How To Breed Siberian Dwarf Hamsters

Siberian dwarf hamsters are sociable creatures and, like most other rodents, they breed early and often. Siberian dwarf hamsters can produce litters of multiple pups. Breeding Siberian dwarf hamsters is easy if you take the time to create ideal breeding conditions and follow a few simple steps.

Things You'll Need

• Cage
• High protein food
• Water

Instructions

1. Begin breeding by introducing a pair, one male and one female, to a habitat when they are young and allow them to mature together. Maturation occurs on average at around 30 days of age; most dwarfs will begin breeding at this point if they are properly socialized with a mate.

2. Watch for signs of weight gain in the female hamster's back end. Once your female hamster is pregnant (usually in a couple of days), begin feeding her high protein foods such as cheese, oats, and peanut butter and be sure to give her extra water. She will hoard some of this food but gobble up the rest, so don't feed her too much.

3. Remove the male hamster from the cage as soon as you notice that the female is becoming fat. The pups will arrive in two to seven days.

Tips & Warnings

• Clean the hamster cage a couple of days before the female gives birth. You will not have another opportunity to clean it until two weeks after the birth of the litter. If you touch or handle the pups any earlier, the mother may desert the pups or eat them.

• Move the male hamster to another cage as soon as the female becomes pregnant. Otherwise, he may eat the pups as soon as they are born. Also, since the female comes into heat right after giving birth the male will impregnate her, and she will not have time to recover between litters.

References

• Breeding Dwarf Hamsters
• All About Hamsters

Resources

• All About Dwarf Hamsters