PLEASE HELP - Syrian Hamster Hiding all day not eating

[RobinIsACatto]

Originally Posted by LunaTheHamster1

Yes, I would tend to stay away from lettuce and give hamsters veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, green leaves such as beetroot or spinach or kale.
Robinisacatto, I guess harder veggies such as broccoli would be good for help with keeping the teeth worn down.

Can’t they also wear their teeth down with the seeds in their diet, though? And, spinach and kale aren’t any harder than lettuce; more tender if anything.

Sorry if I’m coming off as interrogative with this, by the way, I’ve just never heard of this argument before!

[LunaTheHamster1]

Robinisacatto, it's fine It's not an argument, it's just a conversation we are having sharing opinions/points of view. And I am only expressing what I personally would do.

I wasn't saying that the spinach, kale and other green leaves would help with the teeth, they would provide more of a varied diet than lettuce could, especially iceberg lettuce which I would 100% avoid.
The leafy greens would provide vitamins and minerals.

I can't imagine that seeds alone in a hamsters diet would help keep their teeth worn down. I would suggest that harder veggies/walnuts in shells and whimzees would be better for that.

[AmityvilleHams]

It all comes down to nutritional value of some veggies compared to others. Broccoli for example is a bit of a super food with several beneficial nutrients. Of course, I would strongly advise anyone that no single veggie or any other food should make up the entirety of any hamster diet. The best thing you can do is feed numerous veggies over time and once a hamster is able to have daily veggies, then you can plan around the veggies which have been fed and feed those which offer different nutrients!

Seeds alone don't do enough for keeping teeth worn down. They can help if they're in shell, but that help only goes so far! There are extras which can do the job as LunaTheHamster1 has mentioned, like nuts in shell(especially walnut due to the very hard shell, not so much things like in shell monkey nut/peanut which have a pretty thin shell) or Whimzees. If you could find a good source of dandelion root for example, that in moderation can be wonderful for hamsters - and it like Whimzees is often easily accepted unlike many wood chews.