Need some hamster diet advice :)

[Vectis Hamstery]

Knotty, I use Burgess dwarf supahamster as a base for my mix, having changed from Harry Hamster as my dwarf hams seem to prefer the Burgess (and since I have so few Syrians they get less of a say!). Adding extra millet and mealies to it sound good for dwarfies. I personally am not a fan of picking things out of mixes and am less convinced about the perceived perils of corn and pea flakes, but as Souff mentions, hamster diet is something that each owner needs to make their own decisions on and feed what they feel is appropriate. For example, my mix is very straights heavy in the end so I supplement with vitamins and have done since I started using it.

[HorseyMandz]

Sorry everyone! I wasn't present on the forum during the period of the serious incident and was unaware of just how bad it was! I thought it was just one of these temporary things that do occasionally kick off here because we all love our babies so much I apologise for any upset I may have caused through my ignorance Thank you Kyrilliondaemon and Lougarry for making me aware of the implications of what I said ! I feel absolutely awful now!

[Knotty]

I do hope this thread has not caused any trouble, all I need to know is that their diet is suitable.
It suddenly occurred to me yesterday that the hams were all getting low on their food mixes, after improvising and using some mix we had spare that Tristar gave us when we got Puddles.


Thanks for all the great replies

[souffle]

Don't worry knotty. Your diets sound almost exactly what I feed and have fed for many years and am happy with for my hamsters who have lived long and happy, healthy lives so I'd say they are just fine

[Lougarry]

It's not your fault at all, HorseyMandz, don't feel bad. Because of the rules about discussing individual foods on the forum there are a lot of people who didn't know xxx

I agree with what Vectis said about it being owners' responsibility to decide what to feed but it's tricky as there is little reliable research on hamster diet, compounded by misinformation about 'optimal percentages'.

Knotty, your choices seem sensible to me. Personally I am not relying on one mix as I feel that variety will protect my hamsters against deficiencies in any one mix. At the moment I am mixing Pets at Home Healthy Balance (as the Premium mix has been discontinued ), Harry Hamster, Burgess and JR Farms, but at least 50% of my hams' intake is now fresh food and extras and they seem happy and healthy on it.

[NotsoLittleOlive]

That's basically what I'm feeding now.
I can recommend the JR dwarf mix - mine love it. But my WW is allergic to fish so I've had to switch him to burgess dwarf which is definitely one of the better dwarf mixes. I think he was a bit annoyed at the lack of variety compared to the JR mix, so he gets extra bits and bobs to keep him happy
Also I don't pick out all the peas ... They're really quite good for them so I leave a few in.

[Knotty]

So it is okay to leave a few peas and corn in??
I tend to find Kolah does eat them when I miss them whilst picking them out, she never has many though.

[souffle]

I have never picked anything out my mixes ever knotty and neither has any breeder I know. That is my personal decision. I believe that my hamsters instinctively eat a balanced diet and should they develop any illness I would of course course adjust the diet if I though it would help however I don't personally feel that adjusting a diet would work as a preventative measure that would stop an animal getting diabetes for example. That is my personal opinion anyway.

[Lougarry]

I don't pick anything out of my Chinese's Burgess dwarf mix, but I do add Trill to it so it's less 'concentrated' as it were.

[Lougarry]

Originally Posted by souffle

I have never picked anything out my mixes ever knotty and neither has any breeder I know. That is my personal decision. I believe that my hamsters instinctively eat a balanced diet

I agree with this. I used to omit anything slightly sugary from Chi's fresh foods but I've recently given him blueberry and sweetcorn and he just leaves them. Clever little chap