Am I overdoing it on the treats?

TwistedAngel · 12-10-2012, 11:56 PM

I am feeding Oxbow as Ever's primary food. I was going to use Hazel Hamster for variety but she does not really eat it, so its just kind of sitting there. To make up for the protein, I am feeding ever 2-4 mealworms and 3-5 crickets daily, along with a small pinch of a treat mix that contains pearled barley, steel cut oats, niger seed, flax seed, rape seed, sesame seed, red millet, small yellow millet, hemp seed, and anise seed.

She eats the dried insects and treats immediately sometimes, and sometimes she dumps her pouches out into her food bowl with the oxbow (I guess its her stash), except for the mealworms. Those are always eaten right away.

Am I overdoing it on the treats?

**kyrilliondaemon** · 12-11-2012, 03:43 PM

I think so. If you want her to eat her mix you need to cut out most of the treats.

I'd probably give her no treats for a week or so, then just give 1 treat a day once she's used to eating her mix.

shiny · 12-11-2012, 04:03 PM

That's a lot of extra protein & treats on top of a mix, no wonder she's only eating bits of it. I agree to cut back a bit would be a good idea, the mix should be giving a good balanced diet so if you make it too protein-heavy then you lose the balance.

We feed a mix (Silver's mix but I know you can't get that in the US) with a couple of really teeny tiny bits of fresh veg daily and the odd extra pumpkin seed, monkey nut, tiny piece of cooked chicken or egg maybe once a week or once a fortnight. We put up millet spray too sometimes, only one of our Syrians seems really much interested in this.

If you feed the treats too often then they won't be special or treaty!

Let us know how it goes

TwistedAngel · 12-11-2012, 04:13 PM

Will do. I have been adding so many insects because the oxbow protein is only 15% and I know she needs 19%. The hazel hamster was supposed to be for variety, (the oxbow is a block and she eats that just fine) but once I take out the corn and peas, she eats the little seeds and the peanuts and nothing else, which is why I got the treat mix for variety.

If I cut the seed mix to every once and a while, how many crickets (high protein and low fat) and mealworms (slightly lower protein and much higher fat) should she get daily for boost her protein intake with the oxbow? Should I try to force her to eat the hazel hamster when she is eating the oxbow well?

shiny · 12-11-2012, 04:20 PM

I hope Silver will be along to help about the extra protein, I can see why you're adding extra protein if you want to increase the protein % that's in her mix but I wouldn't be sure how much protein is in an individual cricket! I don't think you can really force her to eat anything, if she has loads of food she'll just stash & eat the things she likes best!

Biscotti · 12-11-2012, 08:59 PM

Crickets are high protein but low in fat, so I would be inclined to say you can give her one or two everyday as protein supplement depending on how big they are. Mealworms are high fat (that's why the hams love them

), so should be given as occasional treat, a few over a week will be fine. The treat seed mix contain a lot of oily seeds that are high in fat (niger, sesame, flax, and I think also hemp) so feed sparingly, maybe alternate between this and the mealworms.

You can try millet sprays as treats as they're very healthy and most hams love them. That way you wouldn't have to feel like you're holding back in spoiling your hammy.