This whole thing started a few months ago when my darling dwarf hamster Duchess started gaining weight rapidly.<\/p>\n
Now Duchess lives solo in her cage, so I was puzzled about what was causing her little hamster belly to swell up like a furry balloon.<\/p>\n
At first I thought maybe she was just eating too much or getting less exercise on her wheel.<\/p>\n
But soon it became clear this was no simple case of hamster chubbiness. Duchess was pregnant!<\/p>\n
I was flabbergasted.<\/p>\n
How could this be possible?<\/p>\n
Duchess doesn’t have a roommate in her cage and I certainly haven’t introduced any male hamsters<\/a> into her domain.<\/p>\n It had to be a true virgin birth…immaculate hamster conception! Right?<\/p>\n Well, before calling up the Vatican to report this potential hamster messiah, I did some investigating.<\/p>\n Turns out Duchess found a way to outsmart me and get herself pregnant without any help.<\/p>\n Hamsters are crafty little critters and under the right circumstances, a female can retain sperm inside her reproductive tract long enough to fertilize her own eggs later on.<\/strong><\/p>\n So while rare, it is possible for a lone female hamster to get herself pregnant<\/a> by using stored sperm from a prior encounter with a male.<\/strong><\/p>\n Table of Contents<\/p>\n<\/div>