How many baby Turkish hamsters are in a litter?
A Turkish hamster (Mesocricetus brandti) usually gives birth to around 9 babies.With 3 litters per year, that sums up to a yearly offspring of 27 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 15 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 2 grams (0 lbs) and measure 1.5 cm (0′ 1″). They are a member of the Muridae family (genus: Mesocricetus). An adult Turkish hamster grows up to a size of 18 cm (0′ 8″).
To have a reference: Humans obviously usually have a litter size of one ;). Their babies are in the womb of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks) and reach an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). They weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual, and reach an average age of 75 years.
The Turkish hamster, Mesocricetus brandti, also referred to as Brandt’s hamster, Azerbaijani hamster, or avurtlak, is a species of hamster native to Turkey, Armenia and other surrounding nations. The Turkish hamster, first catalogued in 1878, is a fairly close relative of the Syrian or golden hamster, though far less is known about it, and it is rarely kept as a pet. The population of the Turkish hamster is said to be declining in the wild, yet this hamster is often used in laboratory testing. Turkish hamsters have lifespans of about two years and are solitary, nocturnal animals, which practice hibernation.They are reported to be more aggressive than other members of the family Cricetidae. They are tan and dark, sandy brown in color. Like all hamsters, the Turkish hamster has cheek pouches that allow it to carry large amounts of food at one time.
Other animals of the family Muridae
Turkish hamster is a member of the Muridae, as are these animals:
- Tanezumi rat weighting only 140 grams
- Red tree vole with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Gorongoza gerbil weighting only 119 grams
- Brukkaros pygmy rock mouse weighting only 20 grams
- Mittendorf’s striped grass mouse weighting only 41 grams
- Southern pygmy mouse with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Midday jird with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Lowland mosaic-tailed rat with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Amazonian marsh rat with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Poncelet’s giant rat weighting around 1 kilograms (2.2 lbs)
Animals that share a litter size with Turkish hamster
Those animals also give birth to 9 babies at once:
- Robinson’s mouse opossum
- Franklin’s ground squirrel
- Ciscaucasian hamster
- Ricefield rat
- Steppe polecat
- Sikkim rat
- Texas antelope squirrel
Animals with the same weight as a Turkish hamster
What other animals weight around 198 grams (0.44 lbs)?
- Sierra Madre ground squirrel weighting 207 grams
- Mottled tuco-tuco weighting 192 grams
- Ear-spot squirrel weighting 209 grams
- Soft-spined Atlantic spiny rat weighting 168 grams
- Long-tailed weasel weighting 191 grams
- Southeastern pocket gopher weighting 201 grams
- Large vlei rat weighting 192 grams
- Greenish naked-backed fruit bat weighting 236 grams
- Piute ground squirrel weighting 165 grams
- Echigo mole weighting 163 grams