Changing food?

Gerbil · 06-30-2017, 08:07 AM

Dudley was bought from Pets at Home and as such was fed the standard PaH hamster muesli. I'm told that this isn't the best quality food so I've always planned to switch him onto Harry Hamster. I don't know if I'm too cautious, but with all my pets I slowly mix in the new food to their existing mix to avoid upset stomachs and stress. Would this be an okay plan for hamsters?

Also, the bag of hamster muesli seems to be going down very slowly - I had six gerbils until a few months ago and they go through bags rather quickly. Point being, should I use up more of the bag of PaH mix or just start mixing it in now? I don't want to keep him on a poor mix if it's detrimental to him.

Sorry for such inane questions

cypher · 06-30-2017, 08:20 AM

I would start mixing it now, Harry Hamster is the much better food, a bag does last a fairly long time with just one ham so it might mean wasting a bit of the P@H food.
Your right to change slowly although going from one muesli type of food to another isn't that huge a change so it's unlikely to cause any upsets.

Gerbil · 06-30-2017, 08:33 AM

Thank you again! Sorry for having so many threads going at once, I feel like I'm making you all run around in circles

AprilPearl · 06-30-2017, 08:39 AM

My last hamster, Mushu, was from P@H. As such, he had been on the P@H mix. However, once at home, it became clear he really wasn't eating much of it at all. I was worried, so instead of gradually changing him over as I had planned, I switched him straight to 100% Harry Hamster. I had no problems. Immediately, he begun eating all of his mix sand suffered no ill effects from the sudden change.

So, I don't think you need to overly worry about the change in diet upsetting his stomach. Seeing as he is eating the P@H stuff, I would continue feeding it to him rather than completely switching him over as I did. However, do mix in some HH. Really, it shouldn't take long before you have him on 100% HH. Maybe a few weeks? As Cypher said, you will probably be left with a lot if P@H mix, but not feeding it isn't really a waste as HH is much better quality.