Oxbow or Hazel Hamster?

[Silver]

OK

Firstly you are coming over very cross & rude, not all to me but some of it. To find out answers to your questions it would be better coming from a calm quizzical mind than a angry cross one, catch more fly's with honey.

I like you was fed up with what was on the market & thought why can't they be fed a better diet not with added food colourings & those dam grass pellet's they don't eat.

So I for myself, no one else for my hams I started researching in the U.K, Germany mainly because they had the most information & written papers that with the help of google translate helped me find what % were the best for hams out of all the data I could find. There was no conclusive in actual fact hardly any information that I could find on what vitamins & minerals are best for hams. The consensus was that if fed a varied diet of seeds/grains/nuts/mealworms/egg/pulses that they actually eat with no added colouring or processed biscuit bits then that is the best diet you can give your ham.

So I then had to work my way through what seeds/grains/nuts/pulses/fish/mealworms they can have & what they actually would eat which were two very different things & lots of time testing different ingredients on my then three ham.

After all of that I found a company that has the analysis of lots of different ingredients who could tell me what my mix % was. This needed tweaking lots of times to get the % correct just taking 1g out of one thing & adding 1g of something else made the mix balance.

I then started to feed my hams on my mix's which the thrived on, I had at the time a Hybrid, & two pure WW's. My Hybrid passed from old age at 2 years 3 months after being on my mix from 5 months old. One of my pure WW's was fed on my mix's from 3 months old & he passed at 2 years 3 months also. I have the other WW still with me she was put on my mix's from 3 months & she is 2 years 8 months old & in the last two week's has started to become old & wobbly. I now have a pure C who I had at 5 & a half weeks old which I am also feeding my mix she is now 19 weeks old & doing great.

The reason why adding bits of this & bits of that does not give a good diet is because you are right, taking out the corn & peas changes the % but also adding things does too.

The best advice I could give you would be to feed both oxbro & Hazel Hamster with the corn & peas taken out for diabetes prone hams & add some mealworms to make up for the protein. Is this correct no, but until more manufacturer's come up with food like mine or I can find a company that will make it out there for you then it wont change.

I think I have covered all of your questions if not let me know

Silver xxx

[HollyHamster]

Well said, Silver!!

[Sable-Shepherd]

So you're telling me that GMO ingredients which are just bad in general since it's not real food and we have no idea the possible long term effects of it, BHT which is a chemical known to cause tumors/cancer, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (synthetic vitamin K) which can damage the liver, damage the natural cycle of vitamin K, is toxic in general, can cause anemia, ect, and a variety of dyes which are known to cause health and behavioral problems...Aren't crap? That they are good for your hamster to be eating day after day? ...Then pay for vet bills because they're sick or have tumors all over them?? But no...No possible way they could be from the food, right? Lets feed it to the next one anyways. Sorry, I'm claustrophobic, to be stuck inside a small box just doesn't work for me. I like being free to try new things. If we don't try new things out then how are we suppose to advance on our pets diets for a better life? Are you happy just settling with chemical laced food from the pet store because the animal "survives" on it? Would you prefer a Big Mac and french fries or a homemade diet of baked chicken breast from free ranged, non-steroid/hormone injected chickens, collard greens, black eyed peas, real mashed potatoes and of course some delicious deviled eggs from those healthy chickens? Which do you think will be better for your health?

[HollyHamster]

I would prefer if you lost the attitude.

Silver answered your question and then some. Please take her advice as she is very knowledgeable in this subject matter. If you don't like what she says, then go complain to yourself and not to us. We don't need the drama.

[Sable-Shepherd]

Originally Posted by Silver

OK

Firstly you are coming over very cross & rude, not all to me but some of it. To find out answers to your questions it would be better coming from a calm quizzical mind than a angry cross one, catch more fly's with honey.

I like you was fed up with what was on the market & thought why can't they be fed a better diet not with added food colourings & those dam grass pellet's they don't eat.

So I for myself, no one else for my hams I started researching in the U.K, Germany mainly because they had the most information & written papers that with the help of google translate helped me find what % were the best for hams out of all the data I could find. There was no conclusive in actual fact hardly any information that I could find on what vitamins & minerals are best for hams. The consensus was that if fed a varied diet of seeds/grains/nuts/mealworms/egg/pulses that they actually eat with no added colouring or processed biscuit bits then that is the best diet you can give your ham.

