After I remove the metal bar underneath, seems like my hammy is eating the bedding.. Is this normal and safe?

Nah they won't eat it.
Either their just storing in their mouth for fun or they're bringing it into their hiding place.

Since I already have a male and female WW in my cage, is it OK to put in another female WW?

Will they breed if got 2 females and 1 male in it?

Try not to breed them. Not recommended for beginners, you need to know a lot of stuff before you even start the breed them. You are just asking for trouble if you plan to breed them.

Yes, I have been reading a lot bout breeding.. If not, when should I start? There will always be first time breeding for everyone.. About supply, I have friends willing to take if my hammy has babies..

"People breed for all sorts of reasons. For money, for fun, because they're cute, to keep their ham 'alive' in their offspring, to 'get experience', because they 'love' hamsters, to teach kids about the miracle of life, they were bored, etc.

The right reason is to improve the species as whole. breeding out things like diabetes, extending life spans, creating an overall healthier animal is the right reason. This isn't easy, it isn't a light decision, it isn't cheap and it won't happen right away. But that is the only right reason to breed. "

- HH

"To explain where we are coming from with this I have some questions that you may not have considered.

-What if you can't find homes for the babies? can you keep 10+ hamsters? According to your profile you have a syrian- that means they will all need their own cages. Keeping in mind that we recommend a minimum of 360 square inches of floorspace per hamster. That's a lot of room that will be taken up.

-Can you afford that many hamsters? Food, substrate, cages, toys, supplies and vet costs aren't cheap and with that many hamsters you're going to need quite a bit.

-Can you afford the time for all of those hamsters?

-Say you do have to keep all of the babies, what if they have some illness or disease that pops up due to their genetics. That's 10+ hamsters that will need the vet. Not cheap.

-What if the female culls (kills) her litter for some reason? Can you handle that emotionally?

-What if something goes wrong can you afford to take the mother and her litter to the vet?

-What if the mother dies? Can you guys handle that emotionally? And can you spare the time to feed the babies yourself? They feed every couple of hours and it is not easy to keep them alive.

-Do you have homes lined up at all? Not just your friends and family members or strangers but people that are willing to put effort into researching and caring for their new pets?

-Do you know the genetic background of these two hamsters? If not then how can you ensure that the babies will be healthy. What if they all died at a young age?

Breeding should not be taken lightly. There are hundreds of hamsters that need homes everyday. By breeding you are taking away homes that those hamsters that already exist could have gone to. Please consider separating them, much more research should be done if you are serious about breeding. But if you want to experience the miracle of life than go google it, I'm sure there's a video. If you want more hamsters then go adopt. If you want to see baby hamsters then wait until you are ready to do it right. You might be lucky, maybe you guys can get away without having to deal with a litter and all of the responsibility that comes with it. "

- HH

LOL, u copy and paste is it? I dun have syrian la... And when breeding, I will know when to stop, will not until so much babies till I cant handle..

Like I say, just because it hard, doesn't mean we must not try it.. Its like preventing ppl from marriage, lol...

But, I do appreciate your feedback, it helps me a lot

starrynight is right, but I am not going to argue on this since based on your replies it seems you have already made your mind & there is no going back. Just think about it again...

It took me months to research how to provide the best environment for my hamster & even more things to read regarding on breeding. Even after reading books on keeping care of hamsters I know I won't be able to provide the best environment for my hamster so the whole breeding process never came across me.

Babies that are 4 -5 weeks old are sexually mature to mate again and by then you must separate them according to gender else they will just mate with their siblings and that's where you get the lots of babies from .. why do you want to breed anyway?

yes i copied paste from the forum because i think it's important for every hamster owner to know this ..

"a day ago , Tripaws changed. His fur matted , movement slow. His breath laboured though only having three legs never served a problem. He didn't stay awake at all and would try and sleep every chance he got. i got him from Etoile, who was bred by someone who didn't know what she was doing.. Tripaws was only born with three legs.

Now, i get up at two hour intervals to feed him food and water and change the hot water bottle so he could hold on a while longer. I fear for the worse due to losing three hamsters in a month that losing another would be traumatizing. I tell you all, breeding is no game. i lose sleep now.

sunday 2:15am ; i just went through the routine and let's just say , he's doing okay. he's moving around a bit a least through he still looks to be in difficult status and pain.

may this log change the way you look at breeding if you think it is easy.

my name is Mika, and I am an animal lover who suffers heartache to help them.
My name is Mika, and I don't breed when i can rescue and help those in need.

edit :: 2:24am : he's slowed down even more and i fear he's ready to say good bye.

follow the updates and maybe the light shall shine. for i know i can't bare not to cry. "

-- mika, hh

me either. the thought of seeing how my fur girl could be suffering and knowing if something goes wrong, it's all on my head .. that is scary and it's preventable. my concerns (if not financially) about breeding would be the emotional pain in seeing your own hamster cull their young and if the mother dies, the babies are your responsibility for life. also not to mention the genetic defects that the poor baby have to suffer through .. and it will messed up your head and turn your life upside down if you truly do care for your hamsters .. otherwise they're just cheap throwaway pets right?

plus in msia, we don't have much vets that are expert in hamsters. where to find in case of emergency

This post has been edited by starrynight: Jun 24 2013, 12:17 AM

I have had approximately 5 batches of babies born in my house over these past 6 years.
If you wanna breed, go ahead. The rewards are really adorable.

