A healthy diet?

[GarnetsSlave]

Hi guys,

I recently decided I wanted to make my own hamster mix. I know that Syrian hamsters need 15-22% protein, 3-6% fat, 7-10% fibre, vitamin A, vitamin D3, Omega 3, Zinc and Calcium. So, I came up with this diet... do you think it would be okay for 1kg of food?

Ingredients:
180g mealworms (for protein)
80g plain cheerios (for vitamin d)
80g sesame seeds (for calcium)
80g flax seeds (for omega 3)
80g wheat germ (for zinc)
90g dried carrots (for vitamin a)
80g rolled oats
80g puffed rice
50g locust beans
100g sunflower seeds
100g golden linseeds (for a shiny coat)

This would be fed as a daily diet as a muesli mix and would be fed alongside the treats Garnet already gets. If this changes your decision, she is a 1.5yr old, 125g Syrian hamster. I don't particularly want to add cat kibble or similar because I want to keep it as natural as possible.

Please reply ASAP - I really need to know! Thanks,

GarnetsSlave x

[HorseyMandz]

You'd have to get it nutritionally analysed proffessionally, we won't be able to tell you on here. How about using a mix like Harry Hamster as a base then adding some of the stuff that's not in there? Just from looking at your mix, it doesn't look very balanced really

[GarnetsSlave]

Thank-you for the reply HorseyMandz, however I already use Harry Hamster and mix in some other ingredients. I am just sick of picking out the pea flakes, corn flakes, peanuts and whole sweetcorn to make it less sugary and fatty. Have you got any ideas of where I could get it analysed?

[racinghamster]

Variety is a good thing, but I still use a commercial mix if I`m honest as I don`t trust myself to get it right as far as nutrition goes. Not so much a balance as I don`t believe in such a thing, but choosing enough ingredients combined for the diet to be nutritional enough without causing any deficiencies.

Cheerios just as one example, is a processed cereal and will contain quite a bit of sugar. Although fortified with vitamins & minerals, I`m not sure those would be the right amounts for a hamster.

Put it this way, they won`t do a great deal of harm, but mixing home-made foods will always be a labour of love and an ongoing fact finding mission for many of us. The Shunamite diet based around rats for example uses a commercial rat or rabbit mix as it`s `base` and then volumes (or cupfulls) of other grains are added to this. So with that principle in mind, a hamster mix could be based around the same findings or similar, but with safe hamster ingredients.

Vitamin D can be a tricky one as it isn`t found in many foods, although the Cheerios will have it added just because it`s added during processing. Sugar is something the body requires to function, but hamsters are not humans so naturally, they wouldn`t eat high amounts of processed sugars.

Just thought I would give some views on this but because I only add a few extras to my Burgess commercial mix, I don`t really know enough about making mixes up to be fully confident commenting on them.

[kyrilliondaemon]

I would be very, very careful... Its easier than I expected to end up with mixes with dangerous levels of things and/or dietary deficiencies.
It might be safer to base it on a commercial hamster mix.

[Tutu]

Hi Garnetsslave,
As everyone suggested here isn't it better to continue with commercial mix? I mean these mixes done by highly trained professionals and being tried and tested prior to putting out for general public. Or you can ask trained animal nutritionist or vet who specialises small mammals to look at your mix. Otherwise I wouldn't risk feeding my hamster with homemade mix just in case. After all these little animals are very tiny and delicate.
Xx

[Kissa]

The Germans successfully make their own hamster mixes all the time, but theirs have 30 odd ingredients and have a lot of thought put into it. Personally I think it is safer to use a commercial mix or two.

Also you don't need to remove ingredients for Syrians, in fact removing it greatly changes the nutritional value of the mix, and is only advised for hybrids and Chinese because it's regarded as less risky than feeding them high sugar foods that might bring on diabetes.

[Eriklover555]

I've been researching a homemade hamster diet for months, sending it to get analyzed and tweaking the mix, but I still haven't perfected it. I would definitely contact a vet who specializes in rodents to give you advice.

As to "highly trained professionals" creating the commercial mixes, I respectfully shall disagree. The majority of these mixes are just guess-and-check affairs until they meet a list of vitamins, minerals, fat, calories, etc, that has been pre-determined. Plus, a majority of the vitamins and minerals are synthetic, which may not be absorbed correctly by mammals.

[Tutu]

If I looked website of Harry hamster makers they might pride themselves " highly trained professionals" perhaps? If you can make your own mix and are confident about it and the most important as long as you don't risk your hamster's health yay for that
Me personally leaving it for " highly trained professionals"