Changing hamsters diet?

Scrubby · 04-06-2015, 09:28 AM

I currently feed my hamsters just Harry Hamster with a few pieces of fruit/veg every few days.
I'm looking at changing their diet to a better one.
If I mix Supreme Science Selective Hamster with Burgess Supa Hamster and Harry Hamster as a base, would that be okay?
Also I wouldn't know quantities or anything, any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

velma · 04-07-2015, 01:44 AM

I'm not sure about mixing foods together. I just use Harry hamster for my Syrian but I know people on here do mix. Is the supreme selective the one that's just pellets? I keep seeing that & wondering if it's worth adding so I'll be intrigued to say what others have to say

Willow Wisp · 04-07-2015, 02:11 AM

Harry Hamster is a complete and fully balanced food so you shouldn't need to add any other prepared foods to it.
One of my Syrians, (Hazel), is so worrying though because she really doesn't eat much at all. I have always fed Harry Hamster, along with fresh veg, sprouted seeds, nuts, mealworms etc etc to all 3 of my girls but Hazel doesn't seem interested in much of it at all and she doesn't stash food either, her nest is completely empty so I know exactly what she eats by what's missing from her bowls.
I tried adding different hamster foods to her Harry Hamster mix, nothing worked, and then the Supreme Science arrived in the post, (I can't buy it locally so had to get it online, and yes Velma it is pellets, they are sort of heart shaped lol). Anyway Hazel has decided she likes the SS pellets, she still doesn't eat many of them, some nights she will eat one or two and other nights she will eat two or three, but she's eating them, so yeah I would say SS may be a good addition

cypher · 04-07-2015, 04:03 AM

Those are all complete foods so it wouldn't do any harm to mix them for a bit of variety or you could try alternating them, that's what I do with my hams, using a few different complete mixes so they don't get bored with the same mix each day.

racinghamster · 04-07-2015, 08:31 AM

I used Harry Hamster mix when I had my Syrian Boris. He ate it, but wasn`t clearing it and got bored with it. I also thought that it was all large biscuits and corn and not much else. So I chopped and changed a bit using Burgess Supahamster and Tesco`s own brand hamster mix (black bag). I also bought a bag of the WAGG hamster/gerbil/mouse mix once from Asda and it`s went down okay. I now have a russian hybrid, so I use Burgess Supahamster (not the dwarf version funnily enough) because I also use JR Farm dwarf mix supplemented. The JR Farm food is not really what you would call a `complete` food, but it does contain canary seeds, shrimp, mung beans and other bits and pieces like chopped peanuts. So Chubs scoffs it!

I also bought a bag of the Supreme science selective. These are not pellets, but heart-shaped biscuits and smell very much like gravy! I place one in my pestle & mortar, give it a light `tap` to break it into smaller pieces and add this to his daily food. These biscuits do come into their own when a hamster is old or ill as they can be softened in water and mixed with other foods like baby food, so being a complete food, science selective are really good.

Changing dry foods isn`t the same as adding fresh foods for the first time. It`s advised to add in new food slowly over a week and that is good advice, but given most dry mixes have much the same ingredients and balance, they don`t really cause upset, especially if added a bit at a time to the existing food. I`ve never had any problems adding or changing dry foods and I would have noticed any changes in faeces or weight gain/loss. None ever occurred. x

**kyrilliondaemon** · 04-07-2015, 10:20 AM

I've heard a lot of people with reasons to dislike certain hamster foods (or to suspect them to be responsible for health issues in their pets), my own experiences with a well known company and one of their foods has left me mistrusting most "complete" diets to be honest.

Due to all of that I think mixing mixes is a brilliant idea, we mix quite a few complete mixes together for our hams and its working really well so far. My theory is that if there is a minor deficiency in one mix the others will hopefully counter it and prevent it doing any harm.

cypher · 04-07-2015, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyrilliondaemon

My theory is that if there is a minor deficiency in one mix the others will hopefully counter it and prevent it doing any harm.

My thoughts exactly!

velma · 04-07-2015, 11:31 AM

I picked up some of the supreme science selective today so I'll be intrigued to see what they make of them. Thanks for the advice guys! Even though I hijacked your thread Scrubby

racinghamster · 04-08-2015, 12:12 AM

velma, they are heart shaped biscuits with a gravy smell. My Russian hybrid loves them but I break a biscuit into smaller pieces for him because when I add it as a whole biscuit, he tends not to touch it. Just a wee tip for you. x

cypher · 04-08-2015, 12:43 AM

I'm not 100% sure but I don't think my 3 have had it, I did try it with Ziggy & he didn't like it but I don't remember if I broke it up for him, so I ordered some yesterday too.
I added it to my Amazon monthly subscribe & save (might as well get 15% off if I can!) so I won't have it to try until next week, then I found some adorable mini pestle & mortars so I had to get one of those too lol! so now I just really hope they like it!