Need a food recommendation!

[Whisky]

I recently switched all my dwarfs from a mix of Hazel Hamster + Oxbow, to Higgins Sunburst + Mazuri Rat & Mouse for protein. My older (~16mo) dwarf loves the new mix. He's stopped burying all his food and actually eats it now! He likes the Mazuri blocks, too, and will stretch out with a block between his paws to gnaw on. Very cute.

The problem is my younger two, Peanut Butter and Anchovy. They nibble at the blocks but have little interest in them. They're also VERY picky with the Sunburst and end up leaving a lot of it. I feel like I'm just wasting food - there is always so much of it, even when I only give them a tiny amount of fresh food on top of the old. They liked the old mix, I think, but it was pretty low in protein, and it seems like Hazel is getting harder to find.

So, any recommendations? To complicate matters, I'm in Canada, where there isn't much variety. I have a friend who visits the US frequently so she's brought some of my diets from over there, but things like Burgess aren't available here. I would love any help/advice!

ETA: Looking online, it seems like I COULD order Burgess from Amazon. Would that be my best option? If so, do I still need to add a protein boost, and would the dwarf version be better than the regular one?

ETA2: While I'm here - I do trick training with Anchovy (Peanut Butter too, but he tends to get distracted and wander away, so mostly Anchovy). I used pieces of mealworm as a reward for each trick. He's pretty darn smart. He's also... uh... kind of a chunk. I'm thinking fatty mealworm rewards are probably not the best thing for him. Is there another small, quickly-eaten treat I can use multiple times in one session? It's a shame, because I think he'd stand on his head for mealworms!

[Drago]

Higgins+mazuri would be an excellent diet for a Syrian or robo, but I personally don't think it's very good for dwarfies unfortunately. It's great in variety (lacks a bit in fiber) but it has so much sugar and dried fruit (not to mention quite a hit of flakes peas and carrots) that it's not very diabetes friendly. Burgess, like you've found, can be ordered off of Amazon and if you could get it, that would definitely be the best option! However, you can also find it on eBay as well as viovet in case you need some second options

[chesca_27]

Burgess Dwarf would be an excellent food choice for all of your dwarf hamsters. There doesn't need to be any added protein, but you can give some treats like chicken or scrambled egg. Definitely the dwarf one over th regular one because it is sugar free and better quality. For doing tricks with mealworms, you could pick them out of the Burgess Dwarf and feed them that way, meaning he is working for his food, without getting extra fatty foods. Otherwise, seeds always go down well with Larry-Jasper - mainly sunflower or pumpkin. They still need to be fed in moderation so no more than 2-3 a day.

[Whisky]

Thanks! I think I'll order a bag of the dwarf Burgess and if they like it I can start ordering a few bags at a time. If my older guy Tinker doesn't like it I'll just keep him on the Higgins - he's 16mo and had one eye surgically removed in Jan, he's earned some junk food!

I hadn't thought of picking treats out of the food for trick training, that's a good idea. I wonder if Rice Krispies would be okay too?

(Right now Anchovy and I are working on hamster "agility" - he loves doing the tunnel best because it's so easy! I like making him go over the jumps because it's good exercise for his chubby butt. )

[AmityvilleHams]

I wouldn't use Rice Krispies as they're likely loaded with sugar or something unsafe,but plain puffed rice is fine and usually inexpensive You can also find other puffed grains too which are also good,once again as long as they're plain with no additives etc.

Flax seed would also be a good thing to feed regularly,it might not be the easiest to work with as a training treat though since it can be a bit slippery and hard to handle!

I would definitely recommend freeze dried protein sources over cooked no matter what though,if you want to add animal protein more than you'd get from the Burgess.Simply Nourish freeze dried chicken(Petsmart exclusive)are just as good if not somewhat better than Pure Bites,so that would be one really good option.Cooked meat just isn't as nutritional as raw is,but at least freeze drying preserves the majority of the nutritional value(just not the water content)so it isn't as bad as cooked.I know some people may be concerned about salmonella with raw meat,but in healthy animals with strong immune systems it isn't really much of a concern at all with proper meat handling however freeze dried meat has no real risk of salmonella(you still need to practice proper hygiene,of course).