Hamster breeding

[danrjc]

Does anyone breed hamsters? I've looked online but the picture to sex them aren't very clear so if anyone has pictures to help that would be awesome.

[Coleslaw007]

Um....I'm just curious what you want to do with these hamsters....I feel like hamsters wouldn't be my first choice of feeder

As to sexing them, it's been YEARS since I had hamsters but I feel like it would be similar to mice/ rats. The female babies genitals will be closer to the anus. Adults are easy as the males have rather large erm.....cojones whereas females don't.

Here's a link I found:

http://www.hamsters-uk.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=68 from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

[JKPCONSTRICTORS]

I second what's already been said... hamsters aren't the best choice if you're going to be using them as feeders. I've tried. They were usually overly aggressive, especially towards each other, and the cannibalism rates were way higher than I've ever had with mice or rats.

[danrjc]

I know the problems with they breeding them, but a friend of mine has a blood that won't eat anything else. I already breed mice and asfs so I thought I'd try and help him. Btw thanks for the link

[Bill T]

untill a couple months ago most of the food my bp's got were hampsters and gerbels. we bred them in our house and set up a decent rack with cheap ten gal aquariums. they chewed all the plastic ones i could find. i never had a big issue with cannabalism like JKPCONSTRICTORS said. if i had an issue it got culled from the rotation. it was easier for us to just feed our bp's hamsters cuz we bred for the local pet stores. if u are breeding full sized serian (teddy bear) hamsters its pretty easy to tell even early on. the smaller mini hampsters are a bit harder. its the same as a rat or a mouse. after awhile ull get an eye for it.

[JKPCONSTRICTORS]

I'm glad you were more successful with them than I was. It wasn't just an occasional individual that I'd have problems with, it was nearly all of them. They were seriously the most aggressive animals I've ever kept.

[Coleslaw007]

Yea when I was little and we raised and breed a lot of hamsters just as pets they seemed to be very aggressive and would often eat their babies.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

[Riv]

Ive never bred hamsters for food, but working in petstores ive dealt with having to introduce tons of hamsters to each other(so thry could all get placed in the same enclosure on the floor) and more than a few suprise litters.

It took me upwards of 2 hours to add any new hamster to the group, and the entirety of that time was usually spent breaking up fights with foodbowls until someone established dominance over every other hamster, and then the dominant one still might attempt to just execute every other living thing in the enclosure. Not to mention they start seeing red and when two hamsters fight sometimes the other established hamsters will begin fighting with each other for no reason. Unlike rats, you wont eventually breed an inheiritable personality that is just cool with accepting new members.

The mothers were never aggressive toward me because they were isolated during pregnancy and up through weaning. The babies wean quickly but you have to be very careful to pull the mother just as theyre starting solid food because slightly after that point the mother will begin to cannibalize them if not seperated. After mom gets seperated to have to put her back with the other females and male. ANOTHER 2 hour process because everyone wants to fight the new girl before deciding to let her nurse her wounds and coexist.

I think breeding hamsters as feeders is possible, but ridiculously labor intensive, frustrating, and due to their aggression you might always find yourself short of he amount of feeders you would need, also causing the problem of tryng to switch them back to rats or ASFs once you decide it isnt worth the effort.

So my personal recommendation? Maybe if I was held at gunpoint. MAYBE

-Riveran