How to Raise Hamsters for Profit
Raising hamsters for profit is easy and inexpensive after your initial investment in cages and accessories. Because hamsters have such short gestation periods, produce up to 15 pups in each litter, and the female is ready to breed again after just four or five weeks, you can sell a lot of hamsters in a single month--especially if you're breeding more than one female simultaneously. To ensure healthy hamsters that will earn a good profit and provide enjoyment for many pet owners, you'll need to take some basic steps in proper breeding and infant care.
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Things You'll Need
- Hamsters (two males and two females or more)
- Hamster habitats, three or more
- Aspen bedding
- Food dishes
- Water bottles
- Hamster mix diet
- Exercise wheel and toys
- Chopped hard-boiled eggs, nuts, carrots and romaine lettuce
Instructions
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Purchase at least two males and two females of each breed of hamster you plan to raise and sell. Select hamsters that are healthy and at least 5 weeks old from a reputable breeder or pet store. Be sure to choose the correct breed of hamsters that you want to raise and sell, as well as males and females that are not related or from the same litter.
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Prepare at least three hamster habitats, one for the males, one for the females and one or more cages for breeding. Set up the hamster cages in a quiet, dimly lit room away from other pets and high-traffic areas.
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Add bedding made from aspen shavings to the cages, about 2 inches deep or 3 to 4 inches deep for the breeding cage. Add food dishes and food, water bottles, hideouts, wheels and chew toys.
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Separate the male and female hamsters into same-sex cages. Allow the hamsters to acclimate to their new homes for about two weeks. After this time period, you can begin breeding.
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Place one male and one female of the same hamster breed into the breeding cage. Watch them closely for the first hour to ensure that they don't begin to fight or bite each other.
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Keep the male and female in the breeding cage for about 24 hours to give them time to mate. After you've seen them mate, write down the date and remove the male from the breeding cage and place him back into the cage housing the rest of the male hamsters.
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Keep the impregnated female in the breeding cage. Supplement the female hamster's diet with chopped hard-boiled eggs, nuts, carrots and romaine lettuce. These foods will give her the extra protein she needs during pregnancy and the extra water for her milk supply.
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Clean the breeding cage about three days before the litter is due. The probable due date of the litter will be 16 to 21 days after the date the hamsters mated.
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Keep the area around the cage quiet after the litter is born. Avoid handling the newborns, and keep the mother and babies together in the breeding cage until the babies are weaned, about three to four weeks.
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Separate the male and female babies when they are three to four weeks old. Place the mother and the female babies back into the female hamster cage and the males into the males-only cage.
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Make notes of which hamsters came from the same litter so you don't end up breeding sibling hamsters. You can keep a chart or separate hamsters into family cages to keep track of which hamsters came from the same litter.
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Clean out the breeding cage thoroughly and replace all bedding, food and water. Place another mature female hamster with a male into the breeding cage to begin the process again. After the second female's pups are weaned and three to four weeks old, you can breed the first female again.
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Contact pet shops that are within reasonable driving distance of your house to sell your hamsters. Negotiate a reasonable price for your hamsters, taking into account how much the pet shops charge the public for hamsters. Keep in mind that some pet shops may pay less for dwarf varieties than for Syrian hamsters.
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Profit from raising your hamsters by ensuring that your monthly costs, such as food, chew toys, cages and cage accessories, are at most 50 percent of your earnings from selling the hamsters to the pet stores.
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Tips & Warnings
Determine the sex of your hamsters by holding them gently in the palm of your hand, belly side up. Male hamsters usually have visible testicles between their hind legs, but you can also press down carefully about 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch above the crotch of their hind legs to see if a penis protrudes.
If you can't find enough pet stores that will purchase your hamsters, you can also market and sell them directly to the public. You can advertise in the local newspapers, online or in swap sheets and other circulars. There are currently no laws regarding breeding and selling hamsters.
Always remove male Syrian hamsters from the breeding cage before the litter is born, because males may kill the babies. Male Russian dwarf hamsters can be kept in the cage with the pregnant females, because the males will help to care for the babies.
Avoid handling the pregnant female hamster, because this can stress her and even cause injury to the unborn litter.
