Syrain Hamster

Since Syrians are solitary animals, breeding is more difficult than with dwarfs, ‎who cohabitate. Hamsters can be sexually mature as early as 28 days old. ‎

However, the female should not be bred until she is between three and four ‎months of age. (Males should be the same age before their first encounter ‎with a female.) If she is too young the result is generally a small litter, poor ‎quality pups and a difficult time for the female.

An older female bred for the ‎first time may experience extreme difficulties at birth, occasionally resulting in ‎death for the mother.

Females can only mate during oestrus (when in heat or ‎in season), which occurs every four days. Putting a male and female together ‎when the female is not in heat could result in a fight.

Females have been ‎known to seriously injure or even kill a male if there is no intervention. (If ‎squabbling does begin, separate them immediately and try again the next ‎evening.) ‎
Because hamsters are nocturnal animals, mating should be done in the early ‎evening. (In the wild, they normally mate after sundown.) Generally speaking, ‎a female in heat will be more active and will "freeze" (body pressed to floor ‎and tail up) when her back is stroked.
Never put the male in the female's cage ‎‎- there is likely to be a fight even if she is in heat.
It is best to place the male in ‎a separate container with a small amount of bedding in the bottom and then ‎introduce the female.

If she is in heat, she will freeze, he will mount, dismount ‎and wash himself several times. They should be allowed at least 20 minutes - ‎unless one of them shows signs of loosing interest. (Be aware that there are ‎probably as many different methods of breeding Syrian Hamsters as there are ‎hamster breeders, but this has have been proven to be the safest and most ‎successful method for most breeders.) ‎ The Syrian has one of the shortest gestation periods (length of pregnancy) of ‎all animals - between 15 and 17 days.

Normally, she will begin to show signs ‎of "bulging" on about the ninth or tenth day. By the time she is near delivery, ‎she will look like she is carrying fully packed saddlebags! Her environment ‎should be stress-free throughout her pregnancy and for at least the first ten ‎days after the litter is born