Do I empty the food bowl or wait?

Swissgreys · 01-22-2018, 01:56 PM

So my winter white boy is 15 weeks old and has been home with us for just over a week.

He adores his food mix, and it is actually what we are using to tame him.
He happily climbs onto my hand to eat it.

I also put some of his ration into his bowl, and then scatter some around.
In total he gets around 1 teaspoon a day, plus a couple of small pieces of additional nut or seeds.

But he is not emptying his bowl, and I am not sure if I should keep topping it up, or wait until it's empty.
Or do I throw the leftovers out periodically?

Swissgreys · 01-22-2018, 02:00 PM

And (hopefully) here is a photo of Raisin

IMG_0075.jpg

herbi7 · 01-22-2018, 02:10 PM

I throw the leftovers out each day so I can check how much they are eating/hoarding. Also I don't think hamsters like leftover food that much. I had one fussy ham who would almost rather starve than go back to old food. Perhaps it's a natural instinct to make sure they only forage for fresh food or something

Ps if you hate waste, birds can eat hamster food

cypher · 01-22-2018, 11:28 PM

I don't leave food lying around in bowls for too long but it may just be that you're giving more than he needs, how much & how often do you feed him?
They don't generally eat much more than about a teaspoonful a day so as long as he has enough in his hoard (not a huge amount but they should have a reasonable size hoard at all times) you can just put enough in the bowl or scatter for a few days before topping up again.

Pebbles82 · 01-23-2018, 08:47 AM

Nugget (Robo) doesn't seem to take much from his food bowl. I leave it but empty it after a week and replace the food.

Swissgreys · 01-23-2018, 03:20 PM

Thanks for all of the replies.
As always they were very helpful.

I give him a teaspoon of food a day, plus a couple of small pieces of nut (or 1 - 2 seeds).

I know he is hoarding, but have no idea how much, as I haven't cleaned out the cage yet - a small check inside his house is on the agenda for this week (sorry Raisin!).

But he seems happy and lively, and is always exited when I top up his bowl, so I feel better knowing it is ok to empty it properly every few days.