URGENT: how do I make a home-made food (the baby is coming tomorrow)

[Rirdan]

Hi guys,

I really wanted to go with pellets (to avoid selective eating), but it seems that all hamster pellets brands are crap (full of dies, preservatives and GMO). Soooo, the baby is coming tomorrow so I have no time to research. Could you please hit me with some suggestions. I can easily buy all sort of grain and seed in a local health food store. From what I understand, raw/dry legumes (like lentils) is a no-no? Grains I am thinking: buckwheat, quinoa (of different color), amaranth, oats. What else should I include grain-wise? Is organic popcorn (dry, non-popped) can be put instead of corn? What is the proportion of corn in comparison to grain?

Seeds that seeds I can easily buy: sunflower (I can buy both raw in shell and without shell), chia, flax, hemp, sesame (high in calcium).

I do have timothy hay.

Do I need to put nuts in the mix or not?

Would it be beneficial to add some nutritional yeast (for protein and vitamin B content) into the mix? And what about nutrient-dense DRY herbs (I am a nutritional consultant and herbalist), such as red raspberry leaf, nettle, oat straw, or milk thistle seed (great for the liver) be beneficial for them? Also, what about calendula? Please help me out ASAP! Also, does a Syrian hamster needs a litter box or do they go potty wherever? Do they need a send box? (my daughter said that they do, but I am not so sure).

Thank you so much if you read this far.

[Crystalroborovski]

What kind of hamster are you getting? Winter whites, Campbells and Chinese hams are prone to diabetes so certain mixes are not good for them.

I'd refrain from making your own mix unless you are an expert on hamster nutritional needs and you know exactly how much of each thing you would need to mix. It really isn't as simple as throwing a few ingredients together.

Pellets are not suitable for a complete diet as I'm pretty sure they do not offer all of the nutrition a hamster needs.

As for picking out a good mix- I'm not quite familiar with all of the brands, somebody else can help you with that. Amityvillehams knows a lot of what to avoid in mixes so you can PM her if she doesn't respond to this thread good luck with the new baby!

[chesca_27]

I strongly advise against making your own hamster food without a lot of research. If you don't know all the nutritional information, it can go catastrophically wrong.

Pellets are not suitable for a diet as they need the variety of a seed mix.

The best mix will vary depending on the species of hamster. Harry/Hazel Hamster is better for Syrians whereas Burgess Dwarf is better for the dwarf and Chinese species of hamster.

I would advise you give your hamster a sand bath, which they can learn to use as a potty tray.

Good luck with your hamster .

[Golden_Syrian_Hammmies]

Hi and welcome to HC. Firstly i would say that making your own mix you really do need to know what you are doing as messing about with ingredients and nutritional value can cause Ill health. You really need to know hamsters nutritional needs to be able to do this. As your hamster is coming tomorrow you really wouldn't have enough time to think it through, research and source all the ingredients necessary. There may be some members on here who have made their own mixes successfully and can advise you on how to go about it or what ingredients to source. As as already been mentioned amityvillehams knows a fair bit about nutrition so she may be able to help you. A good mix that most on here use is Harry hamster. But I would also highly recommend science selective hamster food. It is a pelleted mix and comes in the shape of little heart biscuits. I've included links below for you.

Harry Hamster Tasty Mix - Supreme Petfoods

Science Selective Hamster - Supreme Petfoods

Also with regards to a sand bath for a Syrian, Syrians rarely use sand as an actual bath whereas the dwarf species do. Syrians will use sand as their toilet. To train provide a small tray with chinchilla sand not dust in it and place in the corner where your hammy likes to pee also add some of the pee soaked substrate (bedding) into the tray to encourage use. Hope this helps.

[Pebbles82]

Which country are you in? As the others say, don't try and make a feed yourself. The correct nutritional percentages are essential and hamsters need a lot of protein, especially in the first year. 18% to 22%. Hay isn't suitable either. What a lot of people do, including me, is give a good quality basic hamster mix and give fresh food as supplements. So each day I will put the hamster mix out, plus a small piece of veg, and a couple of extras - out of either a brazil nut, pecan nut, monkey nut, cashew nut, coconut, banana, apple, a raisin, a piece of cheese, pumpkin seeds - all very small amounts - about 1cm cubed size. I try and put something different out each day. You can also supplement with the occasional piece of plain cooked chicken or beef - again a very small piece. I prefer to give that out of the cage so it doesn't go off if in the cage and you can't find it.

