Strange Hamster Maturing?

Magus`

I've had 2 hamsters for about 1.5 months now. One is a boy, one is a girl (person said they were both girls when I bought them, but I digress).

Anyhow, the girl is seemingly doing fine, showing signs of sexual maturity (teats, this horrid musk smell), but the boy hamster hasn't grown nearly as much and shows zero signs of sexual maturity (no testes!).

Should I be worried or am I overthinking this?

Trowizilla

If you think they're mixed sexes, you should probably separate them before you get lots and lots of hamster babies. If you're worried, take the hamster to the vet. Also, I've never met a female hamster that smelled terrible, so you might want to look into that.

Feral

Pictures please?

And, no, hamsters should not smell bad.

dispatch.o

I didn't think hamsters had visible external genitals? Also, I'm pretty sure females mature at a much faster rate.

http://exoticpets.about.com/od/hamsters/ss/sexinghamsters.htm

The above URL confirms what I learned about sexing chinchillas is also true for hamsters. They have no external sexual organs. The only way to tell is the distance between the anus and the "sexhole". It's also not usually females that musk when it comes to rodents, that's a male thing.

Chinchillas and hamsters can both have somewhat external genitals during excitement, but normally everything is totally retracted... especially when they feel threatened, and believe me, a giant picking you up and flipping you on your back to poke at your crotch is probably threatening.

I'd say seperate them for a little while but keep the other cage in close proximity, if they do in fact both end out being female they may live together happily. If they're both male, they may get aggressive.

It's always safer and cheaper to get a male rodent fixed, we've had two of our chinchillas done. It ran about 140$, but it's worth it.

Feral

Yes, comparing the distance between the anus and the genital vent is the best way to sex a hamster but it's terribly unreliable when they're very young, especially if you haven't done it a lot.

Also, it's true that the females mature faster than the males and generally end up a little larger in size.

And no hamsters do not have external genitals per se but most males have a very unmistakable prominent testicular bulge.

I just want to confirm (preferably by photos) that the OP did not end up with two different species of hamster, like a Campbell's and a Robo. Also, I'm still concerned about the bad smell. That's not a good sign.

Magus`

They're brother and sister, so I'm 99.9% sure they're the same species. I could be wrong.


That being said, they've been seperated for awhile now. I did not know about the lack of visibile genitals, though.

As for the smell, it's only on the female hamster. It's coming from what I'm assuming is her vagina. What I've read says they give off a kind of musky odor prior to being in heat. When I say 'bad' I don't mean like "OH GOD SOMETHING IS ROTTING" but more like in a "Wow, that's unpleasant!" sort of way.