Winter Whites - winter babies?

[abcgerbils]

Are winter white hamsters supposed to breed in the winter?

I was told "no" when I picked up a breeding pair that I am holding for a friend. Well these two have definitely mated.

It that just an old wives' tale, or is it unusual to have them breed in the winter (they are in their winter coats).

[TiaMaria]

ummm...no clue, ill search on google..

[Padfoot]

Actually, you can control an animal's breeding behaviour by controlling the photoperiod. In winter, days are shorter than in spring, that's how animals tell in what season they are. The cold doesn't affects that behaviour much, cause not all winters are the same cold and not all start at the same time (some times the cold days start earliers, sometimes later.. and if they use temperature as a guide of when to breed, they can be tricked into thinking that a warm winter day means that winter is over, breed and then die on a cold winter day). If you keep the hamsters in a room that has light the same hours as the hours of daylight in their natural habitat they would breed. But, if you keep them in a room that has a light on not too much time (like 4-5 hours) they will think that they are in winter and will not breed. i don't know about their coats being light dependant or temperature dependant, but I think it's light dependant too.

[TiaMaria]

See! Padfoot is a Genius...i couldnt even find anything on google!!!!!!

[Padfoot]

Yeah, one thing comes with the other.. They don't want babies in winter becuase it's too cold for them to survive, plus there's less food, and it's just almost impossible for them to raise a litter in those conditions and would be risking their own lives doing so... but, it's not smart for nature to tell when is winter by using temperature because it's not reliable, but photoperiod doesn't change from year to year. 8) Nature's not dumb.. hehe I live in PR and we have 13 hours of daylight during the summer and 11 hours of daylight during the winter.. so animals that come from temperate climates (like rabbits, cows and goats) breed here all year round, while in temperate places, they go through "breeding drepression" (or something like that.. sorry, I know the term in spanish.

I know it cause I'm about to graduate of animal science and this is the trick used to keep those farm animals breeding all year long.. mess up with their photoperiod. hehe (also to keep the chickens eating more, they keep the light on longer, so chickens think it's still day and keep on eating, and getting fatter and ready to sell/slaughter)

[abcgerbils]

Thanks Padfoot!

Guess I shouldn't have put them in my toasty warm gerbil breeding room near a big sunny window.

[abcgerbils]

Just when I was convinced "no babies" the winter white female had 6! That seems like a long gestation, 30 days.

As I said before, I agreed to hold the pair for someone after being told winter whites didn't breed in the winter.

If anyone has a good site on breeding this type of dwarf hamster to pass on, please let me know.