For Canadians Who Envy The US For Higgins

[AmityvilleHams]

If you're Canadian and you own a hamster and you've ever gotten frustrated because you want good quality hamster food but aren't in the US,today is your lucky day!Not only have I found good quality food,but this food is almost never available in Canada.

I present to you,the mysterious food known as Higgins Sunburst as well as Higgins Vita Garden!These two foods are excellent in a combined diet but aren't so great on their own,but with added protein they're very good foods.

Higgins Sunburst Gourmet Food Mix for Hamsters & Gerbils | Petland Canada
Higgins Vita Garden Small Animal Food; Available in 3 varieties | Petland Canada

There the lovely foods are,and finally Canadian hamster owners can enjoy them as well!

[Pebbles82]

That's a good find - there does seem to be a shortage of options on Amazon.ca. Do you have an ingredients list for either of them (there's a Canadian dwarf hamster owner looking for a mix for a possible diabetic).

[AmityvilleHams]

Sunburst Ingredients:White Millet, Oats, Corn, Red Milo, Wheat, Sunflower Seeds, Flaked Beans, Flaked Peas, Peanuts, Yellow Peas, Flaked Carrots, Raisins, Coconut, Pumpkin Seeds, Apples, Cashews, Papaya, Pineapple, Sun-Cured Alfalfa Hay, Soybean Hulls, Wheat Middlings, Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Cane Molasses, Vegetable Oil, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Algae Meal, DL-Methionine, L-Lysine, Choline Chloride, Mixed Tocopherols (preservative), Potassium Chloride, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Source of Vitamin C), Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Folic Acid, Biotin, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Zinc Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Calcium Iodate, Dried Yucca Schidigera Extract, Sodium Selenite, Cobalt Carbonate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Casei Fermentation Product.

Vita Garden Ingredients:White Millet, Wheat, Red Milo, Oats, Corn, Flaked Beans, Flaked Peas, Sunflower Seeds, Peanuts, Yellow Peas, Timothy Hay, Sun-Cured Alfalfa Hay, Soybean Hulls, Soybean Meal, Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Dicalcium Phosphate, Flaxseed, Lignin Sulfonate, Salt, Soybean Oil, Algae Meal, Hemicellulose Extract, DL-Methionine, L-Lysine, Choline Chloride, Mixed Tocopherols (preservative), Potassium Chloride, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Folic Acid, Biotin, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Zinc Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Calcium Iodate, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Sodium Selenite, Cobalt Carbonate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Casei Fermentation Product.

I would say for a diabetic hamster of the two Vita Garden would be healthiest.It does have beet pulp but that has sugar removed,so it isn't much of a concern.The other weird chemical-sounding things would be minerals and vitamins,as well as some probiotics.

[Pebbles82]

The second one does sound like a good option for a dwarf hamster - I'm not up on diabetic mixes personally, but someone else might know.

[AmityvilleHams]

It can get really confusing The second does have very low protein which is the only problem I can see.Of course,someone else might know how to formulate it in combination with a diabetes friendly additional food to get better protein as it is 12% protein and needs to be much higher.

Here in the US we mix it with a lab block,but with diabetes being a concern and the lack of lab blocks it would be difficult to do that.

Possibly supplement mealworms,fresh veg that is high in protein,and possibly lean meats?That's all I can think of right now,other than possibly finding different seeds as well as possibly some nuts and other fresh foods as well as that!

[kelza]

Scrambled or hard boiled/cooked eggs are a good protein source, and my dwarfs love them both ways.

[Tracey B]

Does anyone feed their hamsters live or dried mealworms and crickets? What are your thoughts.

[cypher]

Dried mealworms & crickets are fine although none of my hams have ever been keen on crickets so I don't bother any more, live mealworms bite & can potentially damage pouches so you need to pinch the heads off first if you want to feed them fresh. I wouldn't feed live crickets to hams.

[Dessi]

The Sunburst has too much sugar in it (fruits) I find. I’ve bought Versela Laga mini hamster mix which I think is the best we can find but now I make my own mix.

[AmityvilleHams]

Originally Posted by Dessi

The Sunburst has too much sugar in it (fruits) I find.

Precisely why Vita Garden is better and also why I no longer recommend Sunburst for any species.

On the topic of live mealworms, they'd be an excellent choice as you can make sure they have the best possible nutrition through gut loading. There are safety precautions to take with hamsters before giving them live mealworms, but it is very much worth it for the nutritional value and such. Even on a small scale for single hamster owning individuals it would be a great idea to start raising live mealworms, especially if you find yourself having bits of leftover fresh veggies that would otherwise go to waste but don't want to get into other methods of using them.