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How To Tell Hamster Sex
By peace | November 8, 2006
The hamster was discovered in Syria and Russia. It is believed that today’s pet hamsters are all descendants of the Syrian hamster. The most common is the golden hamster with long or short hair and range in length from 4 to 11 inches, or a dwarf hamster from 2 to 4 inches.. Hamsters do not have a tail, but have a stub.
They are natural burrowers and need to have plenty of non-toxic bedding material to dig in. They are solitary pets, thus they should be housed separately. Even though they may fight with their own kind, except while mating, hamsters thrive on the company of humans. Give them lots of attention.
The general rule for hamsters is to keep only one animal per cage. Only young hamsters can be housed together if given lots of space and plenty of hiding places. Dwarf hamsters are somewhat an exception to this rule as they will live together as families as long as they are raised together. Putting dwarf hamsters together that don’t know each other often results in fighting.
Males are generally easier to keep together than females but they may still fight over food and territory. Even when breeding a male and a female are only placed together for short periods of time and then removed
Sexing Hamsters: Male Or Female Hamster
Sexing hamsters can be difficult, especially if they are young or you don’t necessarily have both males and females to compare.
The basic differences are similar for all species of hamsters, Syrian, dwarf, or Chinese.
Hold your hamster on its back to look at the belly area. You can cup your hand over your hamster and gently turn it over onto its back, or hold the hamster by the scruff. Holding the hamster in a slightly upright (“sitting up”) position will help you determine if testicles are present.
The surest way to tell is by looking at the anogenital distance. This is the distance between the genital openings (penile opening in the male, vaginal and urinary openings in the female) and the anus. This distance is much shorter in females than males (in fact the openings can be difficult to distinguish in females while they are separated by about half an inch in males). This is illustrated in the diagram below.
Other Differences
* The back end of the male tends to be elongated and rounder in appearance in comparison to the female (especially noticeable in Chinese hamsters).
* Males often have a noticeable scrotum with testicles after about 4 weeks of age, although the testicles can be retracted.
* Only females have nipples
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