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Old 09-07-2014, 11:24 PM   #1
TheHamsterCher
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Default Working out a balanced diet for a syrian

So I feed my hamster oxbow essentials, it was what she was eating before we adopted her and I decided not to change. I give my hamster a few treats a day, usually carrots, bananas and whole wheat bread. Occasionally shredded cheese. I know people sometimes give seed mixtures as well to give variety. I'm really just wondering what people give their hamster on a weekly basis. I know what foods are safe for hamsters but I am curious about how to balance her diet. I've seen recommendations to switch up hamster food and give them variety.

I'm also worried I may not be feeding Cher enough. She's a few months old, how much food should I put in her bowl? I fill it, but it occurred to me that the food bowl I have might be intended for a smaller species of hamster. Her food is always totally gone by morning.

Also, perhaps this belongs in the behavior section - today I saw Cher with her cheeks stuffed with the food from her bowl. I opened up the cage and she spit it all out. Is that normal or did I stress her? She also has a habit of pulling her food bowl across the entrance of her igloo. I am not sure why.

Sorry all of my questions seem rather vague, the challenge of being a new owner I suppose.
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Old 09-08-2014, 12:25 AM   #2
cypher
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Default Re: Working out a balanced diet for a syrian

I'm assuming you're talking about a syrian & I only really know about dwarfs but generally I think it's better to give too much rather than too little at least to begin with then you can figure out how much they are eating vs stashing when you do a cage clean & get a better idea of what's needed.
Dragging the food bowl sounds like she just wants it closer to her nest, either feeling a bit insecure or maybe just lazy lol! quicker & easier to eat or stash that way!
Not sure about spitting food out, maybe she didn't feel she had anywhere safe to stash it right then or she was more interested in what you were doing.... just guessin!
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Old 09-08-2014, 02:45 AM   #3
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Default Re: Working out a balanced diet for a syrian

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I'm assuming you're talking about a syrian & I only really know about dwarfs but generally I think it's better to give too much rather than too little at least to begin with then you can figure out how much they are eating vs stashing when you do a cage clean & get a better idea of what's needed.
Dragging the food bowl sounds like she just wants it closer to her nest, either feeling a bit insecure or maybe just lazy lol! quicker & easier to eat or stash that way!
Not sure about spitting food out, maybe she didn't feel she had anywhere safe to stash it right then or she was more interested in what you were doing.... just guessin!
Yep, she's a syrian. She doesn't seem to stash too much of it or if she does it's all nibbled up by the time I clean out the cage. I'm not sure if the food spitting thing is actually bad, but it's the only time I've ever seen her do it so I wasn't sure what it meant.
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Old 09-08-2014, 03:11 AM   #4
kyrilliondaemon
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Default Re: Working out a balanced diet for a syrian

If she's eating all of it and definetly not storing any then I'd feed her more.

On a weekly basis all our hams get the same - their basic diet and the odd extra treat or two. We do feed most a hamster mix to increase variety but even those on pellets only get a few extras a week (including their fruit or veg)
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Old 09-08-2014, 03:46 AM   #5
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Default Re: Working out a balanced diet for a syrian

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Originally Posted by kyrilliondaemon View Post
If she's eating all of it and definetly not storing any then I'd feed her more.

On a weekly basis all our hams get the same - their basic diet and the odd extra treat or two. We do feed most a hamster mix to increase variety but even those on pellets only get a few extras a week (including their fruit or veg)
Thanks, I'll be giving her more. Should I ease up on treats? I've been giving her snacks like bread pieces or carrot bits every day.
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Old 09-08-2014, 05:37 AM   #6
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Default Re: Working out a balanced diet for a syrian

I think everyone has a different opinion on that. I feel that treats fed too often become so normal they're not really much more special than anything in the mix itself and they could just unbalance the diet so I don't feed treats daily and vary what treats I do give. Others give mealworms daily yet regard them as still a treat and personally I don't really get that - if we fed a treat daily our pets'd see it more often than some of the ingredients in their proper mix. I prefer my hams to get as balanced a diet as possible so treats really are extras that they get less often instead
That said - our mix contains loads that our pets love so a few things many would use as treats are just part of the regular diet most of the time (like mealworms, they're in our mix but we give a few extras once in a while as treats too because the hams really enjoy them). Most of our treats aren't in the food mix though (like linseed, dari, cat kibble, coconut, eggbiscuit...)
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Old 09-08-2014, 07:54 AM   #7
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Default Re: Working out a balanced diet for a syrian

Well my two dwarfs who share a cage get one tablespoon of hamster muesli on a morning (they tend to come out during the day so I like to make sure that there's new food there for them) and one on a night. I alternate their fresh food, so one day they might get a small amount of carrot (I chop off one slice then dice it up really small for them so they really don't get much) for example then the next day they get a mealworm, possibly two each depending on the size of them, then the day after they get fresh vegetables and so on and so forth. I sometimes hide pumpkin or sunflower seeds around their cage (A couple of times a week perhaps) and sometimes I give them hamster treats (although this isn't very often as they're quite fussy about their hamster treats). Hope this helps
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Old 09-08-2014, 08:24 AM   #8
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Default Re: Working out a balanced diet for a syrian

The general rule of thumb for a syrian is 1 tablespoon of food per day. Then monitor their eating and adjust accordingly: if they eat all the food and store none, give more, if they seem to be storing enough food for the apocalypse, feed less.

My syrian was originally on oxbow only, but I've since adjusted her diet. I started giving her a little sprinkle of seed mix to add a little variety, and when it became clear how much she enjoyed foraging for the choice bits before eating the rest, I decided to start giving her a mixture of foods, especially since I was finally able to find Hazel Hamster in a nearby store, which has more protein than oxbow. Right now her daily diet is...

10 oxbow pellets (roughly a teaspoon)
1 teaspoon Hazel Hamster
1 teaspoon Higgins Sunburst

As for treats, she gets about 2 chicken-flavored feline greenies a week, and then I stagger other treats randomly, and she'll get two or three a week. Yogurt drops, hamster cookies, peanuts, and dried papaya are all favorites. I'm a little more liberal with Gerber cereal puffs, as they have lots of vitamins and very little sugar, and she loves them I also have an oat spray in her cage most if the time, which she munches on periodically, and sometimes an inch or two of millet spray, but she's not too fussed with millet.

Hope you find this info usefull ^_^
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Old 09-08-2014, 12:23 PM   #9
Skeever
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Default Re: Working out a balanced diet for a syrian

My hams usually pouch when they want to save it and often scurry back to hide it. When they are out , or being interacted with, they tend to just drop what they pouched, rather than carry it around for who knows how long....

Having said that, I'm sure they are guilty of carrying stashes now and then I'm not aware of
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Old 09-08-2014, 01:44 PM   #10
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Default Re: Working out a balanced diet for a syrian

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When they are out , or being interacted with, they tend to just drop what they pouched, rather than carry it around for who knows how long....
Oh god I remember the two Russians I had when I was younger used to do this all the time! I'd pick them up to play with them and they'd spit out loads of food onto my lap .
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