Something like Harry or Hazel Hamster (they are identical in terms of contents) have all the required nutrients, the correct amount of protein and have vitamins included. It's a sugar free mix, which is good. There are some artificial colourings but plenty of hamsters have been very healthy on that mix.

I know what you mean - I would love to just feed fresh food, but they can get nutritional deficiencies which can lead to diseases or hair loss, so the correct percentages are important.

Some mixes have very poor quality ingredients or are full of sugar, or low in protein. Harry Hamster is the one recommended by the National Hamster Council in the Uk. My big gripe about them is - there are no organic mixes and they nearly all rely on soya to provide the protein. But that's what makes it tricky to make your own mix is getting the enough protein in it and getting the balance right. It's much more complicated than you would think! Burgess Supahamster is a good one too - also sugar free and contains mealworms. And Bunny Dream Hamster from Zooplus is good. Some people like the Versele Laga crispy muesli which is ok too but needs the protein supplementing quite a bit.

If you're in the US Amityville will have some other alternatives As Crystal said.

Flax seeds and hemp seeds are also good to give as supplements. I wouldn't give sunflower seeds as most mixes contain quite a lot of them and they can increase the fat consumption quite a lot.

[Pebbles82]

Sand bath or litter tray - you need Chinchilla bathing sand. It must be sand not dust

[AmityvilleHams]

Diet depends a bit on where in the world you are at least with the main diet,but there are some things which must be followed regardless of country or species.

You're definitely on the right track avoiding dyes,at least when it comes to artificial ones which as you most likely already know are no good for any creature.Preservatives,in many cases,are harmful however the hamster safe natural ones are fine(just nothing unspecified such as "E&C approved" which is a loophole term to allow manufacturers to include BHA/BHT/ethoxyquin which are known to cause cancer).Specifically non-GMO would be great,but there are foods which are suitable regardless of that.Organic isn't exactly all it's made out to be either,so I wouldn't let that deter you from using otherwise safe products.

Aside from all that,there are other things you really don't want in any animal food.These would be any sort of unspecified biproducts(digest,derivatives,meat and bone meal,biproduct meal,generalized liver,animal fat,etc)which should never be given regardless of species.Propylene glycol is another widely seen ingredient that again should never be fed to any species,along with sulfur dioxide.Artificial sweeteners and processed sugars(dextrose,maltodextrin,sucrose,sorbitol,etc) would also be part of the list of things no species should ever have.

As for herbs,some can be safely offered as a treat but you must stay to a reliable safe list as with any animal and never use anything that is remotely toxic(this goes for any species!).They'd have to be kept as a very small portion of the entire diet as well(10-20% being allowed for extras,never any higher though and that includes even the smallest of seeds).Keep in mind that if it's already in the main diet it shouldn't be fed as an extra since it won't offer the beneficial nutritional variety you could easily get elsewhere.

Other than all that,keep in mind anything shared with dogs or cats must never have corn or wheat(including wheat relatives and wheat products),as although they're hamster safe they're absolutely terrible for dogs.

As far as sand boxes and such go,you really should have one.They may not be considered an absolute necessity,but the bare minimum to survive isn't exactly vast enrichment to allow an individual animal to thrive

[Pebbles82]

If you're in the US you should be able to get Hazel Hamster. If it's hard to find (as some people have mentioned) then there is a combination of a food and lab block that some people use - I can't remember the name of it - I think it's one of the Higgins foods. Amity will know.

[AmityvilleHams]

I prefer Higgins Sunburst and the Carefresh hamster food combined,between the lower cost and that the smaller pieces seem to go better with hamsters.That would be around two thirds Carefresh to one third Higgins measured in grams(10 grams total).It does need the addition of high quality protein sources though.Freeze dried chicken(not cooked,as cooked meat has lower nutritional value)or high quality mealworms(be very careful that they aren't Chinese as mentioned before,this is extremely common especially with reptile mealworms but Chinese or irradiated products as mentioned just shouldn't be used!).Flax seed is also to be added to that combination,just a pinch,for benefits already mentioned