1. Cost - Time, money, storage, effort. I think this one's pretty manageable la shouldn't be much of a problem. But you do need to watch out for their environments. Some batches died do to my carelessness, like spinning wheel kept hitting the bottle till there was no water. Other than that, this one's manageable.

2. Genetic defects - I don't think this is that common is it? None of my babies were defect. Even my winter gold (what you guys call the hybrid) hamsters, I bred them till the 3rd generation. Just that the last one standing after almost 2 years died of cancer. I think I can blame it on the bedding I used.

3. Emotion-wise - Well what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Everytime my hamster dies it becomes easier to handle my emotions. At least I know I've given them the best life I could. Mom eating their babies? Aiya it's nature la, that's how it runs. If the babies are weak, or the mother's a bad one (I had one like that which ate all her babies), then there's nothing you can do right?

In human life you can't control the birth of defect children. You can't control accidents that take lives. You can't control when and how the uncertainty of money hits you.
As long as you know what you're doing and you're dedicated, by all means go for it.
If things go wrong, well that's how life is, right?

(I've had quite a rough month emotionally, have became more of a realist now. Guess it does affect me how I see things.)

I had said my piece, it's up to you whether you want to take it or not. In the wild, animals have the choice to choose their mates thus choosing one which can produce the best offspring, in captivity you're putting a mate for them. Instinctively they just mate.

Lack of knowledge and you'll get brother sister mating which in turn produces a poor line of genetic the next generation. When you breed, you can NOT think. You have to KNOW. Any sensible breeder calls that trying to convince your own mind that what you did was okay. It's psychological behaviour that causes that thought. Defects come when they want to. You can't challenge that, but that doesn't mean you can say it's not common.

When it comes down to it, it depends on how view the hamsters. Are they just your pet or do you really see them as a life? Every baby that is born under your care is your responsibility. You have a commitment to take care of them and any oops moment is not something to be taken lightly.

There's no "bad mother", it's usually human error that made her do it. Her environment which the human has to provide. In fact, there should be no wheel in the cage with babies around. Imagine if the babies were crawling under the wheel and mother decided to go for a run.

I agree in life there are certain things we cannot control but since this is something we can control, why do you put your hamsters to it? You're allowing innocent lives to be affected. Innocent creatures to pay the price just so you can get stronger and feel better about yourself.

Like I said, it depends on how you view your hamsters. I see mine as little lives which are depending on me 100% to make sure they have the best life they can and by all means, I give them everything they need.

What if at 1 am or so, one of your little ham babies is suffering, what would you do? What if the mother has birth complication and just passed? Who's going to take care of the babies? How?

Just like backyard breeding, we already have so many dogs/cats in need of home, why don't help those existing ones first?

This post has been edited by starrynight: Jun 24 2013, 10:11 AM

Guys, my male hamster has a 'patch' near his anus there. Is this normal?

I thought that part was suppose to be covered fully with the white fur except for a small hole?



This post has been edited by nova_freak: Jun 24 2013, 08:45 PM

That, am not too sure. Should be normal, he looks small, that "part" would be expanding over the weeks.

The shopkeeper told me he is around 2 months.. Is the size OK for 2 months hammy?

Hope it can expand

2 months still a toddler haha.
Size is fine, just don't feed it until become fatty.

I give mixed seeds as main meal for my hamsters, but they only seed sunflower seed and corns... They wont touch other seeds in it... I know both sunflower and corns are not a very healthy food for them, so what should I do?

I also give them lettuce and carrot once in a while..

I give my girl the Classic food from Living World, they sell in Pets Wonderland, she eats everything.
I read before that you can refuse to refill the food bowl until they eat everything, but I don't think I'll recommend that :/
Other than that, you can try different brands of hamster food to see whether he eats everything or not.

I had tried this, and it works... But it hurts me inside for doing this to my hamster, lol...

Trying to find Savic hamster cages here for my pet hamster Tiger , Golden Syrian Hamster , 8 months old . No pet shops have any So Sad only pet carrier ....
And asking if there is hamster food where ants don't come to it . Cause tried all hamster type ants keeping COMING!!! BTW Anyone knows where to get chinchilla ?? But for a price where it's affordable ! Pet shop say its banned to be sold in Malaysia
There is also a small black bump on my hamster's body which I don't know is it good or not?
And I JUST BOUGHT NEW GREEN BALL AND HE LOVES IT Because the ball that I bought for him the old ball last time he hates and he will bite it until he gets out ! BUT HOORAY BTW The Savic cages are really hard to find called every pet store one only having Mickey cage too small for fat tiger who runs around.
I also can't understand how to handle robo's cause it's too fast tried to buy but then too fast too handle lor. So I guess I can't post any pics of tiger because I can't transfer PLS REPLY
I HATE ANTS
But I hope the bump on tiger dissapears