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mangoandmimi · 04-11-2019, 05:28 AM

Hi and welcome, congrats on your new ham. Are you in the US? If so then Higgins sunburst is probably one of the better mixes, there's also a similar one called vita garden which I would use instead as it doesn't have all the fruit in there. Same brand but to be honest I'm not entirely sure what the best mixes out there would be for a dwarf. A bit better for diabetes prone hamsters, as although she may physically look like a winter white you should assume she is a campbells hybrid (ie diabetes prone) and treat her as such.

I'm really not surprised she isn't eating the pellets - they are unnatural after all and they'll nearly always prefer eating a seed mix over pellets. I think the main reason for adding the mazuri pellets is to raise the protein level, and especially with a dwarf that will be easy to achieve using animal protein. Mealworms, shrimp, crickets, freeze dried chicken (cat treats) will probably go down better so I'd give those a go instead.

I wouldn't work out the final mix in terms of tablespoons either. You can work out exactly the number of mealworms or chicken you need to add (say 20% protein for a baby, 18% as an adult). But it would probably end up a teaspoon or two of the seed mix plus one or two insects a day, and generally give a bit more protein while she's young.

As for the hoard you can leave it unless it turns into a toilet. If you find it has been peed on then probably try and remove the soiled stuff and then top it up a bit. Although very few of my hams have had that habit thankfully so the only thing I've really needed to do is check it from time to time to make sure no fresh food is sitting in there. You'll probably find the hoard is near the nest, sometimes next to it or below it. Like the hoard you won't want to clean the entire nest in one go, again just remove soiled bits if there are any and if it gets especially bad remove larger parts of it, but there's a good chance she'll just pee in one area so you won't have that problem.

If you are going to use a bowl that's fine for now while you establish a good diet but in time I'd recommend scatter feeding most if not all of it. It provides good enrichment and is more natural for them. As for your question of over feeding, I wouldn't just wait until the last pellet has been eaten to be honest although lots of people may advise that. I think they need food always accessible to them and if there's something in particular they don't like in a diet then you can always try and substitute or change it up a bit so it suits them more (ie the insects). Like I said one or two teaspoons a day will probably do it for a dwarf and hams are unlikely to over eat anyway. Some of it will get hoarded and it's important to let them build that up first so you can be a bit generous with food servings at first.

04-11-2019, 05:28 AM
mangoandmimi Little Miss Tinytoes Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: UK Posts: 7,036	Re: Food, hoarding Hi and welcome, congrats on your new ham. Are you in the US? If so then Higgins sunburst is probably one of the better mixes, there's also a similar one called vita garden which I would use instead as it doesn't have all the fruit in there. Same brand but to be honest I'm not entirely sure what the best mixes out there would be for a dwarf. A bit better for diabetes prone hamsters, as although she may physically look like a winter white you should assume she is a campbells hybrid (ie diabetes prone) and treat her as such. I'm really not surprised she isn't eating the pellets - they are unnatural after all and they'll nearly always prefer eating a seed mix over pellets. I think the main reason for adding the mazuri pellets is to raise the protein level, and especially with a dwarf that will be easy to achieve using animal protein. Mealworms, shrimp, crickets, freeze dried chicken (cat treats) will probably go down better so I'd give those a go instead. I wouldn't work out the final mix in terms of tablespoons either. You can work out exactly the number of mealworms or chicken you need to add (say 20% protein for a baby, 18% as an adult). But it would probably end up a teaspoon or two of the seed mix plus one or two insects a day, and generally give a bit more protein while she's young. As for the hoard you can leave it unless it turns into a toilet. If you find it has been peed on then probably try and remove the soiled stuff and then top it up a bit. Although very few of my hams have had that habit thankfully so the only thing I've really needed to do is check it from time to time to make sure no fresh food is sitting in there. You'll probably find the hoard is near the nest, sometimes next to it or below it. Like the hoard you won't want to clean the entire nest in one go, again just remove soiled bits if there are any and if it gets especially bad remove larger parts of it, but there's a good chance she'll just pee in one area so you won't have that problem. If you are going to use a bowl that's fine for now while you establish a good diet but in time I'd recommend scatter feeding most if not all of it. It provides good enrichment and is more natural for them. As for your question of over feeding, I wouldn't just wait until the last pellet has been eaten to be honest although lots of people may advise that. I think they need food always accessible to them and if there's something in particular they don't like in a diet then you can always try and substitute or change it up a bit so it suits them more (ie the insects). Like I said one or two teaspoons a day will probably do it for a dwarf and hams are unlikely to over eat anyway. Some of it will get hoarded and it's important to let them build that up first so you can be a bit generous with food servings at first.