Burgess Dwarf Hamster Food

[Golden_Syrian_Hammmies]

I have been feeding my dwarf this mix but am finding it really bland, it is full of millet and I'm conscious that Alfie is just eatting this really. He is a hybrid so I am conscious of his diet. I have been supplementing with a few science selective biscuits which he does seem to eat and I know are good for diabetic prone dwarfs and have all the necessary nutrients. He also gets the odd piece of veg and some porridge now and again. Was just wondering I have read that Harry Hamster is ok to give also as long as you remove the corn, peas etc is this right? Just looking to provide a more interesting mix for him and making sure he gets all the right nutrients rather than just picking out the meal worms and millet!

[cypher]

Some people do feed Harry Hamster to dwarf hams & they seem to do OK with although it isn't ideal for them in my opinion, you never ever remove things from the mix though, if you do that you end up giving an unbalanced diet & have no idea what the nutrient value is.
Burgess is limited on ingredients & can get a bit boring for them & I don't think any ham eats the grass pellets.
About the only other dwarf mix I would recommend trying is this one it has more variety & a good GA, protein is a little low for a young hamster but that can easily be supplemented with things like mealworms or chicken a few times a week.

[alpacassei]

I think all hamsters have a preference to which food pieces they prefer but as long as they're healthy, they're probably eating more of the other pieces than you think.

All of mine are fed on Burgess as well as occasional fresh veg, oats/porridge, dried mealworms (not too many because Burgess already contains them), pumpkin seeds, and they also occasionally have those dried leaf and flower treat mixes (I can't remember the brand I have, but check the ingredients because some aren't hamster friendly). I agree that Burgess looks quite plain but it's the best food for them and I think that if you're worried about what he's eating it's better to supplement the food rather than change it completely.

Are you removing the corn/peas from Burgess? Unless your hamster has developed diabetes you shouldn't need to remove these otherwise it will lower the nutritional content in the food. He'll be fine eating them, don't worry

If you try Harry Hamster you might need to break the biscuits into smaller pieces so they're more manageable, mine wouldn't eat them because they were too big. The whole corn pieces are also very hard for them to eat because of how hard and smooth they are mine couldn't actually bite into the corn (though you could probably remove these because there's still the corn flakes?).

[Fluffagrams]

None of my current hamsters have been particularly willing to eat Burgess and when I was feeding it to the Nobrias, I found that they were leaving large quantities of the pellets and flaked peas so it doesn't tend to form a huge part of my hamsters main diet.

Until recently Harry Hamster used to form a part of their main mix and I usually broke up those larger coloured biscuits for them and I actually found that after I'd done that they were more willing to eat them. However unless your hamster is already diabetic, removing components of their mix is unnecessary and changes the nutritional values of the food.

As it is in humans, there are a number of factors that contribute to diabetes and a diet consisting of some sugary foods is not necessarily going to mean that your hamster is going to develop diabetes any more than a diet free of all sugars is going to prevent it. That doesn't necessarily mean that hamsters should be given loads of sugary commercial treats but the natural sugars in a component of a mix such as the flaked peas and corn is not going to do them much harm if they're eating a varied and nutritious diet.

[Golden_Syrian_Hammmies]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I have had a look at the one you recommended cypher and it does look good. Yeah I find burgess although good is a bit boring, all Alfie eats is the millet and the maize flakes (I think that's what they are) the other bits he leaves. Alpacassei i haven't been removing anything from the burgess so far. Thanks fluffagrams yes that is very true. I think with hybrids a they are more genetically prone to developing it and to my knowledge he doesn't have it at the moment but at the same time I don't want to overload his system with sugar (as its in so many things). As it is in humans it's managed by diet and insulin/tablets so I guess with hams managing their diet is all we can do to help prevent. So I your opinion if I was to add in a little HH to his burgess and the odd science selective and that be ok?

[AmityvilleHams]

Extras,if kept to a total of around 10-20% of the entire diet,can be either just safe or potentially highly beneficial(depending if they're unique and not found in the main diet,as this actually adds a diversity within the diet which is necessary to good health so keep this in mind with any extras you'll be giving and just don't use things that are already in the main diet as this won't have any true benefit).However this must be done very carefully without giving so many extras that the diet becomes imbalanced,including any sort of treats or anything edible that is given other than the main diet(Burgess).

[cypher]

That would be ok if your ham eats it all & isn't picky with it, I would break up the biscuit bits as the others mentioned.

[Golden_Syrian_Hammmies]

Thank you