Mealworms!!!!

Darunia · 01-09-2018, 01:09 AM

out of curiousity has any just dumped a bunch of live mealworms in a bowl and placed in in a Syrian hamster's cage to let the hamster eat as many, as often as he/she desired? If so what was the result at the end of the day?
-some were eaten and the rest wriggled on in the bowl?
-did any escape the bowl?
-did the hamster eat them all?
-the hamster killed them all but only ate some?
or???
I'm not saying I'm going to do this. I'm just curious. Altho if it turns out that doing do everything is hunky dory fine with the idea I might try it. right now I'm thinking just as a treat for allowing me to hold my hamster

cypher · 01-09-2018, 01:37 AM

Live mealworms bite & should never be given to hams!
You can give fresh if you pinch the heads off first.

Darunia · 01-09-2018, 02:08 AM

oh really? So who pinches off the heads of live mealworms when wild hamsters eat them? Anyone else see the what's seriously wrong about that idea? Don't get me wrong. It's cool looking out for your pets. But let's use our brains here. Hamsters aren't the brittle porcelian (however you spell it) dolls some people seem to think they are. Anyway let's stay on topic please.

cypher · 01-09-2018, 03:42 AM

Pet hamsters will sometimes instinctively bite the head first but not always, they are now quite far removed from their origins, instincts & natural diet, they will sometimes pouch them which can lead to injuries to the pouch, infection, abscesses & a lot of pain for the hamster.
Given a whole bowl I think the chances of a bite would be quite high & an unnecessary risk for the hamster.

velma · 01-09-2018, 04:02 AM

I agree with cypher on this one. I imagine that an animal that eats it's food straight away would be fine. But a hamster that's evolved to store food in its's pouches for potentially quite some time could be at real risk from getting bitten if they pouched them live. And if they aren't used to getting anything live, why would they know to do that first? It might be fine but I think personally, why risk it? It's not necessary for them to have them live & my hams Hoover up food into their pouches. As I understand it, mealworms have a particularly strong jaw & bite.

herbi7 · 01-21-2018, 05:00 AM

This is like putting a domestic cat in a room full of wild mice, birds and rats! Some cats would literally eat them for breakfast but I know a number of cats who don't have a clue and may even get hurt by nips etc. Syrian hamsters were domesticated more than a century ago and their natural instincts are variable. It's like expecting a domestic horse to know which plants are poisonous. Also do we know for sure that mealworms come from Syria? Hamsters come from a steppe environment in the middle east. I don't know where mealworms come from.

Crystalroborovski · 01-21-2018, 05:51 PM

I’ll have to agree with Herbi, Velma, and Cypher on this one.

You’re right, hamsters aren’t made of glass, but they are a lot smaller than us humans, or dogs or cats, so their bodies can’t handle as much as bigger mammals can. Herbi gave an excellent analogy. Since pet hamsters have been domesticated and a lot of their natural behavioral traits have been removed, they act and handle things a lot differently than wild hamster do.

And also, a very important thing to keep in mind is that when you become a pet owner, you’re taking on the responsibility of keeping your little ham healthy and taking them to the vet when they get sick or hurt. So if given a safer option, why not take it?

Mealworms are nutritious for hams, so it’s fine to give fresh mealworms, as long as the heads are crushed. Mealworms have a really strong jaw and can seriously hurt your hammy by biting their cheek pouches, which can lead to infection. And that, in turn, is very painful for the hamster considering they stuff their cheeks full of food all the time. So it’s better to play it safe on this