How to determine the sex of a hamster with high accuracy, how to hold the animal correctly and conduct a safe inspection, a description of inspection methods and signs of sex.
Determining the sex of a hamster is a difficult task only at first glance. This article will tell you how to find the right approach to your pet, what to pay attention to during examination and how not to harm the animal in the process, what are the primary and secondary sex differences.
When agreeing to get a hamster, future owners must figure out how to find out the gender of the hamster. Sellers in stores often make mistakes, and sometimes even deliberately deceive, in a hurry to get rid of an overstayed animal. Stories about differences in body color or head shape are just philistine speculation that has no basis.
Determining the sex of a hamster is important in cases where the animals are planned to be bred, or, conversely, to prevent the appearance of offspring. In addition, you can bring home a female from the general cage of a pet store with an unwanted surprise.
The importance of gender determination
For breeders who are engaged in breeding hamsters, when buying a hamster, it is especially important to know its gender, because the success of the animal business depends on it. For example, they may sell you a hamster that is not the gender you want. It will be unpleasant and you will have to buy the animal again.
And if you are buying a hamster just as a pet, it will be a shame if they sell you the wrong one. You may have already come up with a nickname for him, and then you’ll have to come up with it again.
Recognition by breed of Syrians
Quite often the question arises of how to find out the gender of your Syrian hamster. This is necessary so that you can save on a cage, because males can live in the same cage. But a female will never be able to get along in the same “room” with another representative of her sex.
You should also look at the distance between the excretory organs and the genitals.
- In males, these organs are located at a distance of 1.5 cm from each other.
- The female will have them in close proximity.
Once you have determined the gender of your hamsters, it will now be much easier to care for them, because males and females require completely different care. Moreover, you will know in what conditions to keep several rodents so that there are no embarrassments. This definition will allow you to control the breeding process of pets in order to avoid rapid and unnecessary fertility.
At what age is gender determined?
Many people wonder at what age can the sex of a hamster be determined? After all, if you breed hamsters, you need to know what gender of hamster you are selling. This is where a problem arises, because at a young age it is not recommended to touch dzhungarikas - this is dangerous for their health.
If you have newborn hamsters, you will have to wait a month, then it will be clear who you have: a male or a female. By the age of four weeks, you can safely determine the age of the dzhungarika.
Determination methods
There are several methods to determine the sex of a Djungarian hamster
The sex of a hamster can be determined when the animal reaches three to four weeks of age. If the hamster is already an adult, there should be no problems with sex determination. But if puberty has not yet occurred, it is worth trying the following methods.
First you need to secure the hamster. two ways to do this .
- We need the hamster to spread its hind legs and let us see its genitals. To do this, with clean hands, carefully grab it by the scruff of the neck and lift it, the hamster will stretch out, and it will be easier to establish its sex.
- The second method is much preferable because it causes less anxiety and discomfort to the animal. So, you can place the hamster on your palm with its belly up and hold it with your thumb. Under no circumstances should you squeeze the body of your cute rodent too tightly; you need to handle it very carefully, identifying the animal’s sexual characteristics with your free hand. Stroke the hamster's belly a little to calm it down, caress it, because with caress you can achieve much more from an animal. And the pet will know that you can be trusted and you will not harm him.
How to properly restrain an animal for inspection
To find out the gender of your hamster you need to look at its genitals. But how can you do this if he is constantly in a hurry to get somewhere, and how can you look carefully so as not to injure your pet?
IMPORTANT: Hamsters have very small, thin and fragile bones, so carelessness during examination can even lead to the death of the animal. You should also not turn the hamster over on its back or hold it by the scruff of the neck.
The procedure for inspecting the dzhungarik:
- Carefully place the hamster in your palm so that the hind legs hang freely from your hand; if necessary, hold the hamster from below.
- You will have a view of the external genitalia of the animal and you can easily examine them and determine the sex of the hamster.
- If your pet is nervous or struggling, ask someone to take a photo of the hamster in its original position. Then you can easily examine the genitals and find out the gender of the pet.
There are several methods for determining sex
Why is it necessary to determine the sex of rodents?
This rodent attracts the attention of many animal lovers due to its small size and unpretentiousness in maintenance.
Determining the sex of a future pet is an important and responsible task, in which you should rely only on yourself. This is due to the fact that many pet stores deliberately misreport the sex of animals in order to sell them faster.
If you are interested in how to distinguish the sex of a hamster, you should familiarize yourself with the features of this procedure so as not to make a mistake and not harm your pet.
It is worth finding out the gender of representatives of the hamster family because:
- otherwise, breeding animals is not possible;
- same-sex animals often do not get along well with each other.
