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Old 12-19-2016, 11:52 AM   #1
Jenibelle
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Default Can hamsters have uncooked rice?

I know they can have uncooked pasta. What about rice, though?
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Old 12-19-2016, 11:56 AM   #2
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Default Re: Can hamsters have uncooked rice?

Not too sure,but if you cook it you could do a tiny pot of rice and add things you can cook for hamsters to add more flavor to the rice for more flavor and variety!
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Old 12-19-2016, 12:03 PM   #3
Jenibelle
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Default Re: Can hamsters have uncooked rice?

That's a neat idea! But I'm looking for new things to add to a seed mixture ^.^
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Old 12-19-2016, 12:14 PM   #4
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Default Re: Can hamsters have uncooked rice?

That can be a bit of a pain!What foods are you feeding as a main diet?Also,if you plan on feeding a homemade seed mix as your hamster's main diet then I don't think it would be a good idea as it is extremely difficult to know just what nutrition you give with one and even mixing two or more premade foods can be difficult That being said,a homemade seed mix does make a wonderful treat.

Drs Foster and Smith have some really nice individual ingredients that can be used,not just seeds though as they have some fairly good dried fruits.Some of the fruit has added sugar,but not all of it does,however it is a lot better than some dried fruit you find which can have unsafe preservatives and even worse additives than just sugar.

If you have access to somewhere like Ross or Big Lots that can be a great place to find some healthier treats.It also can save you a lot of money,for example I've found flax seed that ends up costing over $5 in a grocery store yet in discount stores you can find it for around $3.I also found Gerber baby puffs,which ended up my Syrian's favorite treat,for about half the lowest price(they were only $1)and those are extremely healthy.Even though they have fruit as an ingredient there's barely any sugar as long as you don't feed something like 60 pieces(even then only a gram I think of sugar)and they go down much better than any storebought treat,which says a lot since my Syrian can be a bit picky and even shunned the popular but unhealthy yogurt drops

Last edited by Fluffagrams; 12-19-2016 at 01:11 PM.
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Old 12-19-2016, 12:40 PM   #5
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Default Re: Can hamsters have uncooked rice?

His main food is Sunseed Vita Prima Sunscription: Critter Cubes Formulated Diet. That gets put in his food bowl for easy grabbing.

Then for a treat I make a homemade mix filled with stuff he likes... oats, millet, barley, peas, walnuts, peanuts, banana chips, pasta, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, meal worms, etc.. etc.. (not all of these ingredients at once, just what I have on hand - all organic, too!). This gets mixed in with his bedding, because he prefers it over his lab blocks, so I have to make him work for it. If I didn't he would eat all of the yummy treats and ignore the blocks!
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Old 12-19-2016, 01:05 PM   #6
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Default Re: Can hamsters have uncooked rice?

The treats sound wonderful!However,feeding a lab block alone isn't suitable for hamsters.I do know that it can be difficult to find a good mix to add and it can seem overly complicated with certain things such as Higgins and Mazuri,but that routine variety is crucial.Higgins Sunburst is very expensive at Petco,if not on sale,but you can get it from Petsupermarket for around $7.

I know that it can be difficult to figure out diets,especially if some foods aren't found easily in person.However,there are some options for a main diet that balance proper nutrition as well as crucial variety without having to routinely throw together add ons which wouldn't be as good.
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Old 12-19-2016, 02:42 PM   #7
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Default Re: Can hamsters have uncooked rice?

Grains of rice can be a little sharp on each end, I would worry about hurting pouches. If you didn't want to cook a batch of rice, you could soak a few little pieces in a small amount of water. I do this for Joey (and Rupert when I had him) and do the same with little pasta shapes too.
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Old 12-20-2016, 05:33 AM   #8
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Default Re: Can hamsters have uncooked rice?

He gets a lot of variety. He gets a small amount of treat mixed in daily to every other day... just not enough for him to ignore his lab block.

For instance his current treat mix consists of two different types of oats, barley, yellow popping corn, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, peanuts, banana chips, green and red lentils, split peas, meal worms, cereal, pasta, oxbow treats... but he just gets a very small amount mixed in, so not everything at once (for example, I know he didn't have a banana chip or pasta yesterday). I used to just feed him these homemade mixtures but I added in the lab block and cut back on amount of mixture, so that I know he's getting the right amount of nutrients.
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Old 12-20-2016, 05:35 AM   #9
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Default Re: Can hamsters have uncooked rice?

Thanks Barley, I didn't pick him up any rice yesterday, but I'll set him aside some the next time I cook it for us. Seems safer to have it cooked first
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Old 12-20-2016, 09:21 AM   #10
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Default Re: Can hamsters have uncooked rice?

I've never tried feeding uncooked rice, but as Inky's treats often consist of a tiny portion of whatever is hamster friendly from our dinner, she has tried, and liked, cooked rice!
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