Hamster Mating and Pregnancy
If you are planning on pairing Syrian hamsters together there are a few things to consider beforehand to prevent injuries that could be caused by fighting. When a female Syrian hamster is mature she can be recognised by her rounded figure and the fact that she is much larger in size than a male hamster. Male and female hamsters will fight if they are ever introduced, the female would initiate this. In the wild, female hamsters go out to look for a mate, so it is important that you do not thrust the two upon each other. If you want to introduce them to each other, get a partitioned container and watch how they behave with the partition drawn, if all looks to be ok you can remove the partition. If they female will accept the male, then they would usually mate within the hour, once they do they should be separated again.
You can tell that a female hamster is ready to mate by stroking your hand across their back, if they stay still and their tail raises then this is a sign that she is ready to mate. Female hamsters experience heat around every four days.
Syrian female hamsters will produce their offspring around just 16 days after conception, which is one of the shortest times of all mammals. The babies will be pretty helpless at birth but they will start to emerge from the nest after a couple of weeks, after that they will begin to fend for themselves and should be separated from the mother. During these periods you should leave the nest alone as much as you can and not disturb them.
The male Syrian hamster can be identified by a long gap between their anal and genital areas. Females have a much shorter gap and when viewed from the side, they have a smoother rear profile.