It often happens that mutual understanding between a pair of males or a pair of females does not occur for a very long time, and rodents fight with each other, winning the right to territory. The question of determining the sex of a pet is not so relevant if you decide to have only one individual and do not plan to buy a pair for it.
How to distinguish a boy from a girl hamster
However, the question arises: is it really possible to distinguish a male from a female only by the genitals? You can determine the sex of an animal not only by its genitals, but also by several other distinctive features. For example, in appearance and behavior. Let's take a closer look at each of them.
By appearance
Male dzhungarikas are much smaller in size than females. However, males have longer and thicker fur than females. If this is not enough for you to determine the sex, you can look at the shape of the shoulder blades, but you need to do this very carefully - as mentioned above, hamsters are very fragile and it is easy to cause irreparable harm to them. Males have a less rounded scapula than females.
By behavior
It is not so easy to determine the sex of a hamster by behavior, because it is similar in females and males, but there are still slight differences.
- Females are considered cleaner: their home looks neater, and they also carefully monitor the cleanliness of their fur. Females are somewhat aggressive and less tame. Considered more energetic.
- Males are not so clean; they do not carefully monitor the condition of their fur. However, males are more affectionate and easier to tame and do not bite like females. They lead a sedentary lifestyle.
In newborn hamsters
It is almost impossible to determine the sex of a newborn hamster at home - the genitals of small dwarf hamsters are poorly defined. Therefore, it is advised to seek help from a specialist at a pet store. But you should check whether the consultant or seller has a veterinary education, because an inexperienced seller will not be able to determine the sex of a newborn hamster and may simply deceive you.
The easiest way to determine the sex of dzhungarikas is by external signs
Advice from professionals
Experts in the field of breeding Djungarian hamsters give their recommendations for determining the sex of pets.
- Do not try to find out the sex of the jungarik until it is at least three weeks old. Trying to discern sexual characteristics, the owner risks harming the fragile hamster, whose body is still forming.
- To see the genitals, carefully grab the adult animal by the scruff of the neck with your fingers and lift it up. This way the furry pet’s body is in an elongated position, and sexual characteristics become more clearly visible.
- You can try to see the gender in a way that is less stressful for the animal. Place the rodent on its back in your palm and hold it securely, but very carefully with your thumb so as not to hurt. To calm an animal alarmed by such manipulations, you can gently stroke its abdomen, and then the parts of its body of interest will be clearly visible.
- If there is still a need to determine the sex of a small cub, then you can carefully touch it at the location of the genital organs. In boys, small swellings are felt in the groin area - future testicles.
- Pay attention to the size of the pet. Females are usually larger and more plump than their partners.
Observing the behavior of a hamster and noticing its passivity or aggression, you should not draw conclusions regarding gender. Both aggression and excessive calmness are more often associated with the health of the pet. If you notice that the animal has lost its appetite or has begun to bite the owner’s fingers, take the hamster to the veterinarian; perhaps the rodent has caught a cold, has been poisoned, or is experiencing a vitamin deficiency.
Don’t forget to feed your pets properly, change the water daily, clean the cage regularly and let the kids go for walks. And then it is possible to raise a healthy, long-lived hamster or get full-fledged good offspring from him.
You will learn how to determine the sex of a hamster in the video below.
How to determine the sex of a Djungarian hamster by its genitals
The easiest way to find out whether you have a female or a male Djungarian hamster is to look at the external genitalia. Still, there are significant differences in their structure between females and males.
How to identify a female hamster
Despite the small size of the hamster, you can confidently identify the female.
- Look at the distance between the vagina and anus. It should be minimal or it will simply be absent. The vagina is practically adjacent to the anus, but is separated by a zone where there is absolutely no hair.
- If you could not find the urogenital opening, this is a female Djungarian hamster
- Also another sign is the absence of a navel (yellowish bulge on the abdomen) - this is a specific feature of female dzhungarikas
- You can see the presence of nipples, there will be four of them and they are located symmetrically on both sides of the female’s abdomen
This is interesting! Some hamster owners suggest looking at the pet from above on its back. Specialist breeders claim that females have a more rounded back edge. In males it is slightly pointed.
How to identify a male hamster
The presence of clearly visible testes is the main sign that this is a male Djungarian hamster.
- At the age of three to four weeks, males develop pronounced almond-shaped tubercles in the groin area. Over time, the testes increase in size and identifying the male becomes much easier.
- If the testes are not yet visible, you can feel them in the groin area.
