cost you so much to get a hold of some breeder rats?

I think I also just don't see hamsters as feeders, hate the little buggers. Good luck with yours.

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The cost for getting something different is so high simply because of where I live there is no pet store. The nearest one that I can get them from is 16 hours of driving away which cost me just about $300 in gas alone so I could get the hamsters. Additionally, rats are illegal to own in the province I am in, with the exception of one species. I just can't remember which species that is.

Well, I'll give it a shot with these little guys. If anyone has ever had any experience breeding hamsters or know someone who does please let me know as this is new for me. If anyone is interested I could post my results up for you to see as well.

Thanks for the insight so far though, kinda makes me wish I had got mice instead but hey, you live and you learn.

[Fraido]

Well, maybe the hamsters will work out for you! Ya never know.

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[bks2100]

The cost for getting something different is so high simply because of where I live there is no pet store. The nearest one that I can get them from is 16 hours of driving away which cost me just about $300 in gas alone so I could get the hamsters. Additionally, rats are illegal to own in the province I am in, with the exception of one species. I just can't remember which species that is.

Well, I'll give it a shot with these little guys. If anyone has ever had any experience breeding hamsters or know someone who does please let me know as this is new for me. If anyone is interested I could post my results up for you to see as well.

Thanks for the insight so far though, kinda makes me wish I had got mice instead but hey, you live and you learn.

Find out what the species is, that might be the easiest thing to breed. I could only find info from like 7 years ago that it was the Genus Rattus that was banned, so norway rats are out, but Natal rats aren't listed on the ban list. Natal rats includes African Soft Furs, which are ball pythons natural food. They're smaller but at full size are pretty much perfect for feeding to adult ball pythons, they just take like 3-6 months to grow that much. They breed really well though and smell less than normal rats. They can't survive the winters up there so maybe they're still legal, but they still have the word "rat" in their common and scientific name, and since this rat ban seems like a big part of it is just for the idea of being "rat free" they might still give you trouble over it.

Honestly I'd probably talk to whoever would be the authority on that to see what "rat" is still legal, if not I'd just only look at breeding mice, no matter the cost or how much I've spent on hamsters or gerbils.

[Hypancistrus]

Syrian hamsters don't live together peacefully. I think you'll run into territorial problems when they mature.

Mice are smelly but rats are big. . .I don't know which one I would choose to breed if necessary. But not hamsters! Maybe gerbils; they live communally and aren't too smelly.

Gerbils are very capable of handling themselves against snakes. They have big back claws and will attack snakes.

Stick with mice. They aren't expensive. They breed like bunnies. They're easy to kill.