Sexing Hamster - Male or Female

How Can I Tell if My Hamster is Male or Female?
From Lianne McLeod, DVM

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Sexing Hamsters - Diagram of the differences used to tell if you have a male or female hamster
(Lianne McLeod)

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.

Anogenital Distance
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, (censored) 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 above.

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.

If the two holes look very near each other, the hamster is female. If the two holes look far apart, the hamster is male. It's better to have several hamsters to compare.



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An adult female Roborovski hamster (1 year and 7 months of age) that has produced babies.



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A very young male Campbell hamster.

The tummy of a young male hamster can be pressed gently to show the balls (testes). Hamster balls are not very prominent, especially with young ones.



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Simultaneous sexing using a plastic tank.

Simultaneous comparison can be done with a plastic tank (terrarium). Put all the hamsters in the tank at the same time and look at the bottom of the tank to compare the genitals of the rodents.