Chinese hammy food

[Kiki_3173]

Can Chinese hamsters eat Harlan Teklad 2018 block food?

[racinghamster]

Hi Kiki, I`m not familiar with this food so hopefully a US member can answer your question. Chinese hamsters benefit from small seeds in their diet like Canary seed mix and millet spray.

Block food sounds a bit like lab blocks? I`m not too sure what`s actually in these in terms of sugars or anything that may not suit a diabetic prone species. A good hamster mix as a base is better for variety but the only one that springs to mind that is widely used in the US is Hazel Hamster (Harry Hamster here in the UK). Although the extruded biscuits in this mix benefit from being broken up into smaller pieces as they are made for Syrian hamsters. Unless the size ot the recipe has changed since I last used it?

[frostberry]

My Chinese have always eaten Carefresh Hamster Complete diet. It has a wide variety of seeds and pellets and corn. After going back and forth on the issue, I leave the corn in, despite their tendency to diabetes, I have not had any trouble and I think it is good for the skin.
Mine have loved moving the food mix around their cage in their pouches. It is hard to see how much food they need when they store it all over the cage, so maybe you could get them a scoop of seed mix each day (and sweep up the old twice a week), and then have a block as emergency food to make sure Pippa has enough?
Frosty takes all her food except the big pellets out of her dish right away. When I see the big pellets start to disappear I know it's time to add more food. Even though I sweep away a bunch of old food, it is no longer clean and she has eaten her favorite parts out. But really, I think moving her food around is one of Frosty great joys in life

[WendyAnne]

Hmmm...I've never heard of that food before....My Princess Snowflake seems to love her Hazel Hamster food mixed with a little bit of Oxbow Essentials (broken up a bit).

[Kiki_3173]

Thanks WendyAnne, I've tried some of the Harry Hamster and I put a few of the blocks into her cage too & it seem she does really like the Harry Hamster. I'm going to continue using that since she likes it so much

[racinghamster]

Glad you found an answer Kiki. If the HH mix has any large pieces in it that she doesn`t eat, try using a pestle & mortar to give them a `tap` and break these up. I find they get eaten if they are broken up smaller.