Hamster breeding

Before breeding hamsters, consideration should be given as to whether the pair of hamsters that it is intended to breed are a good match to produce healthy, good natured babies and also make plans for homing the babies produced.

When considering which pair of hamsters to breed together it is important to consider their size, health and temperament as both good and bad qualities present in the parents will be passed onto the babies. It is also important to correctly identify the colours of the pair which is intended to breed together as some colours of hamster produce undesirable babies (eg eyeless hamsters) when bred together.

The average litter size for a Syrian hamster is 8 but they can have up to 26 babies although this is extremely rare. However it is not unusual for litters of 10-14 to be produced and survive.

The average litter size for Dwarf hamsters is 4-6 but they can have larger litters and the Dwarf Campbells Russian Hamsters can have up to 14 babies and litters of 8-10 are not uncommon.

It is therefore vital that consideration is given and plans made for homing the babies before making the decision to start breeding hamsters taking into account that 14-26 babies could be produced from a single mating. Many local pet shops have regular suppliers so don't rely on these to take surplus babies without speaking to them before making the decision to start breeding your hamsters.

*However, we r not encouraging one to breed hamster unless you have understand all the breeding related knowledge such as, the dos & don'ts, the genetics palette n terminology, the breeders code of ethics, the appropriate pairing age, and many more. Although hamsters are just a small little furball, but they are also a living creatures which deserve a quality life like us.


Should You Be Breeding Your Hamster?

Questions to ask yourself before you breed your hamster

A lot of people don't really have much knowledge on how to breed hamster in a proper way, This is not just as simple as by putting a male and female together, a lot of important issues which u may need to think properly with the relevant research. If you want to breed, but don't want to breed recklessly, you really need to do your homework so you know what can go wrong.

Here are the questions I believe you should ask yourself before even deciding on the mating pairs.

1. Do I know when a female is in heat? Or how often she goes into heat?

2. Do I have at least 20 people lined up to take the pups?

3. If I choose to keep the pups, do I have a 20 cages for a possible 20 pups, plus cages for each parent?

4. Do I know what to do if anything goes wrong, and I must handfeed the pups?

5. What is the genetic bloodline of each parent I plan to use?

6. What is a lethal gene or semi-lethal gene that could cause problems for the pups?

7. Do I know how long gestation lasts?

8. Do I put male with female, female with male, or introduce them on neutral ground?

9. Why do I want to breed?

10. Are the parents related? What are possible consequences for inbreeding?

11. How long should the female rest between litters?

12. How many litters should the female have in her lifetime?

13. Does the male and/or female become infertile, and if so, at what age?

14. What kind of diet should Mom be given during pregnancy and nursing?

15. At what age do I wean the pups and put them into seperate-gender cages?

16. At what age does each pup need to move into a solitary enclosure?

17. What bedding should/shouldn't I use?

18. Am I prepared for any possible disaster that could occur?

19. Do I have money set aside if i ever need to rush the hamster family to the vet?

20. Can I deal emotionally with problems, i.e. cannibalism, watching pups die painfully, etc.?

21. What are all the terms used in breeding? How well is my vocabulary as far as breeding is concerned?

Until you can answer every single one of these questions thoughtfully and honestly, please don't risk the lives of your hamsters and any potential pups.


There's nothing to be proud of starting with 2 hamsters and ending up with 50. You should be ashamed. Hamsters have only 2 years to live, dwarf only live for 1+ year and robos being the longest, 3 to 4 years. When you breed them, you take away a big chunk of their lives. Breeding is a burden to them.

'Oh my hamster is so lonely', 'I want a hubby for it', 'I scared it lonely', 'I want them to have fun'.

Please, these are stupid excuses because hamsters can live and some even prefer to live alone. F***-up with pet shops and whatever rubbish they tell you that buying a pair is better. They just want to make money off you, because the longer they keep the hamster, the more they have to spend on space, food and bedding. And in the end, the maintenance would cost more than the hamster itself. That's why they tell you it's better to get a pair.

Apparently that mindset has frozen over in ppl's heads as ppl put human feelings into animals. Come on! They don't enjoy doing it! They just follow instincts to make sure their genes are passed down! If there is no opposite sex around, they would not care about mating!

A one big mistake if u think that hamsters are so smart that they know how to tell the difference between sibling and parent. This is wrong coz just like any other animal, they breed with instinct. They do not care if they breed with their siblings or their parent, as long they are able to breed to repopulate.... then they will go right ahead.

If you want a pair, get a pair of sisters or brothers. If the petstore has lousy expertise on sexing, go online and look at the images and sex yourself. Don't depend on other ppl and then blame it on them when they make a mistake because the damage is done when one day you see something pink and squirmy.

"If I keep pair my hamster in same sex, will they become gay or lesbian?"

There are no gay and lesbian hamsters. Some people think that placing males together will make them gays while placing females together makes them lesbians. Again, putting human emotions is really silly.