corn peas and carrots oh my!

[Hopefullygettingahamster]

I was wondering, so I just got my first hammie from petco, he's a dwarf hybrid and I was just wanting to double check if the food I got is ok. I got carefresh complete menu. Ik dwarfs are prone to diabetes and I heard that you should pick out the corn and peas from the food. Should I pick it all out? Also would a tiny sliver of carrot be bad?

[NiceCrocs]

I'd be more concerned about the fact that carefresh complete has cane molasses in it, than the corn, peas and carrots. I'd suggest switching to a food like oxbow or hazel hamster. If you use a food that has corn, peas, and carrots in it, don't remove them as it will unbalance the nutrition, but make sure not to give more than a couple pieces of them per feeding.

[Hopefullygettingahamster]

Thanks! I totally forgot to check for molasses! XP bad hammie mom! I'll check for those brands asap! Don't want my little toothless to be... Well... Toothless! XD (or with diabetes)

[Bailey93]

Petco doesn't sell Harry Hazel Hamster in store where I live, but they sell it online. It's also on Amazon and elsewhere online. I also feed Harlan Teklad 2018 (The Crafty Rat). Oxbow Essentials is also on Amazon and a few other places online.

I pick out the peas and corn from Harry Hazel Hamster and add a few things in too for my dwarf.

[Furkies]

Corns in hamsters food are different from the ones we eat, those are field corns and are low in sugar actually, same goes for the peas in their diet and it'll unbalance their mix to remove them.

You can head to Hamster Hideout forum for a write up about it.

Quote:

MYTH - Corn and peas are non-nutritious sugary fillers and need to be removed from commercial mixes.
FACT - These ingredients should not be removed for various reasons.

Above, we detailed why sugar isn't inherently bad, so that alone should be enough to debunk this myth. However, in a way, this issue is not even relevant to corn and peas. The corn and peas found in hamster mixes contain virtually no sugar at all. The reason they were assumed to contain sugar is because of incorrect assumptions about what they actually are.

The dried corn in hamster food is not quite the same as the sweetcorn that we eat. It’s the same plant, yes, but it’s at a different stage of development. The corn in hamster mixes is known as field corn, and is mostly starch, as opposed to sugar. It's not sweet at all, and would actually taste really icky to us.

Peas are a similar situation. The peas in hamster food are not the sweet peas or snow peas that many are familiar with. They are actually split peas or green peas. These are an entirely different variety, and have very little sugar in them.

Also, we have to keep in mind that commercial mixes are designed to be fed as a whole. Once you start removing ingredients, you alter the overall nutrition of the mix. Let's take the peas as an example. Peas are an excellent source of protein (among other things, but we'll focus on the protein for simplicity). If you remove peas, you lower the protein content of the mix substantially. If you have a mix that's 18% protein and you start removing peas from it, it's going to end up with less than 18% protein.

Corn also serves and important purpose. It's in the mix to keep it balanced. Removing the corn results in a mix that is too rich, because it increases the proportions of the other ingredients.

Taxonomist - Hamster Hideout.

[NiceCrocs]

@Furkies- Those are all good points, and Taxonomist knows her stuff, I'm familiar with her. But I think it's important to know that this shouldn't be a free pass to feed diabetes-prone species tons of corn and peas.

It's true that the peas and com in hamster food doesn't have nearly as much natural sugars in its normal form as the human-consumption-versions, but they are still starches. Starches contain carbohydrates, which break down into sugars in the small intestine. Too much of this can result in blood sugar spikes surprisingly easily, particularly in critters as small as hamsters.

It's for exactly this reason that diabetic humans, for example, can't just cut sweets out of their diet. They have to be careful about bread and pasta and other starches, like potatoes and peas and corn, because of the carbohydrates.

So yes, cutting out peas and corn would unbalance the nutrition of the mix, but for hybrids and other prone species, they should be carefully monitored.

[Furkies]

Cutting out is on the extreme side. Yes you can always give a piece or 2 or 3, even if the hamsters are diabetic, to keep the diet balanced and like you stated, cutting out sugar totally isn't ideal neither. They still need what are in the mix.