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Originally Posted by cypher
I do freeze all my hamster food mix, any dried plant material like leaves or flowers, cork & wooden items that go in the cage. Although you may not see any mites, weevils, moths etc there is the possibility of eggs being hidden & freezing should prevent any problems with that.
I freeze mine for at least a week, I usually buy more than one bag of food & the ones I'm not using just stay in the freezer until needed.
You do need to put it into a plastic box of some sort & most importantly keep it in the box until completely defrosted so no moisture gets into the food as it's defrosting.
Messing with their food hoard is stressful for them, you really shouldn't remove it unless it has got wet food like veg in it or has been peed on. Bugs are unlikely to be attracted into the cage by the stash as it's usually pretty well hidden away.
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Ah, so if I were to get a large Tupperware container for my freezer, in general I should just put anything high-risk in there for freezing. And as you say, just take the box out and leave it completely shut for maybe 3-4 days to ensure it doesn’t get wet. I’d be nervous about how they’ve turned out, but will be sure to keep it shut hehe Thank you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Serendipity7000
Yes I freeze all hamster food! For a week. Because I did get an outbreak of bugs - food moths. From moth eggs that apparently are quite common in pet foods (virtually microscopic) and hatch out if it's warm enough. If you freeze the food for a week it kills any moth eggs (and any other possible bugs). Works a treat. But give it a full week. Never had any issues since.
I also think you don't get mites from bedding - it is probably just that people who have had hamsters with mites have had to freeze the bedding.
If you freeze the food you won't have any problems. I use Fitch substrate and buy it in a 10kg bag - it's recycled food grade paper - never had any issues whatsoever.
I think with any substrate if it's stored in a place where it could get damp - eg an unheated place like a garage - then anything could "grow" mould etc and that can encourage bugs in. So as long as it's stored in the house you'd be fine.
I even freeze any bark wood items for a week before using them, just in case, and the same with cork items. And also hay - now that has got a reputation for possibly having mites in so if you use any hay or items with hay on them, it's a good idea to freeze them.
With food I tend to get two bags - freeze them both, then get one out after a week (it defrosts in a couple of hours) and leave the other one in the freezer. Then when the first one runs out I get the one out of the freezer and order a new one which then goes in the freezer  Same with any hamster treats etc - any food that has been stored in a pet store basically.
Treats like sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds are ok if they're human grade ones from the supermarket. |
Ah clever - food grade bedding sounds wonderful to me hahah. So my breeder is going to give me a small bag of her hamster mix to go home with, maybe when the litter is born i’ll pop down and buy a bag off her. So I can freeze it for a week and have it defrosted and ready for when the hamster comes home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher
I freeze sunflower & pumpkin seeds too, & other seeds as I don't use shelled ones from the supermarket I use all seeds in the shell so bird food ones or others sold for hamsters.
The one thing I don't freeze is mealworms or other freeze dried insects, as far as I'm aware you shouldn't refreeze food & they've already been frozen.
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Okay! So besides freezedried insects and such, I am fine to be freezing wood toys (any other toys high-risk besides what cypher said?), food, all hamster treats and edibles? But there’s no real need for bedding to be frozen