Opinions on Hamster Feed

[Nicole314]

I've been looking at a few different mixes recently, and I've narrowed it down to these four. I would like some of your opinions on which one sounds the best.

The food I have my dwarf hybrids(?) on right now is Oxbow Essentials Healthy Handfuls Hamster & Gerbil Food | Food | PetSmart

These are the ones I'm considering.

National Geographic Daily Diet Hamster & Gerbil Food | Food | PetSmart

Vitakraft Vita Prima Sunscription Dwarf Hamster Formula at PETCO

eCOTRITION Essential Blend for Hamsters and Gerbils at PETCO

Supreme Original Hazel Hamster Food at PETCO

I am in the United States, so I don't have access to Burgess unfortunately, but these seem just as good.
Along with one of these mixes, what else should I give them? Vegetables in small portions I know, but I just want to cover all my bases.

Thanks in advance.

[BrainGirl]

Vitakraft makes pretty decent hamster food though I've never seen the dwarf version where I am. Ecotrition is also supposed to be good. Another option for dwarf hams is to supplement with budgie/canary/finch seed mix. Dwarfies really, really like the small seeds

I'm not familiar with the other ones you listed but they're probably not bad. Just watch the sugar content!

Oh, and mealworms/other bugs. They love that stuff

[cypher]

The oxbow one looks quite good, national geographic does have a few odd things in it & added molasses which is basically sugar, fairly low in protein too, the vitakraft has apple juice concentrate which again is basically sugar & is low in protein, ecotrition has too much fruit in it imo, I wouldn't use that for a dwarf, Hazel hamster would be ok, so that & the oxbow look like the best choice for a dwarf.
As BrainGirl says they do really like small seeds so the addition of some millet, hemp & flax seeds or just a budgie mix would be good & mealworms would help top up the protein, you could also give a few extra sunflower seeds & pumpkin seeds (both in the shell) too.

[WinnieTheHam]

The Vitakraft one is way too low in Protein.

The Hazel Hamster is terrible for nutritional value

The Ecotrition seems to have a good variation, but it has colourants and doesn't state the vitamin and mineral %

National Geographic has very high fibre content and not enough fat or protein, there's also added colours.

What i would do is either get Harry hamster, add more foods with protein, fat and fibre into it like lentils, seeds, dried mealworms, dried herbs etc.. Ive seen that 17% - 22% Protein, Fibre: 8 - 15% and Fat: 4-7% is what's recommended

Or do the same with Vitakraft, add some dried mealworms to it to boost the protein

[Vectis Hamstery]

My understanding is that Hazel Hamster is the US version of Harry Hamster. I like to feed all my hams Harry as a base mix and add small seeds.

[Shannonmcn]

I read somewhere that they changed the formula of Hazel hamster and lowered the protein, can't remember where I heard it tho

[WinnieTheHam]

The protein is considerably low in Hazel hamster only at 8%, in Harry hamster i think its 19% or 17%. I can't remember.

[Shannonmcn]

Well that's a bit crazy. What the hell Supreme?

[cypher]

That is very strange! I thought Hazel hamster was virtually the same as Harry Hamster too but obviously not.

[BrainGirl]

Last I checked, Hazel Hamster has 18% protein. It's just more difficult for me to find and why I chose not to use it.