- If suddenly you do not find the testes (this happens if the testicles do not descend and remain in the abdominal cavity), you can take a ruler to be completely sure and measure the distance between the anus and the urethra. For an adult hamster, the distance will be approximately a centimeter to one and a half centimeters, for a growing hamster - less than half a centimeter. But there will be a distance, unlike the female, who has practically no distance between her anus and vagina. Also in males this area is covered with small hair.
- Males have significant hair. Their belly is covered with thick, long hair; in females it is short and sparse on the belly. And not only the belly of males is covered with thick fur, they are covered with thick fur over the entire surface of the body.
Attention! You need to feel the testes with extreme caution, otherwise you may damage the testicles that have not yet fully formed.
Secondary signs for recognition
A distinctive feature of males is the presence of a special gland on the belly, which secretes an odorous secretion; males use it to mark their territory. This gland is located where the navel should be, looks like a small yellow tubercle, and is devoid of hair.
Females are slightly larger in size than males.
Females are more aggressive and can bite you, unlike males, who have no problem going into their owner’s arms and love affection.
Did you find it easy to determine the gender of your hamster?
General characteristics
The Djungarian hamster belongs to the genus of hairy-footed hamsters; their legs are covered with short hair. The body size reaches from 5 to 10 cm in length. A distinctive feature is a dark stripe from the head to the tip of the tail, and the tail is very small and almost invisible. Domesticated dwarfs differ in color from their wild relatives.
They are divided into 4 types according to color types:
- standard color (brown-gray);
- sapphire (gray-blue);
- pearl color (matte white and has gray spots);
- tangerine (reddish-cream color).
When molting, which occurs in winter, the color becomes almost white with a dark stripe on the back. By nature, these hamsters are friendly and easily tamed, they prefer solitary living and do not share their territory with their relatives. The presence of a pair or more individuals in the same cage can cause anger and aggression in rodents towards each other. Djungarian hamsters are very mobile, so you should choose a cage with a large area. Life expectancy at home is approximately 2 years, but can be longer, it all depends on proper nutrition and care.
Hamster breeders share their experiences
- Remember that any animal must be kept in pairs. Single people live much shorter lives due to the fact that they are constantly under stress.
- You will be able to distinguish hamsters by gender as early as 4 weeks of age. By this time, they can already be separated from their mother without harm to health.
- Since rodents live relatively short lives, it is better to purchase only young animals.
- It is a mistaken belief that adult rodents cannot be tamed. If you show a little patience and demonstrate your care, your ward will quickly become attached to the new owner.
It will not be difficult for an experienced consultant at a pet store to find out the sex of a hamster. Contact him for advice and test the theory in practice.
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When buying a Djungarian hamster at a pet store, few people wonder what gender the new pet is. And even if the owner is interested in the gender of the pet, he can be deceived in the store. Even the traders themselves rarely know how to accurately distinguish a girl from a boy. Let's try to figure out how to determine the sex of a Djungarian hamster and why it is needed.
Sex determination in adults
It is important to remember that neither the color nor the shape of the muzzle (sellers in pet stores often focus on this) can determine the sex of rodents!
In adults, body size can serve as a sign of sex. Nature dictates that females are always slightly larger than males. This definition is never 100% accurate, but it gives some hint. The second visual clue can be the shape of the rodents' body. In boys, you can see the back, pointed towards the tail, which seems to stick out upward, but in hamsters it is rounded.
You can also tell the sex of a rodent by the shape of its shoulder blades - in boys they are pointed, while in girls they have a rounded appearance. In addition, males (especially Djungarians) have longer hair than their female counterparts.
Another visual difference between boys and girls is rapid growth and weight gain. If the “fluffy” gets bigger and fatter every day, and his appetite does not decrease, then we can assume that this is a pregnant hamster.
Observing the behavior of the animal will also help us understand who is in front of us: a boy or a girl. Females are quite capricious and sometimes do not stand on ceremony with those who feed them - being “out of sorts”, they can bite painfully or refuse to be handled. Males are much more phlegmatic and kinder - they rarely refuse the opportunity to climb into the palm of the one who treats and strokes them.
On the other hand, aggressive behavior of a rodent may be a sign of a serious illness. In this case, you need to keep an eye on his appetite, bowel movements and the condition of his coat. And if something is wrong with your pet, you need to contact a veterinarian in a timely manner.
The scent gland in the abdomen, with which the male marks his territory, will help to distinguish a boy from a girl. It is difficult not to see a hairless plaque of a round shape and yellowish color at the site of the navel. Girls of the Dzungarian breed simply do not have such a gland. But they have two rows of nipples visible (in young individuals they resemble “pimples”), while in boys the abdomen is completely covered with hair.
