How do i make my hamster lose weight?

[xKat]

Hey there

So I've only had my very first hamster Benjamin for about 3 weeks now. He's a Russian dwarf and since I got him at a petshop I have no idea what his age is. They told me he was somewhere between 4-8 weeks old at the time, so 7-11 weeks now.

The day I brought him home he wasn't fat at all. Just recently I have been noticing he's getting so much fatter so quickly. He walks in such a weird way and he doesn't use his wheel at all. (6 inches big, but it doesn't bend his back)

I feed him 2 table spoons of Hopefarms hamster select every day. It contains 16.5% protein, 8% fat and 8% fiber. It's a mix of small pellet-ish balls, nuts, seeds, corn and dried vegetables such as broccoli and cabbage. I found out he doesn't get enough protein as the minimum is 17%, so I add about 3-4 dried meelworms to his food every day. Besides all this, I give him extra vegetables such as cucumber, cabbage and cauliflower, a small amount once per 2 days.

I've also given him yogurt drops (a few times a week at first, because i had no idea it's so unhealthy so I stopped giving him that).

The reason I think he might be overweight is because he has a couple fat rolls and he walks so silly, and doesn't use his wheel. He used it a lot the first 1/1.5 week he was here, but he stopped using it. He just pees and sits in it now. I try to kind of force him to run by putting him in a hamster ball for 10 minutes a day - I know they're dangerous for too long. I also tape the lids on so he can't escape.

Anyway, I just wonder how I went wrong and how to make him lose the extra bit of weight. He's so adorable now cause he looks like a little fluffball, but I know dwarfs are prone to diabetes and I just want him to stay as healthy as possible. Any advice is welcome

[cypher]

I doubt Benjamin would have been 4 weeks when you got him, 8 weeks might be closer to his actual age at that time but it's never possible to be really sure with pet shop hams tbh.
Have you weighed him? It's a good idea to weigh them weekly just to keep a check on whether they're gaining or losing weight & it might give us a better idea of whether he really is over weight or not.
You are giving way too much food! Russian hams probably don't eat much more than a teaspoon of food a day so you can definitely cut back, maybe only feed every two or three days (give about a tablespoon to last that time) & scatter food around the cage so he has to forage for it rather than eating from a bowl.
The food you're using isn't very specific about ingredients so may not be a very good quality food, can you get Burgess dwarf hamster harvest where you are? No mix is perfect but that is one of the better mixes available, there is another good mix that Zooplus sells here, you may be abel to get that one where you are?
Meal worms are fine for extra protein but they are very high in fat so not more than two a day.
I would get him a bigger wheel if you can, 6" really is too small for a Russian, an 8" wheel would be better, not sure what wheels you might be able to get though.
Does he have out of cage time?
Making or buying a playpen then putting lots of toys & things to explore & maybe his wheel would give him the best way to get extra exercise which would probably help a lot.
Hams don't usually get overweight but some males can be a little bit lazy & need encouraging to do more than pouch food & stay in bed all the time

ETA I found the zooplus food here in the Netherlands (I think it's the right Zooplus?!) so you could get that one, there is the plastic & wooden trixie wheels there too either of which would be suitable for him.
You could also try small pieces of dried chicken as a low fat alternative source of extra protein too, only little bits maybe 1/4" a few times a week, or tiny pieces of plain cooked chicken if he likes it.

[xKat]

Originally Posted by cypher

I doubt Benjamin would have been 4 weeks when you got him, 8 weeks might be closer to his actual age at that time but it's never possible to be really sure with pet shop hams tbh.
Have you weighed him? It's a good idea to weigh them weekly just to keep a check on whether they're gaining or losing weight & it might give us a better idea of whether he really is over weight or not.
You are giving way too much food! Russian hams probably don't eat much more than a teaspoon of food a day so you can definitely cut back, maybe only feed every two or three days (give about a tablespoon to last that time) & scatter food around the cage so he has to forage for it rather than eating from a bowl.
The food you're using isn't very specific about ingredients so may not be a very good quality food, can you get Burgess dwarf hamster harvest where you are? No mix is perfect but that is one of the better mixes available, there is another good mix that Zooplus sells here, you may be abel to get that one where you are?
Meal worms are fine for extra protein but they are very high in fat so not more than two a day.
I would get him a bigger wheel if you can, 6" really is too small for a Russian, an 8" wheel would be better, not sure what wheels you might be able to get though.
Does he have out of cage time?
Making or buying a playpen then putting lots of toys & things to explore & maybe his wheel would give him the best way to get extra exercise which would probably help a lot.
Hams don't usually get overweight but some males can be a little bit lazy & need encouraging to do more than pouch food & stay in bed all the time

