Giving new veg & fruit

[Robodwarfs18]

So I'm back on the Feeding/Nutrition section of the forum again with a thread about veg & fruit. Tomorrow I wanted to give some new veg/fruit to Cookie and I was wondering what ones would be best and healthiest? Also I've heard you can give hamsters peas and I'm guessing they mean raw?? Do I have to defrost frozen peas to give to him? And how would I do it? And how many peas should I give him? Sorry for the question overload Thanks!

[cypher]

With any new veg just try tiny pieces at first to see if your ham likes them & if they agree with him.
Frozen peas are fine, some people do give them frozen but I prefer to just leave them to defrost for a little while before giving them, then just give as they are uncooked.
Other good veg to try are broccoli, bell peppers, carrot, vey small amounts of lettuce, courgette, cauliflower, small amounts of cabbage or kale, cucumber, pak choi, celery, apple, blueberries... there are lots of things you can try really, if you're unsure check out the safe food list in the wiki section.

[racinghamster]

It`s best to stick to a few well known things that won`t cause your hamster any acute upset. So as cypher suggested, garden peas, carrot, broccoli (this is very good as it has anti-cancer properties) and a little fingernail sized piece of lettuce. All de-thawed and washed/skin removed from apple etc...

I take a garden pea or a small thumbnail piece of broccoli from the freezer bag and run it under cold water for a few seconds and leave it sitting on the drainer for five minutes to take the coldness off. Just feed raw as cooking vegetables removes their vitamins. Press them to your lips to check they are room temperature and still not frozen before offering them. Don`t go mad though, only offer one or two pieces a day. This allows you to check that her poo is okay. x

[cypher]

I have found mine really aren't too keen on frozen veg apart from the rare pea & won't eat it but I know many hams will so try & see.
Although I do agree it's important to proceed with caution & introduce new foods gradually hams do need as much variety as possible & if you do stick to just a couple of things it's quite easy to give too much of one thing, so do experiment, they're all different & have their own likes & dislikes.