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Originally Posted by Princess Pixie
Dwarf hamsters are very much prone to diabetes so if you have a dwarf, be careful and some of those foods you're feeding them if they are dwarfs aren't something I'd risk feeding mine.
Peanuts and sunflower seeds only in a tiny amount, as it's very fatty and sunflower seeds tends to already be in the food mix.
Cheese not at all ever.
Bread, again in the tiny tiny tiniest amount as it contains sugar.
With my dwarf I feed him Burguss dwarf mix, extra mealworms and added fresh vegetables. That's it. It may sound boring but it's safe.
Syrians on the other hand, you can be a bit more adventurous with, mine loves yogurt (plain, fat free), tofu (small amount), mackerel (tiny amount), you can give your dwarf mackerel too, they seem to love flax seeds, yoghurt drops (treat only).
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I can understand and see why bread may not be the best thing to be feeding my hams, but I don't see how cottage cheese as a treat could cause any harm. Could you elaborate? I don't want to give my hamsters diabetes, but I also don't really see how cottage cheese could even give them diabetes? Looking at Nutritiondata.com, an entire CUP of nonfat cottage cheese contains 3 grams of sugar and, kind of obvious considering the name, 0 grams of fat. An entire cup. My hams generally only get a pinky finger sized amount split between the two of them, but I guess I didn't specify so this misunderstanding is pretty much my own fault. My feeding protocol has basically been a tablespoon of
Oxbow, a penny-sized amount of fresh vegetables (non sugary vegetables like broccoli or arugula, I'd offer a bit more but my munchkins aren't big on veggies and tend to hoard them instead of eating them) and tiny amounts of "other" when they greet me at the cage bars and give me "the eyes". Sometimes it's a mealworm or two, sometimes it's some millet, sometimes it's some peanut or some cottage cheese. They've actually been fed quite a lot of different foods and my little list above isn't exhaustive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher
There isn't one single food that is suitable on it's own really, if you can get them then the best mix is Higgins sunburst & Mazuri blocks, you need a ratio of 60-40% by weight when you combine the two.
I wouldn't feed bread to your ham, the other extras you mention are fine in moderation though.
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I'm not sure where to find either of those, but we have a fairly large petsmart out of town, so perhaps we can see if they have Mazuri or Higgins sunburst and stock up there. Do you pick the dried fruits out of it?