# My daughter has a transgendered hamster **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 23, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776 "2010-09-23T15:50:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/1 "2010-09-23T15:50:59Z")
My daughter wanted a dwarf hamster for her birthday. She was very diligent about the litterbox and feeding the cat in an attempt to convince us that was what she wanted. And therefore, we took a trip to the pet store. Being eleven, she wanted a GIRL hamster. But the pet store only had BOY hamsters. After some discussion, I said “Sweetie, its a hamster. Its hard to tell if its a boy or a girl, and it certainly won’t care.” So the hamster cage is PINK, the hamster is named Princess, and I sometimes forget and use the wrong gender pronoun. I hope the poor thing doesn’t have a well developed gender identity. She is really cute. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/2 "2010-09-23T16:00:13Z")
Did you name it RuPaul? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/3 "2010-09-23T16:03:20Z")
At least you won’t have to worry about her eating her babies. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/4 "2010-09-23T16:08:46Z")
I don’t know what it’s like for dwarf hamsters, but teddy-bear hamster boys grow up to be **very** obviously male. We’re talking major cojones. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/5 "2010-09-23T16:43:45Z")
Yeah, I was going to say. I had a male dwarf hamster. “Princess” is going to be dragging a couple of furry grapes around before too long. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/6 "2010-09-23T16:52:18Z")
It could still be a girl. Pet stores are notoriously bad at sexing small rodents. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/7 "2010-09-23T18:53:37Z")
> [@filling\_pages](#): > > Yeah, I was going to say. I had a male dwarf hamster. “Princess” is going to be dragging a couple of furry grapes around before too long. So she’ll be non-surgical transgendered. Not everyone follows all the way through for complete gender reassignment… ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/8 "2010-09-23T18:59:18Z")
We adopted by brother’s class rabbit when he was a kid. He settled in well, but it was when he began creating a nest and going through a pseudopregnancy that we had to reevaluate “his” gender. ---
**Author:** ![limegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@limegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/limegreen)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/9 "2010-09-23T19:19:17Z")
I had a much-loved hairless rat as a classroom pet that was MALE. I always had trouble keeping a straight face when a junior high kid would take one look at Harry and say, “What is that?!?!” I would reply, “He’s a male.” as many times as it took to sink in, accompanied by significant looks. We lovingly referred to it as his “luggage”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/10 "2010-09-23T19:25:31Z")
Hey there, Princess … how YOU doin’? ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/11 "2010-09-24T07:39:26Z")
When we got our ratties, we told people we’d gotten two boys. Several people asked if we were _sure_ both were boys, so we wouldn’t have baby rodents running around in a few weeks. The only answer to that is to tell them to come over and see for themselves. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/12 "2010-09-24T12:13:24Z")
Wait till he decides to clean himself. Why does the boy hamster lick himself? BECAUSE HE CAN!!! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/13 "2010-09-24T15:04:28Z")
My mother refers to all dogs as “him.” ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/14 "2010-09-24T15:08:32Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > It could still be a girl. Pet stores are notoriously bad at sexing small rodents. Yeah. Not nearly enough foreplay. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/15 "2010-09-24T15:41:11Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > We adopted by brother’s class rabbit when he was a kid. He settled in well, but it was when he began creating a nest and going through a pseudopregnancy that we had to reevaluate “his” gender. Rabbits can be tough to determine sex of when they’re young - and sometimes even when they’re older. I have two male rabbits that I got when they were 10 weeks old, and I took them to the vet within the week for a checkup and a just-in-case gender check. One of them required a whole lot of poking and prodding until they were able to definitely declare that he was a male, and this is a vet clinic that specializes in “exotic” pets; rabbits are pretty common, boring animals for their clientele. When I had him neutered at 6 months old, the vet told me he had the smallest testes that she’d seen on a rabbit. She had the discretion to not mention it in his earshot. 😉 I’m wondering if that’s why he’s at least a full pound smaller than his (same breed, same age) buddy and more slight in musculature too. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/16 "2010-09-24T17:33:11Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > My mother refers to all dogs as “him.” That’s because all dogs are male and all cats are female. I learned that from watching “Community” last night. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/17 "2010-09-24T17:37:31Z")
: > [@VinylTurnip](#): > > > [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > > > It could still be a girl. Pet stores are notoriously bad at sexing small rodents. > > Yeah. Not nearly enough foreplay. Liquid. Nose. Monitor. Dammit! ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/18 "2010-09-24T19:48:10Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Hey there, Princess … how YOU doin’? This will end awkward. My daughter has a male betta named ‘Angela’. The only betta she could find that she liked was male but she was bound and determined that the fish would be named Angela so Angela he is. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/19 "2010-09-24T21:24:28Z")
Do you know how hard it is sexing birds? I named one Isidore because it would be easy to change the name to Isidora if it turned out to be a female. (Also because it is a Ringneck Parrot and I have a warped sense of humor.) And when I was a kid I wanted a rat. My mother finally said okay, but it had to be a female, as she was embarassed by the size of the male rats’ …er, uh, genitals. I think Squeaky (yeah, the first pet I named after a member of the Manson family) was a female, as I never saw cojones on her. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776/20 "2010-09-24T21:42:21Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > It could still be a girl. Pet stores are notoriously bad at sexing small rodents. Yes, years ago I bought a single male dwarf hamster, which had been sharing a cage with another male at the petstore. Within two weeks I had seven hamsters. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-has-a-transgendered-hamster/554776.md?page=2)