Picking things out of food

[StarlightSerenity]

Originally Posted by racinghamster

Removing `certain` things is only important if you have one of the dwarf varieties that are prone to diabetes. Since this tends to manifest while the hamster is young (i.e, under a year old) it`s important to begin this routine early on. Corn/flaked maize and banana chips are two of the main ingredients that need removing from many hamster mixes purely because they have `natural sugars` in them. With other things like large peanuts, sunflower seeds/pumpkin seeds, well they are beneficial, but also high in fat, so again, need to be fed as moderate treats, rather than a daily portion.

I agree about the alfalfa. It`s not wise to remove this because even if the hamsters don`t tend to eat it, it`s best to keep some in the feed because it is fibre and not harmful. They just don`t care to eat much of it!

Aren't you worried about not providing enough fat? Unless you know the right amount of fat they should consume I wouldnt risk removing them to be quite honest.

[racinghamster]

I suppose that depends on the hamster and whether it`s already a good body weight? I still feed peanuts (but I feed human grade monkey-nuts in their shells), sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds daily, but my little chinese hamster has them as hand-fed treats rather than placed in her food dish. My syrian gets his fare share aswell, so they are not ommited altogether.

[StarlightSerenity]

Originally Posted by racinghamster

I suppose that depends on the hamster and whether it`s already a good body weight? I still feed peanuts (but I feed human grade monkey-nuts in their shells), sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds daily, but my little chinese hamster has them as hand-fed treats rather than placed in her food dish. My syrian gets his fare share aswell, so they are not ommited altogether.

It does depend on the body weight but not that its "already a good body weight", to maintain good health they will need the correct amount of fat.

You've kind of proved my point though - you dont actually know for certain how much your hamster needs and by regulating it you may not be providing enough. I have no idea how much is enough so I dont take anything out at all as I dont want to risk an unbalanced diet.

Not critising or anything Just pointing out a potential problem

[racinghamster]

I totally agree. You do need to know what you are doing and not be reducing each element of a diet. I see things like peanuts as high in fat for example, so weighing up how many peanuts a hamster should have each day or week is`nt easy but looking at one bag of food mix, there are probably around enough peanuts in there to last the whole duration of the bag, so if the bag of food is to last six months for example, the number of peanuts inside could be consumed well before this date, so picking them out and allowing the hamster one of two peanuts solely from that mix over a period of time is probably staying within those guidelines, without adding in more peanuts from another source.

[StarlightSerenity]

Originally Posted by racinghamster

I totally agree. You do need to know what you are doing and not be reducing each element of a diet. I see things like peanuts as high in fat for example, so weighing up how many peanuts a hamster should have each day or week is`nt easy but looking at one bag of food mix, there are probably around enough peanuts in there to last the whole duration of the bag, so if the bag of food is to last six months for example, the number of peanuts inside could be consumed well before this date, so picking them out and allowing the hamster one of two peanuts solely from that mix over a period of time is probably staying within those guidelines, without adding in more peanuts from another source.

That makes sense, essentially then you arent actually altering the diet, merely ensuring that the high in fat items are consumed over a period of time rather than in one go

[racinghamster]

What I do is, for every peanut I remove from the mix, I replace it with a human grade monkey nut and give the other peanuts to the wild birds.

You don`t need to do this, it`s just that I bought a large bag of natural peanuts from Tesco for Boris (syrian) to give him the shell to nibble on!

[StarlightSerenity]

Originally Posted by racinghamster

What I do is, for every peanut I remove from the mix, I replace it with a human grade monkey nut and give the other peanuts to the wild birds.

You don`t need to do this, it`s just that I bought a large bag of natural peanuts from Tesco for Boris (syrian) to give him the shell to nibble on!

I did the same thing - got the big bag of monkey nuts from tescos lol.

[MzWiz0915]

I use Kaytee brand Pro-Health Forti-Diet for my hams. I don't pick any of the pieces out. The only component I could see someone objecting to is the corn, but I find that this is a small propartion of the mix and my hams really enjoy it. I can't seem to find the article I read with explanations for what hamster food mixes should contain (% of crude fiber, protein, moisture, carbohydrates) but I chose this food because based on my research when I got my first ham it is very well balanced. It was also recommended by my vet.

Each of my hams has their favorite pieces from the mix, but generally they eat all of the components. I supplement their diet with multivitamin supplement, probiotics, fruits/veggies, seeds, oats, mealworms, crickets and other food items throughout the week so I'm really not concerned with their nutritional balance. I am very picky about what treats I will and wont feed my hams, all their food is healthy food

(usually they end up eating whatever I'm eating: nibbling on my apple, chomping on my veggie sticks, stealing a little piece of cheese etc.)