Best way to stop a hamster being picky with their food ?

Lucy · 08-12-2011, 03:10 AM

My Syrian hamster can sometimes be a bit picky with his food. Recently to try and stop this I have been feeding him just once a week. I have been putting in 5 tablespoons of P@H premium museli , 1 table spoon of plain oats , 3 meal worms , 1 teaspoon of P@H nuggets , 2 raisins , a small piece of walnut and one wild berry/carrot drop.
Once a fortnight he gets a markie. 2 times a wk he gets veg.
What ways do you stop your hamsters being picky ?
I have found it's only my Syrian that is the picky one !! Is this common or ?

Lucy · 08-12-2011, 03:51 AM

Just wanted to add that I also feed my robo and Russian once a wk now as well. They get 5 teaspoons of premium p@h museli , 1 teaspoon of plain oats , 1 teaspoon of budgie seed , 3 mealworms , 1 wild berry/carrot drop ( robo only ) and 1 piece of walnut. They get a markie once a month and veg twice a wk.

StarlightSerenity · 08-12-2011, 06:02 AM

Do you mean he is only eating certain things?

Lucy · 08-12-2011, 07:35 AM

Well his alot less picky than when he was on Harry hamster. He got so bored of it and would only eat a tiny bit and just move the rest around. I tried lots of ways to encourage him to eat it but he wasn't having any of it !!
Since being on the p@h food he seems to be eating alot better but he still seems to favour certain bits better than others. He loves the oats I add to his food and really loves the mealworms ! That's why I only give him 3 to encourage him to eat the other stuff. I would say out of the 6-7 tablespoons of food he gets a wk he prob eats around 5 tablespoons of it.

Gillzy · 08-12-2011, 07:43 AM

I'd say cut back on all the treats that he eats a lot of. 3 meal worms is a lot for one week, isn't it (I don't feed mealworms - just read that's the suggested amount *shrug*)? If you just give one a week, he'll need to eat more of the other stuff. And less of the nuggets, raisins etc. Just give what you want him to eat, and the rest as a treat if he's eating it all. I only give Sen 1 or 2 treats a day on top of her Tesco Hamster Mix. And one is usually a tiny piece fruit/veg and the other a few seeds or a peanut or something.

Whatever you want him to eat more of, then feed him just that, and a lot less of the other things. Remember that the hamster mix *should* provide all the nutrients needed, so everything else is just a bonus.

Lucy · 08-12-2011, 07:52 AM

The nuggets are one of the things he always leaves but I added them because I thought they were healthy ?
He loves the mealworms so I don't think I could reduce them but I could skip the raisins , yoghurt drop and the walnut ?
He really loves the oats and these are healthy so I will leave them as well.
So maybe just 6 tablespoons of museli and 1 table spoon of oats and 3 mealworms ?
I sound like such a confused idiot sorry !! I just want to find the right diet plan that is healthy but that he will enjoy and eat.

So maybe

Gillzy · 08-12-2011, 08:25 AM

Tbh, they tend to eat what they need. And balance their own diets. The only time you need to worry is if when you weigh them that they lose or gain weight. If you don't weigh him, maybe that'd be an idea. The only major problem other wise is that you're binning 2 tbsp of food a week - which isn't bad really... in the long scheme of things...

Lucy · 08-12-2011, 10:51 AM

I weigh him every Friday and he seems to be a pretty constant weight. He isant losing any weight but he has always been a slightly ' smaller ' Syrian.
When he was younger I used to give him baby food and weatabix with milk once or twice a wk but his to old for that now yeah ?