breeding hamster

Hi.. I intend to breed and sell hamster, any advice? I'm not sure whether ppl breed in pair saparately or put few in one breeding box. Really appreciate if anyone could give some advice. Thx.

Why do you wanna breed? Is it to improve the quality? Or to make extra money? When breeding, you need lots of space and time and not every pair can breed. If you put a few in breeding box, there are chances where the females will feel stressed.... some may cannibalize each other's pups.... the best is only pairing them up when you want to breed. A hamster that is breeding need to rest, if you keep breeding non-stop, you shorten the lifespan by half.

May i know how can breeding improve its quality? Currently i plan to put in few female and a male in a plastic container, n check it quite often if they are pregnant. If pregnant then i'l take it out and saparate it. Is it ok if i do so? N may i know how to check if the female is on heat? Certainly i'l rest the female after it give birth, dun plan to make it a "breeding machine". I prefer quality breeding.

If quality breeding, you have to look for healthy and good structured hamsters. You can't just take some random hamsters from a petshop and breed. Then that is not quality.

For me, I breed RC and WW hamsters, but so far no WW has been of great quality to breed with my current 2, which have superb rounded bullet shaped bodies and good face features. For RC, I look for temperament, then also the facial shape. Some RCs got long faces or ears that are too close together. You have to go and research, online Google and look at hamsters from overseas. Study the pictures, study the genetics, recognize a good structured hamster from another.

I travel around KL just to find my very few hamsters that are of good quality. Some may cost RM10, some RM30 or RM60....

Also, it is better for you to concentrate on breeding 1 female at a time. The most is 2. Why is that? Firstly, you must make sure the male and female can get along. Dwarfs are the hardest to pair up coz only the male would know when the female is ready to breed. Some pairs are not compatible and even if you keep them for a year together, they may not breed. So it also depends on luck if the male and female accept each other to breed.

You also have to study the genetics. Some genes are dangerous to breed.... like mottled bred with mottled, you could end up with eyeless and teethless whites. There are dominant and reccessive genes to study, so do not jump into breeding if you are not ready with information.

Slowly build your knowledge.

Syrians are easier to know when the female is on heat. A female Syrian would smell musky. It would have whitish or a clear mucus on the genitals. By stroking the back, if the female stands still and lifts up the tail and hips higher, then it is ready to mate.

As hobbyist breeders, we never put 1 male with 3 or 4 females.... fights can occur without us knowing.

A female also should only start breeding at around 4 months and should have a rest of 3 to 4 months after the birth in order to breed again. Never breed a hamster for the 1st time if it is already 6 months old coz the pelvic bones may have fused and it may cause birth difficulties, even death in some. Breeding hamsters should stop breeding at 1 year old.