Dwarf hybrid refusing to eat the grass pellets from the Burgess mix?

[InkyPen]

Flora the foster dwarf hybrid has been moved from Wagg (which she was on before she came to me) onto Burgess Dwarf Hamster Harvest as of Weds (so 6 days ago).

From her food bowl, she took to the little seeds immediately, and she has now managed to pick out and eat (not sure if she's actually hoarding - it's rather hard to tell) everything except the grass pellets - she has literally just left a bowl of them behind!

I've given her a little more for now, but should I
a) accept that she's not keen on the grass pellets and let her be picky, or
b) just leave them in there and not refill the bowl until they're gone?

I don't want her to starve herself in protest, but I don't want her to miss out on anything nutritionally vital in the grass pellets, and I'm aware that she has been through quite a bit in the last week as until last week she was in a P@H cage with naff all bedding and naff all enrichment!

Advice would be muchly appreciated

[cypher]

I think you just have to accept it tbh, I've never had a ham eat the pellets when I fed Burgess, it doesn't seem to hurt them to leave those although it will alter the GA they do fine, even though I'm a fan of tough love feeding generally I think they might well starve rather than eat those!

[InkyPen]

I'm glad I'm not the only one! I'll just keep feeding her and accept it! Thank you!

Also, do you find that your dwarves hoard as much as Syrians? I've noticed she will leave a lot of food in her bowl, whereas Inky the Syrian will hoard the lot immediately.

The other thing is, she seems to move nests every time she wakes up. Is that normal too for dwarves, or just a function of her only just having got access to enough bedding? She's still on woodshavings + loo roll at the moment, to soften the changes, but will eventually be switched to Fitch.

[flowerfairy]

Neither of my roborovskis ate those green things.

Not experienced frequent nest changes.

[cypher]

I haven't had a syrian to compare hoarding habits but my dwarf hams have ranged from hoarding almost nothing to hoarding everything in sight! Some regard the bowl as a safe place to hoard food so she could be doing that, she may change as she settles in so just leave her too it really.
I would guess that the nest changing is part of her still settling in too, I have had males that would change nests now & then but not that frequently, my only female hybrid had multiple nests (in her cage & her playpen!) & would usually move from one to another every couple of days.
They're all different!

[chesca_27]

Jasper regularly moves nest regularly. It is nothing to be concerned about. With the grass pellets, I wouldn't be worried about that either, because grass seeds add very little nutrition to the mix, from what I have seen.

[cypher]

The pellets will have useful nutrients chesca, some protein, a good proportion of fibre, vitamins & minerals it's just a shame they are in such an unpalatable form
As long as a ham gets a good variety of fresh veg I don't see it as anything to worry about though.

[chesca_27]

Oh ok! I've just seen a lot of hamsters ignore grass seed and figured they weren't missing out on a lot. Jasper ignores grass seed.

[cypher]

I think the pellets are grass rather than grass seed although I'm not entirely sure tbh, the same applies really though, grass seeds are actually a good food for them but I think here in the UK our hams are used to the richer fattier seeds they get from birth so their general reaction to grass seeds is a big "no way am I eating that!"

[chesca_27]

Lol that's my Jasper ! I guess I spoiled my hamster too much. Oops