What do you think?

[Humphrey_hamster]

Hi, I've looked at this mix a few times before and thought it looked good.
Of course, I didn't know what it was like as I'd only seen pictures, and I didn't know whether they were trustworthy. Recently, my friend got some for her hamster Bella, as a fifty fifty mix of Harry hamster and this stuff.

Humphrey already has a good food mix ( Burgess hamster harvest) and I was wondering about doing a fifty fifty mix of these two. As I'm a first time hamster owner though, I don't really know for sure whether it's a good mix, it would only make up half of Humphreys mix though, as I have already mentioned.

Here's the link: http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pe...-touch-hamster

I know some people don't like commercial mixes but I'm no nutrition expert and am trying my best at well renowned mixes. This stuff seems to mostly have good reviews looking at websites other than just pets at home, and it doesn't matter too much if there's low protein as the Burgess has a reasonable level. I have not read the nutritional info properly to be honest...

Any opinions will be appreciated xx

[AmityvilleHams]

I'd stick with Burgess or Harry Hamster Those two are known to be very good foods,with Harry Hamster being slightly better(100% specific compared to 99% specific with Burgess,while the Burgess dwarf is a different situation)as long as you feed animal protein as it is a key part of the hamster diet.

[Humphrey_hamster]

Amity, I was going to continue feeding the Burgess with the new mix

[AmityvilleHams]

Burgess on its own is perfectly fine.Mixing the two together would lower the nutritional value of Burgess regardless,so that's worth thinking about.It's kind of an unnecessary purchase though,when you could just add individual things that are in it without having to add a less nutritious food into the main diet.

[AprilPearl]

Amity, how often should we feed animal protein? And does dairy count as animal protein, or do you just mean meat? So far, the only animal proteins Mushu seems to like are chicken, cheese and milk mixed with rolled oats. Tried him on mealworms a number of times (dead and alive) but he ignored them.

[Humphrey_hamster]

Oh, thanks amity will have a think and see others opinions too x

April pearl, you can feed hamsters completely plain porridge too, I gave Humphrey the teensiest bit and he liked it. I've also given Humphrey milk which he enjoyed. Shrimp is a firm favourite of his

[AprilPearl]

Thanks Humphrey_hamster. I was feeding the porridge with milk specifically to get some milk into Mushu as a bit of milky food occasionally is meant to be good for young hamsters. Didn't know they could eat shrimp!

[AmityvilleHams]

Dairy is something you want to avoid with hamsters.They don't tolerate dairy well,and that includes milk and cheese.I know some people are fond of feeding cheese,but it's a very risky food and if you absolutely must use some it should be fed extremely sparingly and only high quality with no unsafe additives and such.

Meat is ideal,specified only(nothing with derivatives,unspecified biproducts whether it be completely unspecified or just with no specified source for example liver on its own being unsafe,digest,meat and bone meal or anything similar,etc)of course and it must be a hamster safe type.As for how often they should be fed,it depends on a few factors.However,to be a truly natural hamster diet it would require feeding animal protein just as often as you feed the main diet(hamsters are natural omnivores).To do this,you'd need to keep extras within a 10-20 percent range of the total diet(generally what gets agreed on for additions to a balanced diet for the overwhelming majority of captive animals).

Freeze dried is the best source of meat though,as cooked meats are considerably less nutritious.Raw meat is something a lot of people feel squeamish about,but luckily the freeze drying process preserves all the nutritional value of raw foods while only removing the moisture and preserving the foods so that is a very good alternative

[Humphrey_hamster]

In pets at home you can get shrimp cookies!
Would add a pic, but photo bucket isn't working for me just now, might come back and edit later.

[Humphrey_hamster]

Amity, I'm talking the tiniest drop of milk. Humphrey seemed to enjoy it and started squeaking for more. He seemed to tolerate it well