Breeding Hamsters

[Brandon.O]

Ok, so my garage is getting really warm and i can not keep the mice in there for too much longer.

I wanted to keep a pair of female mice in my pantry and borrow a male from a friend and breed them still but my mom freaked out the other day and said no after she had already told me that yes, i could keep them in the pantry (our pantry is room sized) so ohh well, i wont be breeding anymore mice.

So....I like hamsters and i really want somthing cute (not that my snakes arent cute but....) and soft to keep so i thought i would get a hamster.

The only problem is that the petstore here only sells really big agressive adults.

So my plan was, to get two of them and breed them, sell the babies (exept the one i want to keep) and then sell the parents back to the store (if not, my friend has a gas chamber the mean parents can go in.

Is breeding hamsters any differnt or harder than breeding mice or rats ?

[SatanicIntention]

Not really, but hamsters have babies MUCH quicker than mice or rats(think 16days). We had a hamster have babies up at school, she was a first-time mom and she killed a few of the babies(and you know where she kept the dead babies...). Hamsters smell, and boy, do I mean Smell. They can musk if stressed out. I am probably biased against them... Probably because I just don't like 'em, LoL.

But anyway, there isn't much difference between breeding them vs. mice/rats. They are best when kept alone though, since even females kept with other females can often fight. That's good that you are planning on only keeping one, just plan on cleaning the cage more than once per week. The ammonia will about knock you over.

Just a warning

[Brandon.O]

Hmm....i dont think hamsters smell that bad at all.

I think the bigger ones do.

I dont know whether to get a dwarf or a big hamster like the syrians

I think i want to get a dwarf hamster, those little guys dont smell that bad at all.

I used to have one not to long ago and my room never smelled like anything exept for the aspen.

So should i just buy two, keep them together, wait till they mate, seperate them and then go from there ? thats what i do with my mice.

[frankykeno]

I have to agree with Becky on this one Brandon. Hamsters just plain stink! They also tend to be MAJOR escape artists. If you really want a small but warm and cuddly type rodent I would recommend a pair of male fancy rats. They really are super pets but like to live in pairs though will still be very cuddly with you if you handle them a lot as youngsters. Males seem to be a lot more laid back and more "lap" pets then the more busier females. They rarely bite and can become very responsive, interactive pets.

I have my two males and one female rat in our livingroom and there is very little if any smell associated with them. They also eat a ton of things so are cheap to keep. In fact they do way better on a mix you can make at home rather than the typical expensive rodent mixes.

Just a thought.


~~Joanna~~

[Brandon.O]

I like rats but i dont have room for the size cage they require, right now im going for a pet that fits my room I have one empty space that fits one ten gallon tank, and a little dwarf hamster would fit perfectly in there, they dont need alot of room.

I wonder if i could feed hamsters the rodent diet i have my mice on....?

This is wierd that you guys are saying that your hamsters smell so bad......mine never really smelled at all that i can remember.

[frankykeno]

Just seemed that hamster urine was stronger smelling than rat urine Brandon at least in my experience. Actually more than anything was the issue of escape. Darn hamsters seemed to be able to get out of anything we put them in....we finally renamed one Houdini LOL. We found it once hiding in the cat's covered litter box....never saw such a surprised look on a cat's face let me tell you. I'm still amazed she didn't outright kill the silly bugger as she was a major hunter.


~~Jo~~

[tigerlily]

I have a hamster and I don't think the smell is any worse than the other rodents I've had, but that's just my opinion. I have a panda hamster...at least that's what the pet store called it, and she has been one of the nicest animals! She's even been indulgent when my 3 year old opens her cage nabs her out of it and proceeds to take her around the house clutched in one little fist. She's also very good about taking food from our hands...only once mistaken a little finger for food (and never broke the skin). She has musked once or twice but nothing a handwashing couldn't fix. Anyway that's my

[mlededee]

i had a hamster a few years ago and she was just the sweetest thing ever. i did handle her almost every day though from the time she was a baby to make sure that she would be that way. you have to keep the cage clean or the smell can be pretty rancid but the good thing is that they tend to choose one spot to relieve themselves in and stick to it so it's not hard to keep up with. as for breeding them...now that is something i wouldn't do unless you have a pretty serious line of people waiting to take the babies off your hands. you would not believe how fast you can end up with 50 babies and then babys' babies and on and on... .

[Brandon.O]

Actually, i called my friend yesterday to see if she got back from her trip and i told her about Rebels tick and then i told her i wanted to get a hamster and breed them and she got really exited.Alot of my friends wanted some of my baby mice but thier parents couldent deal with "having mice in the house" and the risk of one getting loose.All of them feel more comfortable with hamsters and im 100% positive everyone would find a good home.

I just have to go out and find two of them now !

[mlededee]

wow you must have a lot of friends.