Feeding the right amount?

[Crystalroborovski]

As you may know I've been scatter feeding the boys since I brought them home. They've taken quite well to it and never seem to have issues finding food. Of course after I separated them I've reduced the amount of food they are fed. Also I switched them over to Hazel Hamster whenever I separated them and now they are completely off the ALT mix. I feed the boys one tablespoon of food a day, plus a very small amount of veggies every other day, and sometimes I'll throw in a treat or two like a little bit of millet or some pumpkin seeds. Am I feeding too much or not enough? Just making sure. Thanks!

[Drago]

If they are eating all of their mix, then I wouldn't worry over it. I typically feed Kopi about 1/4 to 1/2 of a tbsp per night and she seems to do just fine on that. I don't typically offer her more as she doesn't eat it, and she'll ignore it if it goes stale. Make sure to keep an eye on her weight, and food intake, but otherwise it's no worry

[Crystalroborovski]

Ok thanks drago! I usually don't feed an entire tablespoon if there is still food left in the cage. I've noticed my boys dont like eating stale food either

[cypher]

1-2 teaspoons is normally enough for a dwarf ham.
Do they eat all the Harry Hamster? Some of the pieces are a bit big for little mouths so if you find they leave any of the biscuit bits it might be worth breaking them up a bit.
Not liking stale food sounds a little like picky eating! many people only feed every few days & wait till it's all gone so any food that's been hanging around for a few days shouldn't be stale & it may just be that you are giving a little too much food.

[Crystalroborovski]

Thanks for your reply Cypher

I've found that my boys sometimes have a hard time eating the large red/green flat pellets in the Hazel Hamster mix. Maybe if I cut them into smaller pieces they might like them better.

I've decided to reduce the food amount as it seems that they don't eat all of their food. Whenever I had the boys together they ate most of the amount of food I fed them but now that they're separated (even though I cut down the amount of food they got) they don't go through food as fast.

[cypher]

The pellets or biscuits can be a bit hard to break up, the easiest way to do it without crushing them completely is to just give them a tap in a pestle & mortar.