ETA I found the zooplus food here in the Netherlands (I think it's the right Zooplus?!) so you could get that one, there is the plastic & wooden trixie wheels there too either of which would be suitable for him.
You could also try small pieces of dried chicken as a low fat alternative source of extra protein too, only little bits maybe 1/4" a few times a week, or tiny pieces of plain cooked chicken if he likes it.

I just ordered the 20 cm / 8 inch trixie wheel for him, thanks a lot! I read on loads of sites that for a russian dwarf the minimum is 6-8 inches, but maybe it's too small anyway and that could be the reason for why he doesn't use it.

I don't have a playpen, but I put him in a large 110 cm bin everyday. I mainly used it to tame him but as he's semi-tame tame now, I just use it to give him a bit more room to run around. I also let him free range in the bathroom sometimes, but as it's quite a task to ''catch'' him afterwards (he doesn't let treats fool him) I don't do that as often. I wanted to buy him a playpen, but I've heard lots of people say that hamsters can easily escape those, and I'd rather not take the risk. Even if I would watch him all the time, he's really fast.

I myself am a vegetarian so i don't really keep any meat around really, I also would rather not support the industry by buying any.. would boiled eggs be okay too?

I just weighed him and he's about 60-70 grams but closer to 70, i don't use a digital scale so I'm not entirely sure. I'm not sure if this is waaay too much? I did find out they're supposed to be 40-60 grams... Anyway thanks a lot for your help!

[BorisPasha]

Egg would be ok for a bit extra protein, none have mine have liked egg though but maybe Benjamin will or you could also try tofu if you aren't keen to but meat.

70 grams seems quite a lot for his age, is it digital scales you have? I was using scales with a dial but it was quite hard to read when the dial is moving around so much because they won't sit still.

[cypher]

That does sound like quite a lot for a young ham but it is hard to be sure without digital scales & they all vary a lot in weight so don't worry too much just keep an eye on his weight now & see if it levels out or continues to go up.
Especially at a young age it is important to give a quality diet & not try to cut back on the normal amount of food so concentrate on keeping him active, hopefully he'll like the new wheel.
I've used these playpens with all my Russian hams & none have escaped, as long as you don't put any tall toys close to the edge they're fine, still need to be supervised but escape is highly unlikely!

Egg white is high in protein (the yolk is high in fat) so it can be used as an extra, like BP none of my hams like egg much but it's worth a try, tofu is definitely worth a try, mine love it.

[xKat]

Originally Posted by BorisPasha

Egg would be ok for a bit extra protein, none have mine have liked egg though but maybe Benjamin will or you could also try tofu if you aren't keen to but meat.

70 grams seems quite a lot for his age, is it digital scales you have? I was using scales with a dial but it was quite hard to read when the dial is moving around so much because they won't sit still.

I don't use a digital scale, so it's probably not as accurate. I just weighed him by putting his empty house on the scale first, then weighed the house with him inside it. He did move around quite a lot also. But I'm still sure that he's slightly overweight at the very least.

Thanks for the tip about tofu, will definitely try that, thank you!

[xKat]

Originally Posted by cypher

That does sound like quite a lot for a young ham but it is hard to be sure without digital scales & they all vary a lot in weight so don't worry too much just keep an eye on his weight now & see if it levels out or continues to go up.
Especially at a young age it is important to give a quality diet & not try to cut back on the normal amount of food so concentrate on keeping him active, hopefully he'll like the new wheel.
I've used these playpens with all my Russian hams & none have escaped, as long as you don't put any tall toys close to the edge they're fine, still need to be supervised but escape is highly unlikely!

Egg white is high in protein (the yolk is high in fat) so it can be used as an extra, like BP none of my hams like egg much but it's worth a try, tofu is definitely worth a try, mine love it.

Would I be able to make a playpen out of mesh wire too? the little holes are only 8 mm. I have some of that left and it would be a great use I feel like. But thanks a lot for the tips!

[cypher]

You would have to be very careful with the edges of the mesh as they can be very sharp unless you plan to fix the mesh to a frame of some sort.