So I then had to work my way through what seeds/grains/nuts/pulses/fish/mealworms they can have & what they actually would eat which were two very different things & lots of time testing different ingredients on my then three ham.

After all of that I found a company that has the analysis of lots of different ingredients who could tell me what my mix % was. This needed tweaking lots of times to get the % correct just taking 1g out of one thing & adding 1g of something else made the mix balance.

I then started to feed my hams on my mix's which the thrived on, I had at the time a Hybrid, & two pure WW's. My Hybrid passed from old age at 2 years 3 months after being on my mix from 5 months old. One of my pure WW's was fed on my mix's from 3 months old & he passed at 2 years 3 months also. I have the other WW still with me she was put on my mix's from 3 months & she is 2 years 8 months old & in the last two week's has started to become old & wobbly. I now have a pure C who I had at 5 & a half weeks old which I am also feeding my mix she is now 19 weeks old & doing great.

The reason why adding bits of this & bits of that does not give a good diet is because you are right, taking out the corn & peas changes the % but also adding things does too.

The best advice I could give you would be to feed both oxbro & Hazel Hamster with the corn & peas taken out for diabetes prone hams & add some mealworms to make up for the protein. Is this correct no, but until more manufacturer's come up with food like mine or I can find a company that will make it out there for you then it wont change.

I think I have covered all of your questions if not let me know

Silver xxx

As I said, I wasn't trying to be rude. You gave excellent answers. But if you can do this, why can't I too? I have access to nutritional data and have no problem working trial and error on my own pet. I have had plans to get more too who can be test subjects, no problem. But when I'm told by people that I CAN'T do it, that makes no sense to me. All pet store foods are is a mix of ingredients, why can't I make a mix of ingredients to figure out what is going to be the best protein/fat/fiber/sugar for my hamster and have it do ok?

[Sable-Shepherd]

Ok, then no attitude, why are those ingredients ok to be in Hazel Hamster or any animals food? Studies on these ingredients are done on small animals like hamsters, why should I ignore the results?

[Sable-Shepherd]

I'm asking honest questions, if someone has a logical answer for why it's ok in the food then I'll be willing to learn more. An eased mind certainly wouldn't do any harm but I'll tell ya, I've got a lot of fear of these ingredients and the issues with GMO foods due to my research.

[HollyHamster]

I have been feeding Hazel Hamster and my hamsters have never been healthier. Their coats are softer, and even shinier than when I brought them home from the pet store. I go by what I see in my hamsters. Not by what a bunch of overpaid people who torture animals for a living do.

[Silver]

You can,

When I told a certain group of people what I was planning to do they were horrified!, oh no it can not be done.

I was told that you can not feed a hamster enough fiber without the grass pellets it's just not doable full stop even though the pellets were not being touched, that you need to leave them in the food because they regulate them self's as to if they need to eat fiber they will eat them. In my opinion that did not sound right to me, they don't eat something because they don't like it not because they think they have eaten enough fiber.

In my own research I found out that the pellets are too solid a fiber for there tummy's to digest it goes round & round for a long time before it is digested & if something was in my tummy like that I would have a tummy ache in my opinion lol

So I quietly went away for a year & this was a year almost solidly doing my research because I am housebound spend a lot of time on the net anyway I decided to dedicate this time to trying to find things the hams would eat.

I found the mix's then you have to find someone to make & sell it. That was/is not easy I can tell you either as company's will only make 25,000 bags in one go nothing less!. So mine are being sold on the net with no profits coming to me what so ever as this at the moment is the only way I can get the mix's out there.

Then it was telling people that they can try the mix's, get peoples head's around the mix being very different from whats for sale at the moment.

What you need to do is some dedicated research, finding the analysis of each ingredient & make the mix's as varied as you can.

All the energy you are using being cross about this problem is wasted because it makes no difference if you are cross nothing will change unless people start making better food, getting the word out about it & people voting with there feet & stop buying the commercial mix's & buy the better food

Silver xxx

[Silver]

Originally Posted by Sable-Shepherd

Ok, then no attitude, why are those ingredients ok to be in Hazel Hamster or any animals food? Studies on these ingredients are done on small animals like hamsters, why should I ignore the results?

They may be, they may not be. The only way you will find the answers to this is if you do the research & find the answres for yourself

Silver xxx