Best dry food?

[CheezyB]

We are getting prepared for our syrian (he's currently only 2-3 weeks old).

What dry food is best? We have two bunnies and feed them the Excel feeding program, and I've seen Burgess do a hamster one - is it any good?

Also, can hamsters have:

Fenugreek crunchies
dried herbs - rosewood naturals dandelion delight, herbal garden
Apple sticks
Pineapple and papaya melange
Burgess dandelion rolls

These are all things we already buy for our bunnies

[Tutu]

My Syrian has 50/50 mix of Harry hamster and burgess hamster dry food. I read here lots of people give their hammy Harry hamster. But my Syrian doesn't eat big bits of Harry hamster so I give mix just in case she was missing out.
I give my hammy apple sticks and burgess dandelion roll and dried herbs. First two she sort of nibbles dried herbs she ignores totally. But your hammy might like it though.
Oh and your brand new hammy should come along his/hers food she is eating at the moment and you suppose to introduce new food slowly. Check his/her traveling suitcase if she packed her food along with other belongings hehehe
Good luck

[kyrilliondaemon]

There are a lot of good hamster mixes out there... We mix harry hamster, jr farm hamster and jr farm dwarf for the syrians.
Other mixes we use/include in food are burgess dwarf and science selective.

I don't know for sure about most treats but apple sticks will probably be fine in moderation.

[CheezyB]

I'll check with the rescue what they feed him at the moment

Do you all feed baby food and chicken etc? whats the best diet for him?

My bunnies get brocoli and curly kale (tiny amounts every day) - are they safe for hammies?

[kyrilliondaemon]

We feed baby food once every few months as a treat. We also feed chicken if we have a reason to have it in for the hams (e.g when Scamp was on meds we gave chicken as a treat afterwards for a few days).

The best diet is a debatable topic. Its a matter of finding a well respected food and choosing to feed it, or mixing multiple foods and feeding those. All personal opinion really. Harry hamster is something to do with the NHC (national hamster council) if that helps though?

Broccoli is great for hams, not sure about kale to be honest.

[Aimes]

It may be worth just asking the rescue for one weeks supply of food, that way you can slowly change the food without having to buy a full bag!

I don't feed baby food or chicken, I think its personal choice.

I know that brocoli should be ok. There is a list of safe foods on hamster central - best to check with this! Also saving having to ask

[Tutu]

If you look up there are loads of treads about baby food and veggies etc in the past. I think that'll be the best info for you as everyone seems to have different opinions!
I personally give my Syrian tiny amount ( like 1tsp) of veg, fruit or herbs daily and she loves it. Her absolute favourite is basil leaf but she has parsley, dill and mint leaves and carrot, broccoli, grape, apple, blueberry, banana, avacado, Romani lettuce, cooked garden pea, sweet corn... I'm sure I'm forgetting some of the vegs. Also she has once a week 1tsp of Hipps organic breakfast porridge which baby food comes in jar. Also loads of hammy treats and some dog bonio and dog chews.
I'm sure I go over board about extra treats but hey hamsters lives are short and they spent it in limited small space we provide. So my thought is if I can make her food little interesting at least she experienced some sort of life
That is said as long as you don't over feed your hammy and end up with very fat one not only shorten their lives too!

[Tutu]

Oh I forget to mention dried mealworms my hammy loves them too but you not suppose to give them more than 2 or 3 per week. And here I came across some video tread of little hammy eating pasta and loving it

[Bekki2308]

The burgess syrian hamster food is a good higher (in comparison to some others) protein mix that would be ideal for your hamster IMHO. Harry Hamster, though boring, is what the NHC reccomend for hamsters (breeding hams and babies need higher protein).

You can mix the Harry and Burgess together for a more varied mix if you like and it is still a balanced mix for a young hamster IMHO. Other foods to consider are JR farm dwarf (the syrian one is very low protein, fibre and fat IMHO so for a young hamster I would not use it, for an elderly ham though I would), Versele laga hamster crispy (well varied mix but quite fatty but shouldnt be an issue for a young ham), Supreme science selective (pellets, mixed with a muesli it can work well, none of mine will touch them) and there are other mixes out there too.

[LavoChain]

Alongside the good advice above I'd like to add that Fenugreek is used often in diabetic hamsters as it's very good for decreasing sugar levels, if you feed it to a non diabetic hamster make sure it is very sparingly, I personally avoid it all together in my non-diabetes prone hamsters.